Wednesday 25 April 2012

The US Pentagon has announced the creation of a new espionage unit designed to expand the government’s clandestine operations on Iran and China.

The United States Pentagon has created another spying unit, called the Defense Clandestine Service, which will be used to increase spying operations against high-priority targets including Iran and China, The New York Times reported Monday.

The new spy unit will work closely with the Central Intelligence Agency under a reorganization plan approved last week by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Under the plan, the new group will make use of existing agents, authorities and assets, expecting to grow “from several hundred to several more hundred” agents in the coming years.

This comes after the Pentagon recently nominated Lieutenant General Michael Flynn to head military intelligence.

Flynn had been a strong critic of military intelligence when he served as the top intelligence officer in Afghanistan in 2010, and who previously served with the secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).

The JSOC has been behind the killing of numerous suspected insurgents during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, including the purported raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Seeking more power in overseas intelligence work, experts say the US Defense Department wants to be able to use clandestine operations, which mean it could keep the country’s sponsorship of the program a secret and deny the existence of the mission entirely.

Author: The India Daily

Found in section: World

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