News
Thursday, April 29, 2010
US opens investigation into spy network in Pakistan: NYT
* US civilian official accused of using web of private contractors to
clandestinely gather intelligence in Pakistan, AfghanistanNEW YORK: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has launched a probe into whether a top Defence Department official violated Pentagon rules by setting up a network of private contractors to gather intelligence in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the New York Times reported.
Citing a Pentagon spokesman, the newspaper said Gates was also demanding greater oversight of millions of dollars the Defence Department spent annually to carry out information operations, to ensure that such missions did not stray off course into secret intelligence collection.
Intelligence gathering: At the centre of the Pentagon inquiry is Michael Furlong, a civilian official working for the Air Force, who last year used a web of private contractors to clandestinely gather intelligence in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the paper Times said. Citing current and former government officials, it said some of that information was turned over to Special Operations troops to help fight militants.
Some American officials think that Furlong may have financed the secret network by improperly diverting money from an overt programme to gather information about the tribal structures and political dynamics in Afghanistan, according to the paper. The Pentagon’s inspector general is already conducting a criminal investigation into the matter, the NYT said. One focus of that investigation is whether Furlong engaged in contract fraud by channelling contracts to International Media Ventures, a media technology firm that American officials say Furlong used in the intelligence-gathering effort.
But even if no laws were broken, officials said, the inquiry announced on Tuesday will more clearly define the Pentagon’s boundaries in intelligence operations, and determine whether Furlong’s outsourcing of intelligence collection violated Pentagon rules.
The inquiry will be led by Gates’s senior aide in charge of intelligence oversight. Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said that a Pentagon team set up to do a quick study of Defence Department information operations — the area of warfare where information is used to achieve military ends — had found that the programmes were well managed and had unearthed no evidence of operations similar to the one set up by Furlong. “There do not seem to be any other alleged rogue information operations under way,” he told the paper.
Since the New York Times last month revealed details about his contractor network, Furlong has given only one interview, telling a newspaper in San Antonio that all of his actions had been approved by senior military officials. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk