Pentagon edges into CIA zone

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon, edging into foreign spy operations traditionally handled by the CIA, will soon begin using its own special intelligence teams to work with US military forces in world trouble spots, senior officials said.

Spy chiefs said the new Strategic Support Branch under the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) is a change sparked by September 11 and not an attempt by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to grab authority over intelligence operations.

The Pentagon detailed the programme after the Washington Post on Sunday revealed its existence, sparking charges from some critics that Rumsfeld was trying to circumvent the CIA. Some Democrats called for congressional hearings.

The officials, who asked not to be identified, said at a briefing that Pentagon groups of interrogators, linguists and others had been operating in Iraq and Afghanistan on an ad hoc basis for two years but are now being organised into 10-member civilian teams for deployments on request this year.

The move "is being done completely in co-ordination with and full knowledge and participation" of the CIA, a senior military official said.

A senior defence official said one US defence expert had helped analyse information that was directly responsible for the capture of Saddam Hussein and that the move gave impetus to the new plan.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the CIA has been criticised for not having enough intelligence agents on the ground and for lack of sharing of intelligence information.

The officials said that the Pentagon teams, previously drawn from around the world as needed, would now be on call at all times from the DIA, and answer to regional military commanders, not Rumsfeld.

They said Congress had been briefed on the plan earlier but the name of the operation had then been changed and top officials were sent to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers about confusion over the issue.

"This is just a common sense way of getting more tactical intelligence value out of military deployments," said Loren Thompson, a private military analyst with the Lexington Institute think tank.

"I don't see where they are breaking any rules. Rumsfeld's initiative is understandable, given the cautious and unreliable performance of the CIA in similar operations."

The Washington Post, citing Pentagon documents and interviews, reported that Rumsfeld had created the Strategic Support Branch to end "near total dependence" on the CIA for human intelligence.

"There is no unit that is directly reportable to the Secretary of Defence for clandestine operations as described in the Post article," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Bush seeks billions

The Bush Administration is to seek about US$80 billion ($112.2 billion) in new funding for military operations this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, pushing the total for both conflicts to almost US$300 billion.

Officials said the request would come on top of US$25 billion in emergency spending already approved for this financial year.

That means funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will total nearly US$105 billion this year alone.

In addition, up to US$650 million is expected to be earmarked for humanitarian aid, reconstruction and military operations in Asian nations which were devastated by last month's tsunami.

The latest funding request comes as Bush faces calls from fellow Republicans to rein in the budget deficit, which hit a record US$412.55 billion last year.

- REUTERS