WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's new emphasis on intelligence gathering overseas has led to a major expansion of espionage operations and a more prominent role for intelligence officers in military decision making and war planning, Defense officials said Wednesday.
As part of the plan, the Pentagon is expanding the number of spies and special operations forces abroad and creating new intelligence analysis centers inside military commands worldwide, the officials said.
Providing new details about the Pentagon's expanding role in intelligence operations, the officials also acknowledged that the effort is controversial in Washington. The ramped-up activity "rubs some people the wrong way," said a Defense official involved in the expansion.
But the Pentagon insists that it is not encroaching on the CIA's turf and says all its activities are permissible under existing laws and executive orders.
In some cases, the clandestine operations involve inserting U.S. military personnel in countries unaware of the intrusion. Officials emphasized that the military has previously executed such delicate missions, but never before on such a large scale.
"The volume of these smaller-scale clandestine activities has expanded dramatically," said the Defense official.
Pentagon officials declined to provide details about specific operations or discuss countries where clandestine activities are underway. But their descriptions make it clear that the Pentagon is seeking to improve its ability to gather intelligence within the borders of such countries as Iran, North Korea and China.
"Our ability to collect inside the national territories of these potential adversaries -- that is a challenge to us," said another Defense official. "There's no silver bullet here."
Defense officials say they have been granted no new authority since the Sept. 11 attacks to carry out "covert" operations -- missions that the U.S. government can deny knowing about and that require presidential authority. Covert operations are designed to influence the political, economic or military conditions within another country's borders, and traditionally are carried out by CIA operatives.
At the same time, the Pentagon is using a broad definition of its current authority to conduct what it describes instead as "clandestine" operations around the globe -- dispatching military teams to gather intelligence about potential adversaries. Unlike covert operations, clandestine missions are not intended to influence the internal dynamics of another nation, according to U.S. officials.
