Defense Department spying more in the U.S.

WASHINGTON – The Defense Department has expanded its programs aimed at gathering and analyzing intelligence within the United States, creating new agencies, adding personnel and seeking additional legal authority for domestic security activities in the post-Sept. 11 world.

The moves have taken place on several fronts. The White House is considering expanding the power of a little-known Pentagon agency, Counterintelligence Field Activity, which was created three years ago. The proposal, made by a presidential commission, would transform the agency from an office that coordinates Pentagon security efforts – including protecting military facilities from attack – to one that also has authority to investigate crimes within the United States such as treason, foreign or terrorist sabotage or even economic espionage.

The Pentagon has pushed legislation on Capitol Hill that would create an intelligence exception to the Privacy Act, allowing the FBI and others to share information gathered about U.S. citizens with the Pentagon, CIA and other intelligence agencies, as long as the data is deemed to be related to foreign intelligence. Backers say the measure is needed to strengthen investigations into terrorism or weapons of mass destruction.

The proposals, and other Pentagon steps aimed at improving its ability to analyze counterterrorism intelligence collected inside the United States, have drawn complaints from civil liberties advocates and some members of Congress, who say the Defense Department’s push into domestic collection is proceeding with little scrutiny by Congress or the public.

“We are deputizing the military to spy on law-abiding Americans in America. This is a huge leap without even a (congressional) hearing,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said recently.

Wyden has since persuaded lawmakers to change the legislation, attached to the fiscal 2006 Intelligence Authorization bill, to address some of his concerns, but he still believes hearings should be held. Among the changes was dropping a provision to let Defense Intelligence Agency officers hide the fact that they work for the government when they approach people who are possible sources of intelligence in the U.S.

Modifications were made in the provision allowing the FBI to share information with the Pentagon and CIA, requiring the approval of Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, and requiring the Pentagon to make reports to Congress on the subject. Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the data-sharing amendment would still give the Pentagon much greater access to the FBI’s massive collection of data, including information on citizens not connected to terrorism or espionage.

The measure, she said, “removes one of the few existing privacy protections against the creation of secret dossiers on Americans by government intelligence agencies.” She said the Pentagon’s “intelligence agencies are quietly expanding their domestic presence without any public debate.”

Lt. Col. Christopher Conway, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said the most senior Defense Department intelligence officials are aware of the sensitivities related to their expanded domestic activities. At the same time, he said, the Pentagon has to have the intelligence necessary to protect its facilities and personnel at home and abroad.

“In the age of terrorism,” Conway said, “the U.S. military and its facilities are targets, and we have to be prepared within our authorities to defend them before something happens.”

Among steps already taken by the Pentagon that enhanced its domestic capabilities was the establishment after Sept. 11, 2001, of the Northern Command in Colorado Springs, to help military forces reacting to terrorist threats in the continental United States. Today, Northcom’s intelligence centers in Colorado and Texas fuse reports from other agencies and are staffed by 290 intelligence analysts. That is far more than at the Department of Homeland Security.

In addition, each of the military services has begun its own collection of domestic intelligence, primarily aimed at gathering data on potential terrorist threats to bases and other military facilities at home and abroad. Perhaps the prime illustration of the Pentagon’s intelligence growth is Counterintelligence Field Activity, which remains one of its least publicized intelligence agencies. Neither the size of its staff, said to be more than 1,000, nor its budget is public, Pentagon spokesman Conway said. According to a brochure, the agency’s counterintelligence involves conducting activities to protect the Department of Defense and the nation “against espionage, other intelligence activities, sabotage, assassinations, and terrorist activities.”

Counterintelligence Field Activity’s abilities would increase considerably under the proposal being reviewed by the White House, which was made by a presidential commission on intelligence chaired by Laurence Silberman, a retired judge, and Chuck Robb, a former Democratic senator from Virginia. The commission urged that Counterintelligence Field Activity be given authority to carry out domestic criminal investigations and clandestine operations against potential threats inside the United States.

The commission’s proposal would give the agency “new counterespionage and law enforcement authorities,” covering treason, espionage, foreign or terrorist sabotage, and even economic espionage. That step, the panel said, could be taken by presidential order and Pentagon directive without congressional approval.