WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon is seeking to build a deep-cover spying program targeting U.S. competitors as part of a broader economic warfare strategy, The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing six people familiar with the initiative.
Under the new program, U.S. intelligence operatives, the so-called "nonofficial cover officers," or NOCs, would pose as businesspeople or other private-sector personnel without disclosing their government affiliations, according to the report.
The proposed program, which remains in the planning stage and is not yet operational, is being overseen by Tom Rakusan, a former senior Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official and now senior adviser to U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, said the report, citing sources speaking on condition of anonymity.
Experts from within the Pentagon's service branches and Office of the Under Secretary of War for Intelligence and Security, as well as retired CIA officials, have been pulled in to work on the initiative, people familiar with the program told the newspaper.
However, the Pentagon has denied the existence of the initiative. Deputy Press Secretary Jacob Bliss told the newspaper that the claims were "simply not true."
Operating under nonofficial cover is considered particularly risky because officers in the program cannot work out of American embassies or other U.S. government facilities, and they cannot claim diplomatic immunity if detained, said the report.
The newspaper also noted that the Pentagon has historically struggled to operate deep-cover intelligence networks, while the proposed initiative could raise questions about legal authority and overlap with the CIA's intelligence operations. ■