Paper: Defense official masterminded private spy operation in Afghanistan, Pakistan

Paper: Defense official ran private spy operation

WASHINGTON — A report that a Defense Department official hired private contractors to gather intelligence on suspected insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan raises serious questions that warrant further review, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday.

The information gathered was then supplied to military units and intelligence officials, the Times reported Sunday, citing anonymous military and business sources in the United States and Afghanistan. The scheme violated U.S. policy against using contractors as spies.

“The story makes some serious allegations and raises numerous unanswered questions that warrant further review by the department,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Monday.

Michael D. Furlong was reported to have hired contractors from a private company run by retired Special Forces officers for what some of the Times’ sources described as an off-the-books spy operation. Some of the Times’ sources said the information gathered by the contractors was used by the military to track down and attack militants.

The officials who spoke to the newspaper said they were not sure who condoned Furlong’s operation, and it may have been funded by diverting money from a program intended to merely gather information about the area.

They also said the operation appears to have been shut down while Furlong is under criminal investigation by the Defense Department.