The Pentagon will engage in foreign spy operations traditionally handled by the CIA and will soon begin using its own special intelligence teams to work with the US military, officials have confirmed.
The officials told reporters that a new Strategic Support Branch under the Defence Intelligence Agency was a change sparked by 2001 attacks on the United States and not an attempt by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to grab authority over intelligence operations.
The Pentagon detailed the plans after the Washington Poston Sunday broke the news, sparking charges that Mr Rumsfeld was trying to circumvent the CIA and may even have avoided necessary congressional oversight. 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 future deployment.
The move "is being done completely in coordination with and full knowledge and participation" of the Central Intelligence Agency, an official said.
Another official said one its experts had helped analyse information that led directly to the capture of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The coup gave impetus to the plan to formally create a separate intelligence agency, he said.
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the CIA was criticised for not having enough intelligence agents on the ground and for not sharing intelligence.
Sunday's Washington Post, reported Pentagon documents and interviews showing that Mr Rumsfeld created the Strategic Support Branch to end "near total dependence" on the CIA for human intelligence.
White House spokesman Mr Scott McClellan had denied there was a unit that was directly reportable to the secretary of defense for clandestine operations as described in the Postarticle.