The Defense Intelligence Agency’s covert operatives need to be able to approach possible information sources in the US while not identifying themselves as government agents, the DIA’s General Counsel George Pierce tells the Washington Post. Pierce was defending Senate Intelligence Committee legislation that would grant limited authority for DIA agents to collect information about US citizens or immigrants domestically to evaluate whether they could be potential sources. DIA, he says, simply wants the same authority granted to the CIA and FBI. “We are not asking for the moon,” maintained Pierce, who added that there are real threats to domestic military facilities. Although a similar measure was dropped last year, the American Civil Liberties Union and others have taken note of this new effort.
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations is looking for a few good Airmen to swap jobs and become special agents. No, they won’t get the 007 James Bond code—but they could learn to conduct counterintelligence and investigate procurement fraud and major crimes.