Report: Pentagon Plans A Deep-Cover Spy Network Aimed At China — And Says The Report Is Not True

The Washington Post reports that the Pentagon is planning an expanded network of deep-cover operatives — “nonofficial cover officers,” or NOCs — who would pose as businesspeople or other private-sector personnel, with no overt affiliation to the U.S. government. The account rests on six people familiar with the initiative who spoke to the Post. It describes the program as a covert prong of the Pentagon’s broader economic warfare campaign against China and other U.S. competitors.

The program is in the planning stage and is not operational, the Post reports, and its organizational home is undecided: the options include a new stand-alone deep-cover unit or an expansion of existing military clandestine human-intelligence capabilities. Planning is overseen by Tom Rakusan, a 39-year CIA veteran who became the agency’s deputy director of operations in 2017, later led the CIA’s response to Russian interference in the 2016 election, retired in 2021, and worked at Cerberus Capital Management before becoming a senior adviser to Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg. Military service specialists, Pentagon intelligence officials and retired CIA officials have been brought into the planning, the Post reports. Congressional committees do not appear to have been briefed on the initiative.

The legal ground is part of the story. The Pentagon would act under its Title 10 military authorities rather than the CIA’s Title 50; former officials told the Post the blend is jokingly called “Title 60.” Officers under nonofficial cover carry no diplomatic immunity if caught. A former senior CIA official told the Post: “Rakusan just wants to build his own CIA down in the Pentagon.” The CIA declined to comment to the Post, and Rakusan did not respond to its request for comment.

The Pentagon’s answer, given Thursday by deputy press secretary Jacob Bliss, is a denial: “This query appears to be built on information that is simply not true,” and, “Whoever is feeding you these claims are either badly misinformed or deliberately leading you astray to peddle their fantasies.” The Daily reports the Post’s account and the denial together; nothing in the Post’s reporting, and nothing in the denial, has been independently confirmed here.

Sources: The Washington Post; Pentagon statement.