Did defense contractor run spy operation?

WASHINGTON — A Defense Department official is under investigation for allegedly hiring private contractors to gather intelligence on suspected insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Associated Press, citing a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported Monday that Michael D. Furlong directed a defense contract to gather information about the region that could be shared with military units. After military officials suspected that he was using Defense Department money for an off-the-books spy operation, defense officials shut down that part of the contract.

The New York Times, quoting unidentified military and business sources, reported Monday that Furlong, now a senior civilian employee at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, hired subcontractors who had former U.S. intelligence and special forces operatives on their payrolls. The newspaper said some of the information collected by the contractors was used to track down and attack militants.

In mid 2008, the military put Furlong in charge of a program to use private companies to gather information about the political and tribal culture of Afghanistan, the New York Times reported. Some of the approximately $22 million in government money allotted to this effort went to International Media Ventures, with offices in St. Petersburg, San Antonio, Texas, and elsewhere. On its Web site, the company describes itself as a public relations company, "an industry leader in creating potent messaging content and interactive communications."

Nine employees from International Media Ventures were hired by the U.S. military to serve as information analysts and in other administrative jobs at the International Security Assistance Force headquarters operations center in Kabul, said Maj. Steven Cole, a spokesman for the international military coalition in Afghanistan.

"We are not aware of, nor responsible for, any other activities performed by this company or any of its subsidiaries," he said.

Furlong continues to work for U.S. Strategic Command as a "strategic planner and technology integration adviser" at the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center at Lackland Air Force Base.

Master Sgt. Kevin Allen, a spokesman for U.S. Strategic Command, said Furlong began working there in February 2008 but was soon assigned to support U.S. Central Command, which oversees the war in Afghanistan.

Allen declined to make Furlong available for an interview or confirm that Furlong was under investigation.