Pentagon watches after United States

A Department of Defense counter-terrorism unit has been compiling information from both inside and outside the United States.

The Counterintelligence Field Agency is a 3-year-old unit whose exact staffing and budget are secret.

CIFA has at least three directorates, one of which operates patrols near U.S. military bases and carries out surveillance on people and organizations in the United States. Others assess threats to U.S. military personnel and a third has some 20 psychologists used for "offensive and defensive counterintelligence efforts," according to The Washington Post. A source identified as a former senior Pentagon intelligence officials told that CIFA "started with force protection from terrorists but when you go down that road you soon are into everything ... where terrorists get their money, who they see, who they deal with."

Another former senior counterterrorism official said, "What you are seeing is the militarization of counter-terrorism," The Washington Post reports.

V.Y.