A deep-cover spy program in planning

According to the Washington Post, citing six people familiar with the initiative, the Pentagon is building a more robust deep-cover spying program aimed at economic rivals such as China. Operatives would work undercover as businesspeople or other private-sector staff, with no overt link to the US government. The so-called nonofficial cover officers, or NOCs, would gather economic and technology information, and the program is intended as a covert arm of the Pentagon's wider economic campaign. Sources said it is still in the planning phase and is not operational, and it is unclear where it would sit inside the Pentagon. It could become a stand-alone deep-cover unit or expand existing clandestine human intelligence work. Congressional committees do not appear to have been briefed on the plan.

Who is overseeing it

Tom Rakusan is overseeing the effort, according to people familiar with it. The Post describes him as a 39-year CIA veteran who now serves as senior adviser to Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg. Rakusan retired from the agency in 2021, after rising in 2017 to deputy director of operations, the post responsible for its espionage activities. The Post also says he joined Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm co-founded by Feinberg, and followed him to the Pentagon in 2025. Experts from the military services and the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Intelligence and Security, along with retired CIA officials, have been brought in. Rakusan did not respond to a request for comment.

A sabotage unit set up in April

Politico reports that the Pentagon set up a Technology Support Office, or TSO, in April 2026. Internally the agency goes by that acronym, and its mission is to covertly disrupt foreign technology programs seen as threats to American military superiority. Sources close to the matter said the operations could take the form of supply-chain sabotage, disinformation campaigns or covert tampering with components destined for foreign weapons systems. Politico spoke with 12 current and former national security officials, though the specifics of the work are highly classified. Neither Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth nor any other senior Pentagon official has publicly mentioned the agency since it was created. The TSO is a separate structure from the NOC program, which is still in planning.

Economic warfare and earlier moves

The Post says the Trump administration has made economic warfare a key tool of its national security strategy, using tariffs, export controls, investment in critical resources and technologies, and partnerships with private investors. In April, DefenseScoop reported on a memorandum from Feinberg creating an 'Economic Defense Unit' to use investment, procurement, trade and export controls for security purposes. Its listed tasks include access to critical raw materials, but the memorandum's mandate shows no authority for the espionage plan. In a speech in September, CIA deputy director Michael Ellis said the United States is widening its spying on China and named Chinese companies in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and advanced semiconductors as targets.

Pentagon denial

The Pentagon has denied both the deep-cover program and the TSO to the two outlets that reported them, saying the information is wrong. Deputy press secretary Jacob Bliss said in a statement to the Washington Post:

“This query appears to be built on information that is simply not true”

The CIA declined to comment on the Post's questions. Other sources document a growing focus on economic competition but do not confirm the covert program itself. Rakusan did not respond to a request for comment, and the sources who described the program asked to remain anonymous.