🇺🇸️ For several months, the Pentagon has established a new agency to covertly disrupt and sabotage foreign technology programs, which US authorities believe pose a threat to US military supremacy, 12 current and former senior national security officials told Politico.
The Pentagon denies this, and Deputy Press Secretary Jacob Bliss stated that these claims "simply do not correspond to reality." The White House did not respond to Politico's request for comment.
According to the sources, the Technology Support Office (TSO) was established in April.
As Politico reports, this is mentioned in previously unreleased Defense Department documents, including an April 14 memo signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, which states that the TSO reports to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. The organization's goal, according to a former official, is to "buy time or delay adversaries in developing technologies" that would pose the greatest threat to the U.S. armed forces in the event of a major conflict.
Sources report developing hacking tools and planning disinformation operations, for example, how to trick adversaries into installing faulty components in weapons. Politico reports that the TSO has no legal authority to conduct covert operations on its own and is working with military and intelligence personnel who do have such authority.
This agency was created by the merger of two classified Pentagon intelligence programs which, since 2023, have carried out small-scale sabotage operations in the technological field. Sources say that the Special Operations Command and the Cyber Command raised objections, fearing budget cuts. Although budget details are unclear, a former official estimated that classified contracts alone could exceed $1.5 billion.