NEW YORK, March 4: The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the espionage and counter-espionage arm of the Pentagon, is to be expanded into a worldwide network of spies to collect information on terrorist organizations and other military targets, The Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.

The capture in Pakistan on Saturday of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was considered an intelligence coup. But “many in the spy community say Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is frustrated with the performance of intelligence agencies on a number of fronts, including the pace in finding other Al Qaeda figures and the lack of information on the whereabouts of biological and chemical weapons in Iraq,” the newspaper said.

Richard Haver, a special assistant to Mr Rumsfeld on intelligence matters, along with others, told the newspaper: “The Pentagon wants its own people in global hot spots.”

Mr Haver told the paper spies “will know intuitively what to look for. Instead of looking for how the economy is performing, or whether the steel industry is producing advanced steel or not, which is the sort of thing the CIA (collects), we’re talking about whether bridges can withstand the weight of US tanks.”