"There is no unit that is directly reportable to the Secretary of Defense for clandestine operations as is described in the Washington Post article of January 23, 2005," Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita said in a statement.

He added that the US Defense Department "is not attempting to bend statutes to fit desired activities, as is suggested in this article."

DiRita issued the statement a day after the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon had created a spy unit tasked with gathering overseas intelligence, under the direct control of Rumsfeld.

According to the daily, which cited documents and interviews with participants, the unit is called the Strategic Support Branch and has already been operating secretly for two years in Iraq, Afghanistan and other undisclosed locations.

Citing an internal Pentagon memo, the daily wrote that the focus of the initiative was "emerging target countries," such as Somalia, Yemen, Indonesia, Philippines and Georgia,

Recruited agents may include "notorious figures" whose association with the US government would be embarrassing if revealed, said the Post.

It said the new spy unit was designed to provide Rumsfeld with tools to conduct so-called human intelligence tasks, such as interrogation of prisoners and recruitment of foreign spies -- activities DiRita acknowledged in Monday's press release.

"It is accurate and should not be surprising that the Department of Defense is attempting to improve its long-standing human intelligence capability, the spokesman said.

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