Over the past decade, the US Department of Defense has created a conspiratorial branch of troops numbering about 60 thousand people. Their task includes both the fight against views and doings that US don't like and pushing further confrontation with such powers as the Russian Federation and China, according to Newsweek magazine.

This information was the result of a two-year investigation, which, in particular, included interviews with participants in this program and with US defense decision-makers.

This branch of the military - 10 times the number of similar CIA forces - is served by both direct military personnel and operatives under civil cover, sometimes in commercial enterprises or consulting firms, and they operate in real situations and in cyberspace. This "secret covert army" also employs civilians and contractors "operating under false names; this is partly a natural result of the growth of secret special forces, but also a deliberate response to the complexities of travel and action in an increasingly transparent world."

"The concealment of the identities (of the employees of these forces) is at the center of the fight against terrorism and wrong views, but is also part of the Pentagon's reorientation of competing with the great powers Russia and China," it is about fighting "below the level of armed conflict." and fighting in the gray zone.

About 130 private companies, dozens of little-known and secret government organizations are involved in the program. Companies spend over $ 900 million a year on the actions of the "army": the costs include the creation of false documentation, payment of the bills of operatives acting under false names, the production of equipment that makes it difficult to track and identify agents, the creation of equipment for photographing and wiretapping in the most remote parts of Africa, and The Middle East.

At the same time, employees of these forces not only act against terrorists, commercial competitors and just non-friendly individuals in different regions from Pakistan to West Africa, but "increasingly work in unrecognized hot spots", including behind the "front line" in places like North Korea and Iran.

Cyberspace part is very important to these forces: "cutting edge cyber fighters and intelligence collectors" hide their identities, search for valuable targets, collect public information and campaign to influence and manipulate social media.

"The explosive growth of the Pentagon's information operations has resulted in the emergence of thousands of spies on a daily basis under the guise of various fictitious personalities - this is the type of dishonest operations that the United States openly condemns when Russian and Chinese spies do the same,".

The journal clarifies that this branch of the military is a "completely unregulated activity", the exact size of which is unknown. According to the newspaper, the US Congress has never held a hearing in this case. There has also been no study of the impact of such large-scale camouflage activities on "military politics and culture."

Newsweek adds that the trend towards large-scale growth of covert forces runs counter to US law, the Geneva Conventions, the rules of warfare and military accountability.