Pentagon may close spy office under fire

The Pentagon is expected to shutter a controversial intelligence office that has drawn fire from lawmakers and civil liberties groups who charge that it was part of an effort by the Defense Department to expand into domestic spying.

The move, government officials say, is part of a broad effort under Defense Secretary Robert Gates to review, overhaul and, in some cases, dismantle an intelligence architecture built by his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld.

The intelligence unit, called the Counterintelligence Field Activity office, was created by Rumsfeld after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as part of an effort to counter the operations of foreign intelligence services and terror groups inside the United States and abroad.

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