The story sounds like something straight out of James Bond: A renegade, out-of-control corporation, led by a former military officer and armed with state-of-the-art spyware, breaks out on its own to serve justice as it sees fit, noted one reporter.

Michael Furlong is the military defense contractor at the center of the ongoing investigation into the illegal spy ring, known as “Information Operations Capstone.”

The network, a collection of small companies that used agents to collect intelligence on militant groups inside Afghanistan and Pakistan, operated under a $22 million contract run by Lockheed Martin.

Furlong is senior official at the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center, which integrates information such as intelligence into military planning.

In a 15-page classified Pentagon report that was leaked to the press, investigators concluded that Furlong created an “unauthorized” intelligence network to collect information in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which was then forwarded to US military commanders.

The Pentagon prohibits the hiring of private contractors as spies.

The Defense Department investigation found that Furlong set up the network starting in late 2009 and “deliberately misled” top generals about it, according to a Pentagon spokesman who summarized the classified report on Friday.

The group was only supposed to “provide broad information about the political and tribal dynamics in the region — called ‘atmospherics’ — and ‘force protection’ information that might protect American troops from attack.”

Atmospherics are generally understood to be the environmental, security, political, and socio-cultural gauges that a military analyzes as part of a broader assessment of a conflict zone.

“These policy violations consisted of directing unauthorized HUMINT (Human Intelligence) operations conducted by non-government personnel under the guise of gathering and reporting “force protection atmospherics” for the ‘Information Operations CAPSTONE’,” a human intelligence gathering project, Pentagon spokesman David Lapan told AFP.

Lapan said the probe concluded that “further investigation is warranted of the misleading and incorrect statements the individual made” about the legality of the program.  Furlong told the New York Times his work had been approved by a number of senior military officers in Afghanistan, and that he misled no one.  

The AP reported that Furlong denied the accusations, saying he was never questioned by the investigators or privy to the contents of the report so that he may respond to the charges.

Furlong is on administrative leave, pending final review of the case by the Air Force inspector general, which will determine whether or not he overstepped his duties.

The story was based on comments anonymous military officials and businessmen in Afghanistan and the United States.

Eventually, the report noted, some “American officials … became troubled that Furlong seemed to be running an off-the-books spy operation.”

Furlong denies the charges saying his operation was approved at the highest levels and that he was never interviewed by investigators. 

One interesting sidebar is that Duane Clarridge, who was the CIA veteran pardoned by President George H.W. Bush for his role in the Iran-Contra affair, an involvement he has always denied, oversaw some of the agents in this ring.