The intelligence arm of the Pentagon aims to recruit up to 1,600 intelligence “collectors” to create an international spy network that would rival the CIA in size, sources told The Washington Post.

The Defense Intelligence Agency is placing emphasis on the recruitment of civilians as it seeks to place agents in academic and business executive positions overseas.

Since 9/11, the CIA’s counterterrorism unit has grown from 300 to 2,000 agents. Even with all those new hires, the agency has been unable to keep up with expanding operations. Hundreds of military assignments await the new DIA agents.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.