The CIA will expand its cyber-espionage abilities, restructuring its workforce to merge its operations and analysis branches to modernize in a new era,
The Washington Post reported.
The move under new CIA Director John O. Brennan, noted the Post, would mirror a model created by the agency's Counterterrorism Center after the Sept. 11 2001, terrorist attacks, and could integrate "analysis, collection and covert operations."
"It would be a huge deal," intelligence reform author Michael Allen, a former White House and congressional aide told the Post, adding that "there hasn’t been wholesale structural reform in the CIA post-9/11."
"The proposed shift reflects a determination that the CIA’s approach to conventional espionage is increasingly outmoded amid the exploding use of smartphones, social media and other technologies," the Post said.
While some say the reform is much needed to update the agency's ability to function in the cyber-focused world, the new plan has created among the ranks a "generational friction," the Post said.
But the move likely comes as global terror groups continue their expansion and as covert activities are seen as viable to assist in stopping their spread. The Islamic State, which started off with out 1,000 members in Iraq in 2004, has now grown to 30,000 militants throughout the Middle East and Africa,
the Daily Mail noted.
Signaling an agency shake-up, the CIA in January promoted its
top paramilitary officer to lead its spying wing, the National Clandestine Service, the Post said, noting that Brennan's revamp plans would mark "the most ambitious in CIA history." The promoted operative's identity was kept secret.