wtf? { Wal-Mart hires former Intelligence Officers

Reading my gmail this morning I saw this link in the sponsored ads bar for my message from FAS Secrecy News:

Wal-Mart Recruits Intelligence Officers

The job description includes collecting information from "professional contacts" and public data to anticipate and assess threats stemming from "world events, regional/national security climates, and suspect individuals and groups."

"Familiarity with a broad spectrum of information resources and data-mining techniques" is listed among the skills sought, along with a foreign language, preferably Chinese or Spanish.

...

"The idea that Wal-Mart is creating its own personal CIA should make every American _ Wal-Mart customer or not _ nervous about whether Wal-Mart is invading their privacy or could do so in the future," said Chris Kofinis, spokesman for WakeUpWalMart.com.

So of course I had to follow the link.

WTF?

I can see the need for a company to have its own internal security, but this seems like more than counter-intelligence. Somethings fishy. This goes beyond normal corporate espionage. What makes me pause on this is:

1) Its Wal-Mart so I'm instantly suspect.
2) The Walton family is crazy.
3) Wal-Mart has a history of spying on employees.

The idea of corporations having their own intelligence services and armies used to be the stuff of science fiction, but its fast becoming reality it seems.