Washington ( CNN ) -- A former high-ranking CIA official who was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal has worked on an alleged ad hoc spy program that the Pentagon is investigating , CNN has learned . Duane `` Dewey '' Clarridge -- who was pardoned for his alleged role in the Reagan-era scandal by President George H. W. Bush in the waning hours of his presidency in 1992 -- is using contacts in Afghanistan and Pakistan to obtain information for the Pentagon , according to former government officials familiar with the current program . They declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue . The Pentagon has launched an assessment of the roles of at least three contractor companies with more than $ 20 million in contracts , according to Pentagon officials . Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to know if bounds were overstepped . He needs `` a factual baseline from which to determine whether or not systemic problems exist , '' and how to fix them if they do , Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said Tuesday . The two-week survey will be led by a small team of senior military and Defense Department officials , he said . The assessment was prompted by an investigation -- currently under way -- into a program led by Michael Furlong , a Defense Department official who oversaw contracts aimed at gathering information about Afghanistan and Pakistan . The program was meant to be limited to gathering what is known as `` open-source information , '' in which publicly available facts are gathered from , for example , local media and public events . Some of the contractors with the program -- retired CIA officers and former military commandos -- may have instead hired local agents to gather information on the specific locations and movements of particular individuals and passed it along to military officials for possible lethal strikes , according to government officials and private-sector businessmen familiar with the investigation . Federal laws and regulations generally prohibit contractors from directly engaging in intelligence collection because it is considered a crucial government function . The Pentagon is seeking to find out both whether the law was violated and whether funds were inappropriately diverted to conduct these alleged operations . Furlong has denied wrongdoing . `` This is something that I need to know more about , but we do have reviews and investigations going on to find out what the story is here , find out what the facts are , and if it 's necessary to make some changes , I 'll do that , '' Gates said Monday . Documents provided to CNN detail sensitive information that contractors gathered , including word of a meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai 's brother and Mullah Baradar , a top Taliban leader who was arrested weeks later in Pakistan . At another meeting with Taliban commanders , an audio message from the reclusive leader Mullah Omar was played , in which he directed who would lead operations after a key member was captured . Another document details the comings and goings at a safe house in Kabul , Afghanistan , used by suspected members of the Haqqani insurgent network . Concern within the Central Intelligence Agency about the contract played a role in prompting the investigation , according to officials . Rear Adm. Gregory Smith , a spokesman for the U.S.-led force in Afghanistan , told CNN last week that elements of Furlong 's project were not clear . `` There was ambiguity about how they were going to collect information , '' he said , and about whether Afghans were to be used to do the work , and how the information might be used . `` None of us were comfortable with what this contract meant . We wanted to know how they were going to glean information , '' Smith said . Smith said he subsequently terminated Furlong 's effort last year because of his concerns . He estimates $ 6 million to $ 7 million of the funds allocated were spent and does not know what happened to the balance of the contract money . Clarridge , the former CIA official allegedly involved in the ad hoc spy ring , worked for the agency for 33 years , heading the agency 's Latin American and European divisions and setting up its Counterterrorist Center in 1986 , according to a Publisher 's Weekly review of his book `` A Spy For All Seasons . '' He was indicted in 1991 on federal charges of lying to Congress and the Tower Commission , which investigated the Iran-Contra affair , the review says . Investigators said Clarridge was the man who put then-Marine Col. Oliver North in charge of sending money and weapons to anti-Communist fighters in Nicaragua in the 1980s , in contravention of congressional mandates . Clarridge always maintained he was innocent , referring to the scandal as `` the Iran-Contra nonsense , '' Publisher 's Weekly said .
Program used contractors to gather publicly available info in Pakistan and Afghanistan . Pentagon investigating whether contractors also hired local operatives to spy . Former officials tell CNN ex-CIA agent Duane Clarridge has worked on the program . Clarridge was involved in Iran-Contra scandal , was pardoned by first President Bush .