Wal-Mart starts staffing black trenchcoats

Forget the NSA or the FBI -- Wal-Mart's internal security department may just rival some of the figures from any good Tom Clancy novel soon. The world's largest retailer reportedly has been recruiting former military and government intelligence officers for a branch of its global security office.

Apparently, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) needs to keep a lid on certain things and wants to have internal intelligence in certain areas. Areas like "suspect individuals and groups" have been referenced, as have Wal-Mart shareholders who also have activist voices. Is Wal-Mart's security turning into a black-box operation? Does it have to in order to quell what it perceives as possible threats to its image?

The retailer has had a bad string of security-related problems recently, from a fired security employee who was taping phone calls and performing illegal surveillance of shareholders with different viewpoints. What is going on here? So far, the company has denied any wrongdoing, the security employee was fired (but has retaliated by saying he was forced to do these things) and much of this has blown over without much scrutiny.

But, Wal-Mart has also advertised (publicly) for security professionals to work as "global threat analysts" on behalf of the retailer -- positions which often require a background in government or military intelligence work. If you hear (or don't hear) that black helicopter outside your window soon, it may have been painted yellow and blue with a big happy face on it.