Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is beginning to look like a bad episode of the TV version of Batman. Last week, I posted on Wal-Mart's paranoid spying unit -- nicknamed the Bat Cave. Today, The Wall Street Journal reported on yet another once secret project -- dubbed Project Red -- to spin off Wal-Mart's Sam's Club [subscription required] operation. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart shareholders would not be likely to benefit from such a spin off.

Wal-Mart's recent woes are considerable. Its stock price is down 20% over the last five years while rival Target Corp.'s (NYSE: TGT) -- whose TV advertisements are fantastic -- is up 75%. Meanwhile at Wal-Mart, a former vice chairman pleaded guilty last year to fraud and tax evasion related to using Wal-Mart funds for custom-made alligator boots and a dog kennel. He had said he was reimbursing himself for payments he made to help keep unions out of Wal-Mart. In December, Wal-Mart fired a senior marketing executive, saying she had had a personal relationship with a subordinate and accepted gifts such as pricey vodka from a vendor. When she sued, Wal-Mart filed in court what it said were suggestive emails.

Now, after firing Bat Cave member, Bruce Gabbard, for spying on a New York Times reporter, it emerges that he was part of the security team for Project Red. Wal-Mart hired two teams of McKinsey & Co. consultants, so neither could fully grasp the project. Cameras inside a room recorded their activities. The security team encrypted data and reports and created passwords to secure their work.

Being the world's biggest retailer doesn't make Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) feel secure. No sir! According to the Wall Street Journal [subscription required], Wal-Mart spies on reporters, critics, stockholders and the consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

And you thought the US was paranoid with its Patriot Act that lets librarians track your web searches and its Total Information Awareness system. Wal-Mart makes Hewlett Packard Company, Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) -- which spied on its board of directors to detect press leaks -- look like a chump!

Wal-Mart's spying operation is run by a 20-person Threat Research and Analysis Group from the Bat Cave -- a separate glass-enclosed structure which its employees access by holding the palm of their hands to a biometric reader. Here are some of the choice details of Wal-Mart's spying scheme: