US secret services: Russia and China recruit dissatisfied employees

US secret services: Russia and China recruit dissatisfied employees

Foreign actors, including Russia and China, have recently instructed their secret services, the recruitment of US-Bundahlten to promote increasingly in the area of ​​national security. In particular, they aim at employees who have been dismissed or fear that they will be released in the near future. This reports several sources that are familiar with the current US intelligence information.

mass layoffs as a recruitment chance

The intelligence information shows that foreign actors are based on using the efforts of the Trump administration that could lead to massive layoffs in the Federal Service. A plan that was recently presented by the personnel management ensures worrying developments.

goals of the secret services

Russia and China focuses in particular on newly dismissed employees with security releases and on probationary employees who are threatened by discharge. Two of the sources report that these could have valuable information on the critical infrastructure and vital bureaucracy of the US government. At least two countries have already set up recruitment websites and begin with the targeted approach of federal employees on LinkedIn.

vulnerability of the employees

The foreign actors believe that these employees are “the most vulnerable now”, explained one source. "You are without a job, frustrated about your discharge, etc." Another insider commented: “There is no need for a great idea to see that these repelled federal employees with wealth of institutional knowledge are extremely attractive goals for the secret services of our competitors and enemies.”

response from the US authorities

The intelligence information seems to confirm a previously hypothetical fear of US officials: that the massive layoffs could offer an ideal recruitment option for foreign secret services that try to take advantage of financially vulnerable or angry former employees. The Ministry of Justice has charged several former military and intelligence officers in recent years because they have passed on confidential US information to China.

discussions in the CIA

managers of the CIA have tacitly discussed this risk in the past few weeks and have discussed opportunities for reduction. For the director of the National Secret Service, Tulsi Gabbard, these discussions represent a “threat” by illoyal government agent - instead of being a factual warning of the potential risks caused by the aggressive cost reduction strategy of President Donald Trump.

protection of confidential information

former officials expressed their concern about the administration's reaction to what they see as very real warnings. "Employees who feel poorly treated by an employer historically were much more willing to reveal sensitive information," said Holden Triplett, former director of counter -spy on the National Security Council. “We may create the perfect recruitment environment.”

effects on the CIA and the Ministry of Defense

The CIA and the Ministry of Defense are considering significant staff cuts. The Pentagon announced in a memo last week that over 5,000 probationary employees who are employed in most cases less than a year could be released at short notice. And the CIA has already released more than 20 employees due to their work on diversity issues, many of which now legally proceed against their discharge.

confidentiality endangered?

The CIA could unintentionally put some American secrets in the hands of foreign spies and hackers. In order to meet the mandate for reducing the federal personnel, the CIA sent an exceptionally unusual email to the White House at the beginning of this month, in which all new employees who have been in the authority for less than two years-including CIA agents who are preparing for hidden inserts, and this is via an unknown e-mail server.

Danger for ongoing operations

Some of these employees who had access to secret information about the operations and working methods of the agency could now be terminated as part of the layoffs.