Posted on 03/25/2025 12:11:50 AM PDT by Jyotishi
Washington -- As President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk work to overhaul the federal government, they are forcing out thousands of workers with insider knowledge and connections who now need a job.
For Russia, China and other adversaries, the upheaval in Washington as Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency guts government agencies presents an unprecedented opportunity to recruit informants, national security andintelligence experts say.
Every former federal worker with knowledge of or access to sensitive information or systems could be a target. When thousands of them leave their jobs at the same time, that creates a lot of targets, as well as a counterespionage challenge for the United States.”This information is highly valuable, and it shouldn’t be surprising that Russia and China and other organisations, criminal syndicates for instance would be aggressively recruiting government employees,” said Theresa Payton, a former White House chief information officer under President George W Bush, who now runs her own cyber security firm.
Many agencies oversee crucial data
Each year an average of more than 100,000 federal workers leave their jobs. Some retire, others move to the private sector. This year, in three months, the number is already many times higher.
It is not just intelligence officers who present potential security risks. Many departments and agencies oversee vast amounts of data that include personal information on Americans as well as sensitive information about national security and government operations. Exiting employees could also give away helpful security secrets that would allow someone to penetrate government databases or physical offices.
The Office of the US Trade Representative, for instance, maintains information on trade negotiations that could help an adversary undercut the United States. Federal records house data on clandestine intelligence operations and agents. Pentagon databases contain reams of sensitive information on US military capabilities. The Department of Energy oversees many of the nation’s most closely guarded nuclear secrets.
“This happens even in good times, someone in the intelligence community who for personal financial or other reasons walks into an embassy to sell America out, but DOGE is taking it to a whole new level,” said John Schindler, a former counterintelligence official.
“Someone is going to go rogue,” he said. “It’s just a question of how bad it will be.”
Only a tiny fraction of the many millions of Americans who have worked for the federal government have ever been accused of espionage. The overwhelming number is conscientious patriots who would never sell out their country, Payton said.
Background checks, employee training and exit interviews are all designed to prevent informants or moles and to remind departing federal employees of their duty to preserve national secrets even after leaving federal service.
Even one person can do serious damage
It takes only one or two misguided or disgruntled workers to cause a national security crisis. Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen and former CIA officer Aldrich Ames, who both spied for Russia, show just how damaging a single informant can be.
Hanssen divulged sweeping information about American intelligence-gathering, including details that authorities said were partly responsible for the outing of US informants in Russia who were later executed for working on America’s behalf.
The odds that one angry former employee reaches out to a foreign power go up as many federal employees find themselves without a job, experts said. What’s not in doubt is that foreign adversaries are looking for any former employees they can flip. They’re hunting for that one informant who could deliver a big advantage for their nation.”It’s a numbers game,” said Schindler. Frank Montoya Junior, a retired senior FBI official and former top US government counterintelligence executive, said he was less concerned about well-trained intelligence community employees betraying their oaths and selling out to American adversaries. But he noted the many workers in other realms of government, who could be targeted by Russia or China, “When it comes to the theft of intellectual property, when it comes to the theft of sensitive technology, when it comes to access to power grids or to financial systems, an IRS guy or a Social Service guy who’s really upset about what DOGE is doing, they actually are the bigger risk,” Montoya said. Once military and intelligence officials were the primary targets of foreign spies looking to turn an informant. But now, thanks to the massive amount of information held at many agencies, and the competitive edge it could give China or Russia, that’s no longer the case.
“We have seen over the last generation, the last 20-25 years, the Chinese and the Russians increasingly have been targeting non-national defence and non-classified information, because it helps them modernize their military, it helps them modernise their infrastructure,” Montoya said.
Online activity makes it easier than it once was
The internet has made it far easier for foreign nations to identify and recruit potential informants.
Once, Soviet intelligence officers had to wait for an embittered agent to make contact, or go through the time-consuming process of identifying which recently separated federal employees could be pliable. Now, all you need is a LinkedIn subscription and you can quickly find former federal officials in search of work.
“You go on LinkedIn, you see someone who was formerly at Department of Defence now looking for work’ and it is like, ‘Bingo,’” Schindler said.
A foreign spy service or scammer looking to exploit a recently laid-off federal worker could bring in potential recruits by posting a fake job ad online.
One particularly novel concern involves the fear that a foreign agent could set up a fake job interview and hire former federal officials as “consultants” to a fake company. The former federal workers would be paid for their expertise without even knowing they were supplying information to an enemy. Russia has paid unwitting Americans to do its business before.
Payton’s advice for former federal employees looking for work? It’s the same as her guidance for federal counterespionage officials, she said: “Be on high alert.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to questions about the risks that a former federal worker or contractor could sell out the country. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently announced plans to investigate leaks within the intelligence community, though her announcement was focused not on counterespionage concerns but on employees who pass information to the press or the public.
In a statement, the office said it would investigate any claims that a member of the intelligence community was improperly releasing information.
“There are many patriots in the IC that have reached out to DNI Gabbard and her team directly, explaining that they have raised concerns on these issues in the past but they have been ignored,” the office said.
bkmk
Funny.
It’s arguing the fed workers are dishonest, disloyal and willing to engage in criminal, if not traitorous, activity.
And that’s their argument for not firing them!
There must be some time-tested disincentive to treason....
And what’s a FORMER employee gonna spill the beans on once passwords have been changed and they’re locked out your f the system?
It’s touching that the Press Trust of India is so concerned about espionage in the US that it reached out to former Bush administration advisor Theresa Payton, who has written books promoting Robert Mueller’s Russiagate hoax; former NSA analyst John Schindler, who accused Trump of knowing Paul Manafort was a Russian agent; and Robert Mueller FBI subordinate Frank Montoya, Jr., who recently liked a post asking “Why does Trump continue to do Putin’s bidding?”
John Schindler in 2017:
https://observer.com/2017/02/donald-trump-administration-mike-flynn-russian-embassy/
The Spy Revolt Against Trump Begins
Intelligence Community pushes back against a White House it considers leaky, untruthful and penetrated by the Kremlin
By John R. Schindler • 02/12/17 10:00am
In a recent column, I explained how the still-forming Trump administration is already doing serious harm to America’s longstanding global intelligence partnerships. In particular, fears that the White House is too friendly to Moscow are causing close allies to curtail some of their espionage relationships with Washington—a development with grave implications for international security, particularly in the all-important realm of counterterrorism.
Now those concerns are causing problems much closer to home—in fact, inside the Beltway itself. Our Intelligence Community is so worried by the unprecedented problems of the Trump administration—not only do senior officials possess troubling ties to the Kremlin, there are nagging questions about basic competence regarding Team Trump—that it is beginning to withhold intelligence from a White House which our spies do not trust.
That the IC has ample grounds for concern is demonstrated by almost daily revelations of major problems inside the White House, a mere three weeks after the inauguration. The president has repeatedly gone out of his way to antagonize our spies, mocking them and demeaning their work, and Trump’s personal national security guru can’t seem to keep his story straight on vital issues.
That’s Mike Flynn, the retired Army three-star general who now heads the National Security Council. Widely disliked in Washington for his brash personality and preference for conspiracy-theorizing over intelligence facts, Flynn was fired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency for managerial incompetence and poor judgment—flaws he has brought to the far more powerful and political NSC. . .
Prominent Democrats in Congress are already calling for Flynn to be relieved over this scandal, which at best shows him to be dishonest about important issues. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has bluntly asked for the national security adviser’s ouster. Republicans on the Hill who would prefer that the White House stop lying to the public about its Kremlin links ought to get behind Schiff’s initiative before the scandal gets worse.
In truth, it may already be too late. A new report by CNN indicates that important parts of the infamous spy dossier that professed to shed light on President Trump’s shady Moscow ties have been corroborated by communications intercepts. In other words, SIGINT strikes again, providing key evidence that backs up some of the claims made in that 35-page report compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence official with extensive Russia experience.
As I’ve previously explained, that salacious dossier is raw intelligence, an explosive amalgam of fact and fantasy, including some disinformation planted by the Kremlin to obscure this already murky case. Now SIGINT confirms that some of the non-salacious parts of what Steele reported, in particular how senior Russian officials conspired to assist Trump in last year’s election, are substantially based in fact. This is bad news for the White House, which has already lashed out in angry panic, with Press Secretary Sean Spicer stating, “We continue to be disgusted by CNN’s fake news reporting.”
That is hardly a denial, of course, and I can confirm from my friends still serving in the IC that the SIGINT, which corroborates some of the Steele dossier, is damning for the administration. Our spies have had enough of these shady Russian connections—and they are starting to push back. . .
In light of this, and out of worries about the White House’s ability to keep secrets, some of our spy agencies have begun withholding intelligence from the Oval Office. Why risk your most sensitive information if the president may ignore it anyway? A senior National Security Agency official explained that NSA was systematically holding back some of the “good stuff” from the White House, in an unprecedented move. For decades, NSA has prepared special reports for the president’s eyes only, containing enormously sensitive intelligence. In the last three weeks, however, NSA has ceased doing this, fearing Trump and his staff cannot keep their best SIGINT secrets.
Since NSA provides something like 80 percent of the actionable intelligence in our government, what’s being kept from the White House may be very significant indeed. However, such concerns are widely shared across the IC, and NSA doesn’t appear to be the only agency withholding intelligence from the administration out of security fears.
What’s going on was explained lucidly by a senior Pentagon intelligence official, who stated that “since January 20, we’ve assumed that the Kremlin has ears inside the SITROOM,” meaning the White House Situation Room, the 5,500 square-foot conference room in the West Wing where the president and his top staffers get intelligence briefings. “There’s not much the Russians don’t know at this point,” the official added in wry frustration. . .
More from John Schindler:
John Schindler
@20committee
·
Jun 12, 2019
Remember 12 JUN 2019. Today was the day a sitting President announced he would accept clandestine help from a hostile power to stay in office.
Translation for the cheap seats: Donald J. Trump, our 45th president, admitted that he is a traitor. On camera.
https://x.com/evanmcmurry/status/1138936855435591681
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John Schindler
@20committee
·
Jul 16, 2018
Mueller knows everything.
Thanks to the IC.
I repeat: Mueller. Knows. Everything.
How many times do
@TheRickWilson
& I gotta tell y’all this?
And btw … He’s coming.
John Schindler
@20committee
·
Mar 16, 2018
What happens when a President up to his neck in dirty Kremlin ties declares open war on the FBI and its employees?
We’re about to find out.
John Schindler
@20committee
·
Jul 16, 2018
Mueller knows everything.
Thanks to the IC.
I repeat: Mueller. Knows. Everything.
How many times do
@TheRickWilson
& I gotta tell y’all this?
And btw … He’s coming.
John Schindler
@20committee
·
Mar 16, 2018
What happens when a President up to his neck in dirty Kremlin ties declares open war on the FBI and its employees?
We’re about to find out.
John Schindler
@20committee
·
Oct 30, 2017
The Papadopoulos case ALONE — with its direct effort at collusion with RIS — is enough to sink Trump.
This is DAY 1, peeps....buckle up!
John Schindler
@20committee
·
May 9, 2017
The optics of firing the FBI director investigating your Russia ties then meeting the Russian FM on THE VERY NEXT DAY defy easy description.
John Schindler
@20committee
·
May 25, 2017
Just got this msg from a pal who’s a snr Europe scty official: “After [Trump NATO speech] it’s obvious he’s Putin’s boy. Now we will act.”
They need to get off their ass. Catch them, try them, and execute them in a public firing squad. A couple times of that. Problem over. Treason is treason. EOS
Frank Montoya, Jr.:
* * *
https://www.businessinsider.com/capitol-siege-was-tip-of-iceberg-for-far-right-extremists-2021-1
Law enforcement veterans say the Capitol siege was just the tip of the iceberg of the ‘cult-like’ threat far-right extremists pose to the US
Analysis by Sonam Sheth
Jan 29, 2021, 1:50 PM CT
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National security veterans told Insider the Capitol siege was just the tip of the iceberg on threats by white, right-wing extremists.
“The threat we’re facing right now is not only real but deeply embedded — and cult-like,” a former FBI agent told Insider.
Another former FBI analyst detailed how extremists are using conspiracies to groom people to commit violence.
Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
. . .Frank Montoya, Jr., a recently retired FBI special agent, told Insider that the Capitiol siege indicates far-right extremism is a “fundamental” threat to national security, even more so than foreign terror groups. Indeed, many of these extremists are white, male US citizens, some with backgrounds in the military, and are less likely to be profiled as a terror threat than those of Middle Eastern descent in the post-9/11 era.
“The threat we’re facing right now is not only real but deeply embedded — and cult-like — in our society,” Montoya said. “Look at how many military and law enforcement types were involved in the Capitol assault and how many people in Congress supported the effort to overturn a free and fair election on January 6.”
If the attack had come from ISIS or Al-Qaeda, “there would be blue-ribbon commissions, legislation, billions of dollars and thousands of employees from across the government thrown at the problem,” he added. “The First Amendment and civil liberties are paramount, but far-right extremism isn’t about that. It’s about insurrection.”. .
Montoya said the FBI, in particular, has a “huge role” in combating far-right extremism in the US, even absent a domestic terrorism statute.
The bureau “already has the tools and authorities it needs to investigate the kinds of illegal activities far-right extremists engage in,” he said. Beyond that, he added, the US intelligence community also has a significant role to play, particularly as it relates to links between far-right extremists within the US’s borders and criminal or nation-state supporters overseas. . .
* * *
https://lamag.com/news/top-fbi-official-asks-judge-for-leniency-in-crooked-agents-sentencing
Top FBI Official Asks Judge For Leniency In Crooked Agent’s Sentencing
Former G-man Babak Broumand, who was convicted of moonlighting for L.A.’s Armenian mafia, is facing a decade in prison
Michele McPheeFeb 16, 2023
The retired FBI agent convicted in October in a downtown L.A. federal courtroom on a slew of charges connected to trading top secret security intel to an Armenian crime family figure in exchange for lavish gifts and expensive romps in Vegas is getting some high-profile help from a former top intelligence official.
Frank Montoya Jr., who ran two FBI field offices and acted as the former director of the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, is imploring a federal judge to show Babak Broumand mercy at his sentencing, slated for February 27. Montoya wrote to the judge overseeing his case that the convicted agent’s FBI career gathering human intelligence required him to work in “tough and dangerous places with little to protect him but his own wits.”
“The kind of work Babak did, often in the shadows of a gray and treacherous world, frequently has a debilitating impact on those who do it,” Montoya wrote to the Honorable Judge R. Gary Klausner, who oversaw Broumand’s two-week trial. Testimony over that September fortnight was filled with tantalizing tales of crooked cops, partying on private jets with sex workers, and a Qatari royal who fed his Demerol addiction with the help of the Armenian mob.
Theresa Payton:
* * *
https://www.deseret.com/2008/3/13/20076071/fbi-asked-to-probe-plame-e-mail-issue/
FBI asked to probe Plame e-mail issue
Published: March 13, 2008, 12:14 a.m. MDT
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By Associated Press
WASHINGTON — An ethics advocacy group asked the FBI on Wednesday to investigate the White House e-mail controversy, saying electronic messages about the Valerie Plame affair may have been destroyed.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is basing its request on a White House document describing an effort to recover a week’s worth of missing e-mail in 2003 from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney. . .
. . .In a sworn statement Jan. 15 responding to questions from U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola, White House official Theresa Payton said that “this office does not know if any e-mails were not properly preserved in the archiving process.”
Details of the e-mail problem involving Cheney’s office didn’t come to light until the Feb. 26 congressional hearing.
In its latest court filing Wednesday, the National Security Archive asked the federal court to authorize questioning of Payton about her January declaration, which also stated that computer backup tapes “should contain substantially all the e-mails.”
* * *
https://www.scworld.com/news/trump-says-russia-had-no-reason-to-interfere-in-2016-election
Trump says Russia had no reason to interfere in 2016 election
July 16, 2018
By Teri Robinson
. . .The intelligence community has concluded beyond a shadow of a doubt that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections,” said Fortalice Solutions CEO Theresa Payton, former White House CIO under President George W. Bush.
“In 2016, Russian hackers attacked every major system in our democratic process, from stealing private DNC emails to possibly altering state databases of voter registration data,” Payton explained, contending they now “are entering the 2018 midterms with an even better understanding of the flaws in our cybersecurity.”. . .
By Jason Abbruzzese with NBC News Tech and Science News
Published on 25/04/2019 - 18:10 GMT+2
5 ways the Trump administration could prepare to thwart 2020 election meddling
NBC News spoke with several former White House and government cybersecurity experts who focused on a handful of areas that need to be addressed to secure the U.S. voting process.
President Donald Trump’s reluctance to punish Russia for meddling in the 2016 election — documented in detail in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report — has alarmed many cybersecurity experts, who have warned that, without action, the U.S. faces even greater threats in 2020. . .
Theresa Payton, co-founder of the cybersecurity company Dark Cubed and White House chief information officer under Obama, said that local and state election authorities often do not have the technical expertise necessary to counter sophisticated foreign actors. . .
Hella hangings.
Exactly the plan. How else do you flush out the treasonous bastards and basterdettes?
Great catch
That's on them. So much for their much vaunted loyalty.
Elon Musk isn’t firing anybody. Idiotic title.
Another way to view the shrinkage of government workers is it’s a reduction in the number of potential leakers. The shrink had to be done, and the fall out should be contained as well as possible. My guess is there will be exposure of many who have been selling info for a long time. Covering one’s tracks when they aren’t present to do so leaves a lot of info for investigators.
This, being information of a national security nature, would NEVER, EVER be released to the public. In fact 30,000 foot overview plans such as these would stay strictly within the confines of each effected entity.
Newer leftist strategy: make crap up with realistic SOUNDING, AI generated structured stories to cause the admin to waste time and resources chasing these slanderous ghosts instead of doing the work they are instead actually doing.
The firings will actual dry up the sources that the foreign spy networks have come to depend on.
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