There are real concerns within the intelligence community that foreign adversaries, including Russia and China, could point to the increasing rows of federal employees recently fired for recruitment.
Agency’s officials are discussing this and warning colleagues and staff, the sources tell ABC News.
“It is not difficult for a foreign spy service to find an objective for recruitment. They simply have to connect online and look at the publications of people who have been recently fired, who are angry and who need money, “said John Cohen, former interim undersecretary of the Department of National Security for Intelligence and the taxpayer of the ABC news.
The agency seals on the floor of the lobby in the CIA, in McLean, Virginia, on September 24, 2022.
Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post through Getty Images
“These large -scale layoffs and shots could potentially cause a nightmare of counterintelligence and security.”
Cohen added that if these types of large -scale layoffs were happening in Russia or China, the United States would also be working “aggressively” to identify people to recruit as intelligence assets.
The White House National Security Council did not respond to multiple requests for comments.
CNN previously reported that foreign adversaries have recently ordered their intelligence services to increase the recruitment of federal employees who worked in national security, citing unidentified sources and a document produced by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service. That document, according to CNN, said that foreign intelligence officers were being aimed at looking for potential sources in LinkedIn, Tiktok, Rednote and Reddit.
-ABC News’ Josh Margolin, Pete Madden, Kristen Red-Horse and Selina Wang
