Trump's War Against The "Deep State" Has Created a Counterintelligence Nightmare
Our CI Professionals Will Have Their Hands Full
(GCV Note: This is one of our newest “newsletters,” Spy vs Spy, where I delve into the shadow world and highlight some interesting news that likely flew under your radar. This product will be open for paid subscribers going forward, but, alas, today’s version is free!)
Over President Trump’s first 100 days in office, he has waged a relentless war “against the deep state,” firing at least 121,000 federal workers, many of whom have SECRET and TOP SECRET clearances. This firing bonanza is a gift to America’s enemies, particularly their foreign intelligence services, who will use China’s 2015 Office of Personnel Management hack to identify and target American federal workers for exploitation. While President Trump boasts of improved efficiency, his counterintelligence services are ill-prepared to tackle such a feeding frenzy.
While these potential new foreign intelligence service targets will require time to develop and groom, our CI officers have been achieving impressive wins throughout President Trump’s brief 100 days. Since President Trump’s inauguration, the federal government has indicted, charged, or sentenced Americans and foreign nationals for working on behalf of foreign governments.
On 1 May, two Chinese nationals and a California man pleaded guilty to money laundering charges involving drug trafficking revenue.
On 25 April, Serbian law enforcement authorities arrested two foreign nationals, Cui Guanghai, 43, of China, and John Miller, 63, of the United Kingdom, at the request of the United States. Cui and Miller coordinated and directed a conspiracy to harass, intimidate, and threaten a Los Angeles resident who had been publicly critical of President Xi Jinping.
On 23 April, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor with 30 years of experience pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent and removing classified information.
Additionally, on 23 April, a former Army intelligence analyst was sentenced to 85 years in prison for disclosing classified information to China. A week prior, a retired FAA contractor also pleaded guilty to acting as an agent for the Iranian government, which has no diplomatic presence in the United States.
In early April, the Justice Department unsealed a criminal complaint against two Iranians for conspiring to procure parts for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for Iran’s notorious Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In late February, an American business owner pleaded guilty to attempting to export sensitive military technology to China.
In mid-February, the Justice Department charged three American business employees with operating an illegal export scheme that involved Russia.
In late January, a Senior Advisor for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was charged with committing espionage on behalf of the Chinese government.
These indictments are not necessarily President Trump’s fault, per se, but they do underscore the persistent and consistent threat that foreign intelligence services pose throughout the United States. The primary responsibility for counterintelligence rests with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Department of Defense. America’s CI professionals are essential in defending America’s secrets from our adversaries. However, all three departments are being restructured and transformed, which may leave America’s secrets vulnerable at a critical time.
While Americans often conjure up images of spy versus spy, counterintelligence is an inherently complex and challenging area within the shadow world. It requires constant vigilance, resources, and time, especially in training and developing competent CI officers who will be tasked with addressing China, Russia, and, to a lesser extent, Iran and North Korea. Furthermore, the CI community faces new challenges in the era of artificial intelligence.
Tragically, America’s CI community will now have to contend with disgruntled American federal workers, many of whom were dismissed abruptly by the government. As a former strategic intelligence collector, these are the exact types of disgruntled workers I would have targeted as potential sources of exploitation. That doesn’t necessarily mean federal workers are traitors. Still, instead, they are human, and when humans get fired, they tend to become disgruntled, which leads to a whole host of poor decisions, including drinking, drug use, reckless spending, and extramarital affairs. In essence, they become easy targets for trained foreign intelligence services to manipulate and exploit.
The United States intelligence community faces a complex global landscape where American hegemony is in decline. However, as always, other adversaries will fill the vacuum that America creates, and that vacuum will not only play out on the battlefield overseas but also in the shadow world that unfolds every day throughout America.
As a former US Army CI agent, glad you are highlighting theses cases. What folks need to understand is that it is all about the long game. These ops take time to find by us or put into action by our advisories. Decades are needed.