Sources familiar with U.S. Intelligence on the subject say that the adversaries of the United States, notably China and Russia, are telling their intelligence agencies to increase their efforts in recruiting disgruntled U.S. national security employees who may have lost their jobs or be fired soon.
CNN reported Friday that sources indicated the adversaries believed the Office of Personnel Management’s mass layoffs earlier this week would leave former or soon-to-be former employees vulnerable enough for them to leak information.
Russia and China are particularly interested in fired employees with information on government bureaucracy, critical infrastructure, and probationary employees.
Two sources confirmed that at least two countries are using LinkedIn to target federal employees and recruit them.
A third source told CNN, “It doesn’t require much imagination to realize that these federal workers who have a wealth of institutional knowledge are incredibly attractive targets for the intelligence services of both our adversaries and competitors.”
The Department of Justice charged former military and intelligence officials with providing information to China in recent years.
Tulsi Gabriel, the Director of National Intelligence, said earlier this week that talk of recruitment is a “threat”, not a warning, from disloyal Federal employees. She also suggested that sanctions should be imposed against those involved.
“I am curious about how they think this is a good tactic to keep their job,” she said in a Fox News interview this week. “They’re exposing themselves essentially by making this indirect threat using their propaganda arm through CNN that they’ve used over and over and over again to reveal their hand, that their loyalty is not at all to America. It is not to the American people or the Constitution. It is to themselves.”
Officials who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity expressed frustration that the administration accuses them of being liars.
Holden Triplett commented that employees who feel mistreated by their employer are more likely to divulge sensitive information. He was the former FBI attache in the U.S. Embassies of Moscow and Beijing and the Director of Counterintelligence in the National Security Council during the first Trump Administration. We may, unintentionally but certainly, be creating the ideal recruitment environment.
The Pentagon announced last week that over 5,000 probationary staff could be terminated, and more than 20 CIA officers have already been dismissed for their work on diversity issues.
Former intelligence officials have pointed out that the CIA is always looking for disgruntled employees of other governments, including Russians. They also release recruitment videos to convince them to spy for the United States.