US intel shows Russia and China are attempting to recruit disgruntled federal employees, sources say | CNN Politics
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Foreign adversaries including Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to ramp up recruiting of US federal employees working in national security, targeting those who have been fired or feel they could be soon, according to four people familiar with recent US intelligence on the issue.

Summary

U.S. intelligence has found that Russia and China are actively recruiting recently fired or at-risk federal employees, particularly those with security clearances.

The effort coincides with the Trump administration’s mass layoffs in the federal workforce. Foreign intelligence officers are using LinkedIn and other platforms to identify potential recruits.

Officials warn this could expose critical U.S. secrets, but the administration has dismissed concerns.

Meanwhile, internal layoffs at the CIA and Pentagon may further increase vulnerabilities, with some terminated employees already challenging their dismissals in court.

  • stardust@lemmy.caEnglish
    3·
    27 minutes ago

    Hopefully Canada jumps at this too and tries to recruit these former government employees. It’d be too good a chance to miss out on with them sharing the border with a very hostile country.

  • rowrowrowyourboat
    67·
    10 hours ago

    Europe and Canada should be having a field day recruiting disgruntled employees.

    The brain-drain is going to be serious in the US in the coming years if there is no civil war or world war.

  • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.worldEnglish
    47·
    9 hours ago

    Career officials at the CIA have been quietly discussing that risk and how to mitigate it in the recent weeks, current and former intelligence officials previously told CNN. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard earlier this week suggested that those discussions represented a “threat” made by disloyal government employees — rather than a clinical warning of the potential risks posed by President Donald Trump’s aggressive cost-cutting strategy — and that those involved should be penalized.

    She wants to penalize people for trying to mitigate the risks caused by needlessly penalizing people?