CIA operatives threaten to sell state secrets over firings
CIA officials are warning that agency operatives will sell state secrets to foreign adversaries if fired by the Trump administration, CNN reported Monday.
The radical Left news outlet claims to have spoken with anonymous intelligence officials who say the Trump administration is putting America’s national security at risk by firing CIA operatives because, if fired, they might commit treason.
“[O]n the CIA’s 7th floor — home to top leadership — some officers are also quietly discussing how mass firings and the buyouts already offered to staff risk creating a group of disgruntled former employees who might be motivated to take what they know to a foreign intelligence service,” CNN claimed.
The CIA has fired dozens of employees, including over 20 who worked in DEI roles. These disgruntled employees, who are challenging their terminations in court, were reportedly granted access to the agency’s classified operations. Now they may sell that information to Russia or China, which is being blamed on the Trump administration.
“I’m not sure the administration really understands [that risk] and moreover, even if they understand, it’s not clear they care,” CNN claims an unnamed official said, adding that the risk is “real.”
“You take whatever number of employees who are gonna get cut loose and they have knowledge of sensitive programs — that by definition is an insider risk,” an official said. “You’re just rolling the dice that these folks are gonna honor their secrecy agreement and not volunteer to a hostile intelligence service.”
Gabbard: ‘Their loyalty is not at all to America’
When asked about the report by Fox News host Jesse Watters, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said the threat of treason will not help disgruntled CIA employees keep their jobs.
“I am curious about how they think this is a good tactic to keep their job. 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,” Gabbard said. “It is not to the American people or the Constitution. It is to themselves, and these are exactly the kind of people that we need to root out and get rid of so that the patriots who do work in this area, who are committed to our core mission, can actually focus on that.”
Gabbard added there are CIA insiders who are alerting her to problem areas—or people—within the agency.
“I have people within the intelligence community reaching out to me personally and directly saying, ‘Hey, you need to know about this,'” she said. “You need to look over here. People are stepping forward because they are all on board with the mission to clean house and refocus on our core mission of serving the American people.”
