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US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s brutal purge on government jobs sparks major alert among western spooks that the CIA, FBI community has been made vulerable to Russia and China
An American purge on sensitive government jobs and intelligence agencies has made employees with secrets vulnerable to foreign spies, it was claimed last night.
Fears are growing that dumped federal workers and spooks working for the CIA, FBI and other agencies could be approached by spies or trade secrets for money. Hundreds are under threat of losing their jobs, axed with little severance pay and left with mortgages and families to take care of with their finances left in ruins. Western security sources say despite the screening and security evaluations personnel undergo before joining a secretive organisation, suddenly being sacked could put them at risk.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has already cost the jobs, it is claimed, of some 6,000 military veterans and intelligence agencies are next. The purge is so insensitive and brutal, even roughly a third of those working for DOGE have quit and federal employees have resigned over the massive purge on jobs. But if the jobs-slashing project turns on CIA insiders this will create a large former workforce of disenchanted people with dire financial problems and resentment.
Russian and Chinese spy agencies place huge value on identifying western intelligence officers and then trying to persuade them to give up secrets or work for them on the inside. In particular they want military plans, which weapons are being developed and where and the identities of western sources in their own country. But such an operation can take years and it thought to be rare that agencies are penetrated to that extent.
One former UK intelligence officer told the Mirror : “This has become a real worry that people with sensitive information could be losing their jobs en-masse. “People have made huge sacrifices, forced to move to new cities like Washington which is extremely expensive and intelligence officers are not highly-paid. Putting them in such sudden need financially is going to create cracks and vulnerabilities that any foreign agency such as from Russia or China could exploit. Either they may be approached or they may choose to approach a foreign agency as they are so desperate.
“People are vulnerable and if you put their family at risk that will make them extremely vulnerable and although highly-screened, they are only human. And foreign actors know this.” The CIA is already conducting an internal probe to see what damage has been caused by an unclassified email sent to the White House that discussed possible layoffs. It used names and initials that had the potential to expose undercover officers and was sent by an element within Musk’s DOGE organisation. US President Donald Trump has had a long problem with the intelligence agencies since and are desperately trying to manage how to deal with his methods.
Some CIA employees may have to be reassigned because their identities may have been compromised and exposed since emails were sent over an unclassified server. Anyone hacking the emails could find that a CIA officer was working the visa section of a consular building in eastern Europe or China undercover, as can happen. By identifying one person doing that job they may calculate that other people before them were working for the CIA, making everyone involved vulnerable.
One source told the Daily Mirror: “This may mean a wholesale examining of the system and will cost money and time to reorganise various positions. These are long-term systems that have proved to work and political meddling with them is a major threat to a country’s intelligence agencies.
“No chances can be taken with intelligence agencies and if there is the slightest chance of a leak, vulnerability or breach then everything has to be closed down until the extent of the damage has been assessed, dealt with and closed down. It could be years before the damage is cleaned up.”