(Adnkronos) – The White House has asked the CIA for a list of spies who arrived in Langley in the last two years and therefore easier to fire because they are still in their probationary period. An order that the agency, led by Trump loyalist John Ratcliffe, obeyed by sending an unclassified email containing the first and last names initial of young agents and analysts, recently hired with a focus on China, whose identities are usually super protected because Chinese hackers are constantly trying to identify them.
The move, which confirms that the offensive is underway even within the intelligence community, which Elon Musk is directing, to reduce staff in all government agencies, has alarmed many in the intelligence community given the risk that the list could fall into the wrong hands. of adversarial countries, the New York Times underlines today.
But the fear of former agents interviewed by the Times, one of whom speaks of “a counterintelligence disaster”, is also that the list will end up in the hands of Musk’s young lieutenants, the team of computer experts hired by Doge who are taking control of the systems of all federal agencies. If this happens, the risk increases that the names will end up in the hands of China, Russia, or other foreign intelligence agencies.
Normally, the CIA would never put agent names in unclassified communications, like the one sent to the Office of Personnel Management, the White House office that oversees federal personnel that has come under the control of Musk and his.
The office downplayed concerns, saying the precaution was taken to include only first names and last initials. A measure that intelligence experts consider absolutely insufficient, since expert hackers can use these elements to cross-reference them with others available online to trace the identities of spies.
“Spreading the identities of agents doing highly classified work is like putting a target on their backs for China,” protested Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. In 2024, the CIA conducted the largest hiring campaign since the one following 9/11, with then-Director William J. Burns emphasizing ‘diversity’ and specialization on China-related issues.
