Dem
47
GOP
53
Many Americans are enraged by co-president Elon Musk firing people left and right, including federal employees who, until recently, were working in national security. Also throw in people still working in national security, but fearful of losing their jobs on account of some 22-year-old Muskrat who has an itchy DEL-key finger. Russia and China have taken notice.
In particular, these people are not only angry or nervous, but possibly in acute need of some funds. One study shows that 40% of Americans wouldn't be able to survive on their savings for more than 4 months. Imagine a situation where a Russian or Chinese operative offers someone in dire need a sign-up bonus of $10,000 right now and a promise of more later. There could be takers.
In fact, both Russia and China are actively trying to recruit assets among recently fired government workers, especially those with security clearances. They have even set up websites to help in recruitment. They are also targeting people on LinkedIn. Imagine the reaction of a recently fired worker to an ad on LinkedIn from some "company" offering immediate well-paid employment to people with experience in national security and a security clearance. The "company" could pose as some kind of think tank or government contractor and might be able to fool the target for a while and maybe indefinitely if the pay was good enough and the target didn't ask too many questions while making a steady income.
The intelligence community has said with "high confidence" that foreign adversaries are already actively trying to capitalize on the mass firings. It is known for a fact that at least one foreign handler directed an asset to create a fake profile on LinkedIn to do recruitment. There are probably many more.
Will DNI Tulsi Gabbard help here? She has already made it clear that she sees the problem as disloyal (former) employees and is focused on finding and punishing them. Gabbard went on Fox to declare that "their loyalty is not at all to America. It is not to the American people or the Constitution. It is to themselves." She wants to root out people she can't trust and replace them with "patriots." Snitch on your coworker and get a small bonus. That will sure help morale. She does not see the random firings of critical personnel as the problem and has no interest in doing anything about it.
Holden Triplett, who served as director of counterintelligence in the NSC in Trump v1.0, and was a former FBI attaché in the U.S. embassies in Moscow and Beijing, said: "We may be creating, albeit somewhat unintentionally, the perfect recruitment environment." Nevertheless, the CIA and DoD are actively looking at significant staff cuts. The "win" (a smaller government) comes now; the "loss" (Russia and China gaining critical national security information and acting on it) comes later. Some people in high places like it that way. (V)