According to a U.S. official, the CIA sent an unclassified email containing a list of all newly hired employees in order to comply with the president’s executive order to reduce the federal workforce. This raised concerns among lawmakers and former intelligence officials that the list could be used by America’s enemies.
According to the current U.S. official, the list included the last names of persons hired within the last two years along with their first names and initials. These are the names of probationary employees. Probationary periods at the CIA can last for years.
According to a former senior intelligence official, any foreign intelligence agency with a reasonable level of resources might use research and analytical tools to match these names and initials with other publicly available documents in order to identify and target a large number of individuals.
The New York Times was the first to report on the emailed list.
The email put intelligence officers in danger, according to Intelligence Committee vice chair Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
China will directly target officials who perform extremely sensitive work if their identities were made public. “A terrible development for national security,” Warner posted on social media.
The leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, told MSNBC that the unclassified email had posed an unnecessary security risk. According to Himes, a completely needless counterintelligence risk was taken on today.
He stated that the House Intelligence Committee will demand answers even though they have not been briefed on the issue.
According to Himes, it seems to have been done due to inattention.
He went on to say, “We put a lot of people at unnecessary risk here, including young people just starting their careers.”
On January 20, the Office of Personnel Management sent a memo to all federal agencies requesting a list of newly hired employees who were still on probation by January 24 in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
On the other hand, the OPM lacks a network for sensitive communications. According to the official, the CIA then gave it an unclassified email including the new hires’ first names and last name initials.
A CIA spokesperson responded, “CIA is complying with the executive order,” when asked about the unclassified email.
The list’s total number of names is kept a secret. However, the CIA has been encouraging the hiring of more staff members who speak Chinese in recent years. The spy agency expanded its funding for gathering and analyzing intelligence on China under the Biden administration and established a new China mission center.
The email was sent as the Trump administration pushed to reduce the size of the federal workforce by offering employees “buyouts” in exchange for their resignation and eight months’ salary. Similar offers of deferred resignation were given to CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence staff this week, and officials stated that all 18 intelligence agencies are anticipated to receive similar offers.