Concerns about espionage rise as Trump and Musk fire thousands of
federal workers
[March 24, 2025]
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk
work to overhaul the federal government, they’re forcing out thousands
of workers with insider knowledge and connections who now need a job.
For Russia, China and other adversaries, the upheaval in Washington as
Musk's Department of Government Efficiency guts government agencies
presents an unprecedented opportunity to recruit informants, national
security and intelligence experts say.
Every former federal worker with knowledge of or access to sensitive
information or systems could be a target. When thousands of them leave
their jobs at the same time, that creates a lot of targets, as well as a
counterespionage challenge for the United States.
“This information is highly valuable, and it shouldn’t be surprising
that Russia and China and other organizations — criminal syndicates for
instance — would be aggressively recruiting government employees,” said
Theresa Payton, a former White House chief information officer under
President George W. Bush, who now runs her own cybersecurity firm.
Many agencies oversee crucial data
Each year an average of more than 100,000 federal workers leave their
jobs. Some retire; others move to the private sector. This year, in
three months, the number is already many times higher.
It's not just intelligence officers who present potential security
risks. Many departments and agencies oversee vast amounts of data that
include personal information on Americans as well as sensitive
information about national security and government operations. Exiting
employees could also give away helpful security secrets that would allow
someone to penetrate government databases or physical offices.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, for instance, maintains
information on trade negotiations that could help an adversary undercut
the United States. Federal records house data on clandestine
intelligence operations and agents. Pentagon databases contain reams of
sensitive information on U.S. military capabilities. The Department of
Energy oversees many of the nation's most closely guarded nuclear
secrets.
“This happens even in good times — someone in the intelligence community
who for personal financial or other reasons walks into an embassy to
sell America out — but DOGE is taking it to a whole new level,” said
John Schindler, a former counterintelligence official.
“Someone is going to go rogue,” he said. “It’s just a question of how
bad it will be.”
Only a tiny fraction of the many millions of Americans who have worked
for the federal government have ever been accused of espionage. The
overwhelming number are conscientious patriots who would never sell out
their country, Payton said.
Background checks, employee training and exit interviews are all
designed to prevent informants or moles — and to remind departing
federal employees of their duty to preserve national secrets even after
leaving federal service.
Even one person can do serious damage
It takes only one or two misguided or disgruntled workers to cause a
national security crisis. Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen and former CIA
officer Aldrich Ames, who both spied for Russia, show just how damaging
a single informant can be.
Hanssen divulged sweeping information about American
intelligence-gathering, including details that authorities said were
partly responsible for the outing of U.S. informants in Russia who were
later executed for working on America's behalf.
The odds that one angry former employee reaches out to a foreign power
go up as many federal employees find themselves without a job, experts
said. What's not in doubt is that foreign adversaries are looking for
any former employees they can flip. They're hunting for that one
informant who could deliver a big advantage for their nation.
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Demonstrators rally in support of federal workers outside of the
Department of Health and Human Services, Feb. 14, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
“It's a numbers game,” said Schindler.
Frank Montoya Jr., a retired senior FBI official and former top U.S.
government counterintelligence executive, said he was less concerned
about well-trained intelligence community employees betraying their
oaths and selling out to American adversaries. But he noted the many
workers in other realms of government who could be targeted by
Russia or China,
“When it comes to the theft of intellectual property, when it comes
to the theft of sensitive technology, when it comes to access to
power grids or to financial systems, an IRS guy or a Social Service
guy who’s really upset about what DOGE is doing, they actually are
the bigger risk,” Montoya said.
Once military and intelligence officials were the primary targets of
foreign spies looking to turn an informant. But now, thanks to the
massive amount of information held at many agencies, and the
competitive edge it could give China or Russia, that's no longer the
case.
“We have seen over the last generation, the last 20–25 years, the
Chinese and the Russians increasingly have been targeting
non-national defense and non-classified information, because it
helps them modernize their military, it helps them modernize their
infrastructure," Montoya said.
Online activity makes it easier than it once was
The internet has made it far easier for foreign nations to identify
and recruit potential informants.
Once, Soviet intelligence officers had to wait for an embittered
agent to make contact, or go through the time-consuming process of
identifying which recently separated federal employees could be
pliable. Now, all you need is a LinkedIn subscription and you can
quickly find former federal officials in search of work.
“You go on LinkedIn, you see someone who was ‘formerly at Department
of Defense now looking for work’ and it’s like, 'Bingo,’" Schindler
said.
A foreign spy service or scammer looking to exploit a recently
laid-off federal worker could bring in potential recruits by posting
a fake job ad online.
One particularly novel concern involves the fear that a foreign
agent could set up a fake job interview and hire former federal
officials as “consultants” to a fake company. The former federal
workers would be paid for their expertise without even knowing they
were supplying information to an enemy. Russia has paid unwitting
Americans to do its business before.
Payton's advice for former federal employees looking for work? It's
the same as her guidance for federal counterespionage officials, she
said: "Be on high alert."
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond
to questions about the risks that a former federal worker or
contractor could sell out the country. Director of National
Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently announced plans to investigate
leaks within the intelligence community, though her announcement was
focused not on counterespionage concerns but on employees who pass
information to the press or the public.
In a statement, the office said it would investigate any claims that
a member of the intelligence community was improperly releasing
information.
“There are many patriots in the IC that have reached out to DNI
Gabbard and her team directly, explaining that they have raised
concerns on these issues in the past but they have been ignored,"
the office said. “That will no longer be the case.”
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