January 1, CIA Admits To “Losing” Dozens of Informants

Top officials within the Central Intelligence Agency issued a memo saying that a concerning number of U.S. informants have been captured and executed.

According to a report from the New York Times, the CIA’s counterintelligence mission center investigated dozens of incidents within the last few years that involved killings, arrests, or compromises of foreign informants. In a highly unusual move, the CIA’s memo sent via a top-secret cable included the specific number of agents killed by other intelligence agencies.

The New York Times noted that disclosing the specific number is rare, as that data is usually kept secret from the public and even some agency employees.

The memo comes amid recent efforts by countries including Russia, China, Iran, and Pakistan to locate CIA informants and turn them into double agents, the outlet reported.

The cable cited issues like prioritizing “mission over security,” being too trustworthy of sources, a fast-paced recruitment process, and a lack of attention to potential intelligence risks.

“No one at the end of the day is being held responsible when things go south with an agent,” Douglas London, a former CIA operative, told the Times. “Sometimes there are things beyond our control, but there are also occasions of sloppiness and neglect, and people in senior positions are never held responsible.”

Per the Times, the increase in compromised informants shows the sophisticated ways foreign intelligence agencies track the CIA’s moves, including artificial intelligence, facial recognition tools, and other hacking techniques.

Source: New York Times