Kash Patel and President Donald Trump are moving toward an earlier strategy—one that failed spectacularly in the early 1990s, according to former senior spy hunters. Back then, Director Louis Freeh, believing a decentralized approach would be more effective at fighting crime, “took a sledgehammer instead of a scalpel to headquarters staffing,” says Thomas McWeeney, a contractor the FBI hired at the time. But instead of welcoming a new era of effectiveness, Freeh oversaw a decade marked by crises—from intelligence failures leading up to the September 11th terror attacks to the bungled espionage investigation of Dr. Wen Ho Lee.
In a series of exclusive interviews, Szady, McWeeney, and other former FBI officials recounted their successes and failures as they tried to rebuild the bureau’s Cold War–era spy-hunting capabilities—a process laid out in a 2005 internal FBI document obtained by *The Bulwark*. Many of these former bureau officials, including lifelong Republicans and Trump supporters, say they share Patel’s stated goal of “[depoliticizing](https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/heritage-explains/how-can-we-fix-the-fbi)” the FBI. But some worry the administration is ignoring—or worse, actively crippling—counterintelligence at a critical time, as adversaries experiment with grave new threats, from AI-driven weapons to advanced cyber intrusions. Their experiences offer a glimpse into the type of challenges Patel faces—not only from foreign adversaries like China, but from rivals like Gabbard. “It’s tragic,” says Montoya. “All our work is being destroyed.”
NPVT on
Who was a spy – for Trump
SeminoleDVM on
Russia won/is winning the Cold War.
encrypted-signals on
America has never been weaker. There will be another 9/11 during Trump’s reign of terror.
Root-magic on
Someone should come up with an acronym
Kremlin
Agent
S?
H?
HopefulLeopard4908 on
Of course they’re destroying counterintelligence capabilities. They are traitors.
lo1l10l101l10o1l10ol on
Anybody who thinks the FBI are spies or know how to catch spies hasn’t worked for or with the FBI. They are literally Federal police. The reason they arrest spies is because actual proper intelligence agencies tell them where the spies are for them to arrest them because again, the FBI are the federal police.
ACAB applies and always has. If you shoot a CEO, they can betray the Constitution and find you in no time. If you’re a white supremacist organization headquartered in Newport Beach California, you can exist as a terrorist organization in the open.
These people aren’t on our sides.
AusTex2019 on
It’s Cashew because his brain is about the size of a nut.
mistertickertape on
These assholes turn everything they touch into shit. I call it the mierdas touch.
NotThatAngel on
It isn’t just that Trump is reassigning FBI and other security agencies to immigration. It’s that leaving us vulnerable to foreign attack is the worst thing that could happen to us right now. The day before we were attacked on 9/11, George W. Bush’s approval rating was about 53%. Shortly after the 9/11 attack, George W. Bush’s approval rating went up to 93%. It wasn’t because Bush had done anything, especially intelligent. It’s just that people tend to rally around the president and give him a lot more support and power during a national crisis. Keep in mind, Bush had ignored the bin laden determined to attack inside of the US presidential daily briefing. George W. Bush used the extra power he got from the 911 attack to begin to surveil Americans without judicial approval, and to attack a country which was not involved in the 9/11 attack. It doesn’t matter if the president is competent or moral. People will gather around and support a grossly incompetent president during a time of national emergency. Trump would doubtless use that extra power to inflict more damage onto America by turning Americans against other Americans based on race to such an extreme zdegree we would have a civil war in a short period of time. We would also likely go to war with countries that were not at all involved in the attack. In short, a terrorist attack right now would cause America to self-destruct.
galloway188 on
Gotta protect his girlfriend is fbi main job
flodur1966 on
Since Trumps objective is to weaken the US this completely is in line.
deadcatbounce22 on
Why do conservatives have such a problem with protecting ourselves from foreign intelligence? I can’t figure it out.
kinkgirlwriter on
Does any piece of the federal government work anymore?
Stunning_Mast2001 on
Gonna be wild when we learn just how deeply Russia or China or some foreign entity is embedded into the trump admin
jimbojones2345 on
Sounds like something a Russian asset would be into…
16 Comments
Kash Patel and President Donald Trump are moving toward an earlier strategy—one that failed spectacularly in the early 1990s, according to former senior spy hunters. Back then, Director Louis Freeh, believing a decentralized approach would be more effective at fighting crime, “took a sledgehammer instead of a scalpel to headquarters staffing,” says Thomas McWeeney, a contractor the FBI hired at the time. But instead of welcoming a new era of effectiveness, Freeh oversaw a decade marked by crises—from intelligence failures leading up to the September 11th terror attacks to the bungled espionage investigation of Dr. Wen Ho Lee.
In a series of exclusive interviews, Szady, McWeeney, and other former FBI officials recounted their successes and failures as they tried to rebuild the bureau’s Cold War–era spy-hunting capabilities—a process laid out in a 2005 internal FBI document obtained by *The Bulwark*. Many of these former bureau officials, including lifelong Republicans and Trump supporters, say they share Patel’s stated goal of “[depoliticizing](https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/heritage-explains/how-can-we-fix-the-fbi)” the FBI. But some worry the administration is ignoring—or worse, actively crippling—counterintelligence at a critical time, as adversaries experiment with grave new threats, from AI-driven weapons to advanced cyber intrusions. Their experiences offer a glimpse into the type of challenges Patel faces—not only from foreign adversaries like China, but from rivals like Gabbard. “It’s tragic,” says Montoya. “All our work is being destroyed.”
Who was a spy – for Trump
Russia won/is winning the Cold War.
America has never been weaker. There will be another 9/11 during Trump’s reign of terror.
Someone should come up with an acronym
Kremlin
Agent
S?
H?
Of course they’re destroying counterintelligence capabilities. They are traitors.
Anybody who thinks the FBI are spies or know how to catch spies hasn’t worked for or with the FBI. They are literally Federal police. The reason they arrest spies is because actual proper intelligence agencies tell them where the spies are for them to arrest them because again, the FBI are the federal police.
ACAB applies and always has. If you shoot a CEO, they can betray the Constitution and find you in no time. If you’re a white supremacist organization headquartered in Newport Beach California, you can exist as a terrorist organization in the open.
These people aren’t on our sides.
It’s Cashew because his brain is about the size of a nut.
These assholes turn everything they touch into shit. I call it the mierdas touch.
It isn’t just that Trump is reassigning FBI and other security agencies to immigration. It’s that leaving us vulnerable to foreign attack is the worst thing that could happen to us right now. The day before we were attacked on 9/11, George W. Bush’s approval rating was about 53%. Shortly after the 9/11 attack, George W. Bush’s approval rating went up to 93%. It wasn’t because Bush had done anything, especially intelligent. It’s just that people tend to rally around the president and give him a lot more support and power during a national crisis. Keep in mind, Bush had ignored the bin laden determined to attack inside of the US presidential daily briefing. George W. Bush used the extra power he got from the 911 attack to begin to surveil Americans without judicial approval, and to attack a country which was not involved in the 9/11 attack. It doesn’t matter if the president is competent or moral. People will gather around and support a grossly incompetent president during a time of national emergency. Trump would doubtless use that extra power to inflict more damage onto America by turning Americans against other Americans based on race to such an extreme zdegree we would have a civil war in a short period of time. We would also likely go to war with countries that were not at all involved in the attack. In short, a terrorist attack right now would cause America to self-destruct.
Gotta protect his girlfriend is fbi main job
Since Trumps objective is to weaken the US this completely is in line.
Why do conservatives have such a problem with protecting ourselves from foreign intelligence? I can’t figure it out.
Does any piece of the federal government work anymore?
Gonna be wild when we learn just how deeply Russia or China or some foreign entity is embedded into the trump admin
Sounds like something a Russian asset would be into…