Dozens of US spies killed after Iran and China uncovered CIA messaging service using Google
One former official claiming that “our biggest insider threat is our own institution”.
The CIA's communications suffered a catastrophic compromise. It started in Iran.
Yahoo News’ reporting on this global communications failure is based on conversations with eleven former U.S. intelligence and government officials directly familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive operations. Multiple former intelligence officials said that the damage from the potential global compromise was serious — even catastrophic — and will persist for years.
ROBERT STEELE: I do not believe this report. Apart from the fact that the clandestine service has always been properly paranoid about the digital world, the tip-off is eleven (11) officers talking about this. This strikes me as a cover story for CIA's telling Trump the truth, which is that they not have now and never had decent clandestine human networks in China, India, Iran, or Russia, among other places. Today the ease with which the Third World can plant geospatial trackers on every vehicle, but webcams on every cover office and home, and so on, suggests that CIA's clandestine service is probably 90% compromised and in need of a total make-over. Sadly the clandestine service does not want to do serious third country Non-Official Cover (NOC) operations — it remains trapped in the official cover / immunity paradigm. If true, the entire leadership of clandestine communications and information management should be fired. I have no doubt Gina is asking for a substantial increase in funding on the basis of this disaster, that will be wasted money. The US secret intelligence community is in a state of pathological dysfunctionality and not likely to be useful to President Donald Trump during either of his two terms We need a total make-over starting now — to include eliminating 70% of each secret agency and consolidating all the pieces in a new CIA that is challenged and supported every day by an Open Source Agency. CIA has fought me for 30 years on this, and it is a truly sad thing that their mediocrity is by design.
See Especially:
Dolphin: Intelligence Reform? Not Here, Not Now…
Rob Dover: Putting the Steele into intelligence reform
See Also:
2014 Intelligence Reform (All Others)
2014 Rethinking National Intelligence — Seven False Premises Blocking Intelligence Reform
Reflections on Specific Intelligence Reforms (Including Alarm on NSA from 1994 Onwards)
David Isenberg: Greg Treverton on Intelligence Reform in the USA — Garbage In, Garbage Out
David Isenberg: Google Scholar Results for “Intelligence Reform” and “Intelligence Reform Steele”
Reflections on Intelligence Reform
For the Record: Intelligence Reform
References on Intelligence Reform
