Thursday, October 03, 2013

I swear to defend the U.S. against enemies foreign and domestic, unless I miss a paycheck


The Director of National Intelligence says that the government's Shutdown Lite could tempt some U.S. intelligence operatives to become double agents working for foreign powers. They have to make ends meet, after all.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said it could be easier for enemies to recruit U.S. spies among the federal employees hit by furloughs from the sequester and now the shutdown.

"This is a dreamland for foreign intelligence service to recruit, particularly as our employees already ... [subjected] to furloughs driven by sequestration, are gonna have even greater financial challenges," he said. ...

When Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Clapper, point blank, whether the intelligence community could guarantee the security of the United States in the face of the ongoing shutdown, Clapper said no. "I don't feel that I can make such a guarantee to the American people," he told Grassley.
Clapper is probably just blowing smoke in support of his employer, Reverend Obama. Still, it is not the least strange pronouncement in a topsy-turvy time. Our director of national intelligence tells the Senate and American people that our intelligence agencies employ functionaries in sensitive positions who might be turned by our enemies because they've been furloughed for what will probably be just enough time to do a few household repairs.

But you have to remember, these are members of the Washington privileged class. The country works for them, and if it doesn't, too bad for the country. Our federal apparatchiks don't know what it feels like to toil for a corporation that can unemploy them in the blink of an eye, along with tens of thousands of their co-workers. They can't imagine spending years looking for a position in their field and winding up as a boiler room salesperson for aluminum siding. Or giving up job hunting and facing the rest of a lifetime as a redundant component of the economy.
The furloughed employees include both support staff and intelligence analysts, according to the official.
Weren't these people checked out to a fare-ye-well to get their security clearances? Aren't they routinely polygraph-fluttered at random times every few years? These aren't high-level operatives like Robert Hanssen with enough pull to deflect investigations (for a while, anyway). Is Clapper saying the U.S. intelligence establishment can't even protect itself against moles in its own "middle management"?

No one asks them to choose death before dishonor. Analysts don't risk capture and interrogation. Is it too much to expect that they might put loyalty to the country that has treated them so generously before the total job security they see as their right?

4 comments:

YIH said...

''Our director of national intelligence tells the Senate and American people that our intelligence agencies employ functionaries in sensitive positions who might be turned by our enemies because they've been furloughed for what will probably be just enough time to do a few household repairs.''
I don't deny that you quoted that exactly. It says a lot about our 'functionaries in sensitive positions who might be turned by our enemies' if that is the case. If they can 'be turned' by a (likely meaningless promise) of future comfort, they are likely 'double agents'.
At least the 'double agents' in this nation have a nation they can flee to if things get too heavy.
I wish I had the luxury that Mark Levin has, a nation that would accept me without question.
Unfortunately, unlike Mark Levin, I have nowhere to flee to and be able to sit back while MY (not his) county crashes and burns.

YIH said...

''Our federal apparatchiks don't know what it feels like to toil for a corporation that can unemploy them in the blink of an eye, along with tens of thousands of their co-workers. They can't imagine spending years looking for a position in their field and winding up as a boiler room salesperson for aluminum siding. Or giving up job hunting and facing the rest of a lifetime as a redundant component of the economy. ''
I too have been there: ''what it feels like to toil for a corporation that can unemploy them in the blink of an eye''. It wasn't tens of thousands, but it was many, and I was one of them.
I came to work as usual one day and was told ''you no longer work here, you're laid off''.
I didn't 'retire', I was 'retired'.
It was quite difficult but I managed to survive, but I went through a 18 months of hell between times.

Rick Darby said...

YIH,

I doubt that many people working in our intelligence agencies will be seduced into treason by the furloughs or a failure to reach a deal on the borrowing limit later this month. Clapper is just trying to add to the panic Obama wants us to feel if he doesn't get his way.

But even to suggest mass defections is bound to have an effect on the morale of our intelligence personnel. It's insulting and a public vote of no confidence from their top boss.

But the sting they feel is nothing compared with what so many Americans who aren't federal employees face, as you did.

Rick Darby said...

OFF-TOPIC

For three days I have been unable to make any changes to the sidebar. For instance, clicking SOUNDTRACK>Edit>Configure text>Edit HTML, I can revise the HTML text in the box and save, but the changes disappear into wherever stray electrons go. (Yes, I do click "Save arrangement.")

This has never happened before. I am editing the HTML text that same way I always did. There are no error messages.

Can anyone familiar with Blogger quirks advise me? I'd like to think this is just a Blogger misfire, but it would seem like they would long since have heard about it from millions of users. Or maybe Buraq has secret agents in the company who scuppered the software to demonstrate the chaos that will ensue if he doesn't get his budget and hellcare system.