Due to the 43-day suspension of the U.S. government's operations, about 750,000 employees of the U.S. administration were sent on free leave. The soldiers fear that they will not receive a wage or will be delayed in their payment. Their frustration is exploited by abroad agents, offering work or “easy” money in exchange for papers or confidential information.
Lt-Gen Anthony Hale, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Intelligence Army, issued a peculiar message addressed to soldiers and people employed in the army, in which he warned against " malicious attempts to contact and usage soldiers in active service and army veterans under the pretext of building a network of professional contacts". He informed the "Miltary Times", which had access to the General's memo. It is simply a circumstantial social media for networking, but not mentioned.
The uncertain situation is to be exploited by the enemies of America, who effort to recruit frustrated and dissatisfied soldiers," General Hale suggested. "Military Times" quoted a passage of a note saying "foreign intelligence agencies operate online, impersonating consulting companies, corporate recruiters, think tankers and another seemingly legal companies".
"In particular, in the context of the fresh budget decline and suspension of government activities, our opponents are looking online for people seeking fresh employment opportunities, expressing discontent or describing financial uncertainty," the general continued. Agents are to offer work or "easy" money in exchange for papers or confidential information.
Military Counterintelligence Command Adam Lowe confirmed the “great increase” of this kind of usage attempt, noting that this was Hale’s second informing to the full army, for the first was already in May 2024. As Lowe stressed, the current informing came at the end of the “closure of the government” period erstwhile soldiers and civilians “found themselves in financial distress”, and many of them had or had access to classified and confidential information. "This is besides at a time erstwhile the online political discourse has intensified, and opponents note the discontent of those who have access to information and effort to exploit it," Lowe wrote in an email.
Counterintelligence pursues specified actions and so far 25 people have already been arrested; more than 650 national safety investigations are besides underway. This year, 7 arrests of soldiers charged with crimes were revealed, including espionage and sharing information with abroad agents.
And even so, Korbein Schultz, a 25-year-old erstwhile military intelligence analyst, was arrested and sentenced to 7 years in prison for "storage for gathering and providing information on national defence, illegally sending controlled information to China, and accepting bribes in exchange for confidential, non-public information from the US government".
Schultz was to make contact in 2022 with a likely Chinese government agent named Conspirator A "via an online work platform for freelancers, shortly after the suspect gained access to top-secret/confidential information (TS/SCI)". "In impersonating a client of a geopolitics consultant, Conspirator A urged the accused to draw up detailed analysis of the U.S. military possible and planning, in peculiar with respect to Taiwan and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict," the Department of Justice reported. Schultz gained access to at least 92 government papers and passed them on to Conspirator A, earning about $42,000 on it.
"Current and erstwhile national staff must be aware of these approaches and realize the possible consequences of commitment," wrote Hale. "If the offer seems flattering, urgent, exclusive or besides good to be true, it most likely is," he added.
Soldiers were encouraged to study attempts to track them to a local counterintelligence office or a dedicated hotline.
Source: militarytimes.com
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