6 Questions About The Huge CIA Blunder That Allowed Enemies To Kill 70 U.S. Spies
More than 70 foreign nationals working as spies for the CIA in Iran and China were systematically identified and slaughtered in the past decade, thanks to agency negligence.
By Tony Daniel
November 7, 2018
More than 70 foreign nationals working as spies for the CIA in Iran and China were systematically identified and slaughtered in the past decade, due to a ridiculously weak web-based system the CIA used to communicate with foreign assets it couldn’t reach directly. This according to a devastating November 2 report in Yahoo News written by journalists Zach Dorfman and Jenna McLaughlin (center-left, but generally trustworthy).
Although the Iranian roll-up occurred in 2011, and the Chinese rout occurred from 2010 to 2012, the CIA did not remedy the root cause of the problem in its transient messaging scheme until 2013, when Yahoo reports teams of co-opted staffers worked around the clock to dismantle the compromised system.
Based on at least one analysis, it looks like a simple internet search using the command “InURL†and other readily available search tools revealed to Iranian and Chinese intelligence agencies a network of interconnected web sites that ultimately led back to CIA official servers. Iranian intelligence appears to be the first to have discovered and used the easy exploit, so simple as to be hardly describable as a hack, then passed the methodology on to others.
What’s more, it’s been public knowledge for years that the CIA had ample warning that something was amiss as early as 2006. Former CIA employee, then CIA contractor John Reidy had noticed agent compromises and pointed out the problem with the system to the agency at that time, ultimately taking his concerns to the CIA’s internal security apparatus and the office of its inspector general. Reidy was subsequently transferred, had his clearance restricted, and ultimately fired from his next contractor position in what appears it may be an act of petty bureaucratic revenge.
more
http://thefederalist.com/2018/11/07/6-questions-huge-cia-blunder-allowed-enemies-kill-70-u-s-spies/
