All posts tagged "Cia"

A government contractor with top-secret access is facing federal charges after allegedly feeding classified intelligence to someone he was dating.

The FBI arrested Ian Brinksman, a Washington resident who did contract work for the CIA, on Friday after searching his home, the Justice Department announced. Prosecutors allege he passed national defense information to a romantic partner who runs a newsletter on Substack.

"As alleged, Brinksman reached far outside his own duties to obtain some of our Nation's most closely held secrets and handed them to a romantic partner he knew intended to publish them," Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg, who leads the department's National Security Division, said in a statement. "That is not carelessness. It is a betrayal of his oath."...

CIA Director John Ratcliffe's secret trip to Russia came at the personal direction of President Donald Trump while senior White House aides were kept in the dark.

According to a Thursday report by the Wall Street Journal, the covert diplomatic mission to Moscow was tightly held as Trump dispatched his top spy to carry a message to top Kremlin figures. Trump's move bypassed aides and military brass who would ordinarily be looped in beforehand, The Journal noted.

The choice to send Ratcliffe as an envoy also marked a shift, The Journal pointed out. Earlier rounds of talks were led by other Trump confidants but failed to halt the fighting in Ukraine. Trump then turned to Ratcliffe, according to anonymous U.S. officials who talked to The Journal....

A fired CIA officer revealed a detail that stunned a CNN anchor during an interview about the Trump administration.

Decorated former CIA officer Julia Curlee told CNN anchor Dana Bash in an interview on Tuesday that the Trump administration fired her shortly after she was called out publicly for being trans. However, what caught Bash by surprise was Curlee's account of how they asked her to return immediately after firing her.

"Laura Loomer had demanded my identity," Curlee said, detailing how the incident unfolded after the right-wing influencer "asked for someone to reveal [Curlee's identity] to the world so that we could drive out this trans Biden holdover."...

A federal appeals court on Thursday dealt President Donald Trump a fresh blow in his crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal court order blocking the Trump administration from firing dozens of CIA staffers tasked with working on DEI projects, court records show.

“Prior failure to follow the Termination Regulation...does not absolve the Agencies of their duty to it going forward,” wrote Judge Nicole Berner in the majority statement. ...

President Donald Trump's ceasefire deal with Iran has been heavily criticized by a former Central Intelligence Agency director.

William J. Burns, who served as the CIA's director from March 2021 to January 2025, profiled the key problem of Trump's current negotiating position with Iran. Trump sought to achieve regime change in Iran and potentially control the country's uranium resources when his administration first launched strikes.

The admin framed the conflict as necessary for regional security and to counter perceived Iranian threats. However, analysts noted Trump's motivations extended beyond geopolitical strategy....

Donald Trump likely shocked CIA agents when he made a "very unusual move" before the strike against Venezuela, according to a former agency leader.

Former CIA Director John Brennan appeared on MS NOW on Saturday, when he was asked for a "sense of how this went down over the last five months."

The host asked, "How would it have percolated into what happened in the wee hours this morning?" in relation to the successful mission to capture Venezuela's leader....