DIANA WEST:Clapper: Shutdown a ‘Dreamland for Foreign Intelligence Services to Recruit’
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/clapper-shutdown-a-dreamland-for-foreign-intelligence-services-to-recruit?f=puball
The following is a report from state-supported Russia Televsion on DNI Clapper’s testimony on the impact on the government shutdown on inteligence.
The italics are in the original — so the Big Boss is sure to notice.
What drew my eye was this (itals in original):
“This is a dreamland for foreign intelligence services to recruit, particularly as our employees, already many of whom subject to furloughs driven by sequestration, are going to have, I believe, even greater financial challenges,” said Clapper.
If this is true — that some number of paychecks (all but certainly to become backpay) is what separates our intelligence agents from immediate defection — we’re really in trouble. If it’s not true, if it’s just more political grandstanding, the cloak and dagger set could feel pretty darn insulted, hurt, even. (Well, if that’s the way you feel, what’s that phone # for the Russian Consulate ….?)
From RT:
James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, and Ray Odierno, the US Army’s chief of staff, have both decried the impact of the government shutdown. Clapper has called employees’ unpaid furlough a recruitment ‘dreamland’ for foreign spy agencies.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. In my view I think this, on top of the sequestration cuts, seriously damages the safety and security of the nation,” the DNI told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that was intended as a discussion of NSA surveillance powers.
Officials say that about 70 percent of all intelligence personnel have been forced to take unpaid leave, including 4,000 computer specialists.
“This affects our global capability to support the military, to support diplomacy, and to support our policymakers. And the danger here, of course, that this will accumulate over time — the damage will be insidious. So each day that goes by, the jeopardy increases,” said Clapper.
The official said intelligence agencies are setting up financial counseling for staff at a time of unusual vulnerability.
“This is a dreamland for foreign intelligence services to recruit, particularly as our employees, already many of whom subject to furloughs driven by sequestration, are going to have, I believe, even greater financial challenges,” said Clapper.
General Ray Odierno has said that the first government shutdown since 1996, “impacts significantly day-to-day operations” of the US Army.
“The longer it goes on, the worse it gets. Every day that goes by, we are losing manpower, we are losing capability,” the chief of staff told Reuters from Germany.
The army is currently furloughing “non-essential” personnel – particularly those not involved in live operations abroad.
The shutdown, which has forced 800,000 government employees to stay at home, began on Tuesday, after Congress failed to agree next year’s budget. The central bone of contention has been the funding of Obamacare, a scheme to widen health insurance coverage in the US.
Senator Ted Cruz, one of the most vehement opponents of Obamacare, has said that Congress should pass a special amendment that will exempt the army and security services from the shutdown.
“If God forbid, we see an attack on the United States because the intelligence community has not been adequately funded, every member of this committee would be horrified,” said Cruz in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Attempts in the past two days to push through various piecemeal mitigations of the shutdown have failed to garner enough votes.
Diana West is a journalist and columnist whose writing appears in several high profile outlets. She also has a website: DianaWest.net.
Read more: Family Security Matters http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/clapper-shutdown-a-dreamland-for-foreign-intelligence-services-to-recruit?f=puball#ixzz2gkMUQno5
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