As the Trump administration continues to chart a new course on economic and foreign policy, leftists and Never Trump holdouts within the Washington bureaucracy are working to sabotage its agenda – often through leaks of classified information in an admitted attempt to undermine the Trump agenda.
According to the Trump Department of Justice, a computer scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency who monitored insider threats was arrested at the end of May “for attempting to transmit national defense information to an officer or agent of a foreign government.”
As Breitbart News previously reported, “I do not agree or align with the values of this administration,” the suspect wrote in one message per an FBI affidavit. “To this end, I am willing to share classified information that I have access to, which are completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation.”
Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said that the Department is taking this threat seriously.
“The conduct alleged in this case is a profound betrayal of the American people and a direct threat to our national security,” she said in a statement. “The National Security Division is committed to using every tool available to uncover, disrupt, and hold accountable those who seek to harm the United States.”
In today’s digital age, unauthorized wireless devices, especially smartphones, have emerged as a significant challenge to stopping traitors and spies from leaking sensitive materials and national secrets to our enemies.
Retired Senior CIA Executive Rodney Alto, a leading voice for stronger counterintelligence protections, explained before the recent arrest that he believes only 10 percent of the thousands of U.S. government Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF) and Special Access Program Facilities (SAPF) are “appropriately detecting unauthorized devices.”
According to national security experts, the federal government implementing Wireless Intrusion Detection Systems (WIDS) — technology that can detect bureaucrats’ unauthorized use of portable electronic devices — can prove to be a significant remedy to the widespread leaking problem, allowing government agencies to identify and pre-empt potential threats before they occur.
“Even well-meaning employees can unknowingly become a source of classified leaks,” explains Chris Risley, the CEO of WIDS provider Bastille. “That’s why real-time wireless monitoring is critical in secure environments.”
Andy Keiser, Senior Fellow at the National Security Institute and a past Senior Advisor to the House Intelligence Committee, agrees.
“To properly enforce the no electronic device policy, the utilization of a Wireless Intrusion Detection System is essential,” he said. “Absent WIDS monitoring, the government is rolling the dice every time an individual strolls through the thick, soundproof doors of a SCIF or SAPF.”
The Trump administration is taking these internal leaking threats seriously and has taken significant steps to stop them.
The Wall Street Journal reports that DHS and FBI investigators are using polygraph tests to find leakers. And, in part because of problematic leaks, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard announced the establishment of the Director’s Initiatives Group, a new task force to restore transparency and accountability to the Intelligence Community.
“In order to rebuild trust in the Intelligence Community and execute the tasks required by President Trump’s intelligence-related Executive Orders, I established the Director’s Initiatives Group to bring about transparency and accountability across the IC,” she said in a statement.
Gabbard has also revoked the security clearances of several prominent left-wing Democrats.
Whether through polygraphs, task forces, or the use of detection systems, the administration is signaling that efforts to undermine its agenda from within the federal government will not go unchecked.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
