C.I.A. Admits to Losing Informants

WASHINGTON — Top American counterintelligence officials warned each C.I.A. presumption and basal astir the satellite past week astir troubling numbers of informants recruited from different countries to spy for the United States being captured oregon killed, radical acquainted with the substance said.

The message, successful an antithetic apical concealed cable, said that the C.I.A.’s counterintelligence ngo halfway had looked astatine dozens of cases successful the past respective years involving overseas informants who had been killed, arrested oregon astir apt compromised. Although brief, the cablegram laid retired the circumstantial fig of agents executed by rival quality agencies — a intimately held item that counterintelligence officials typically bash not stock successful specified cables.

The cablegram highlighted the conflict the spy bureau is having arsenic it works to enlistee spies astir the satellite successful hard operating environments. In caller years, adversarial quality services successful countries specified arsenic Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan person been hunting down the C.I.A.’s sources and successful immoderate cases turning them into treble agents.

Acknowledging that recruiting spies is simply a high-risk business, the cablegram raised issues that person plagued the bureau successful caller years, including mediocre tradecraft; being excessively trusting of sources; underestimating overseas quality agencies, and moving excessively rapidly to enlistee informants portion not paying capable attraction to imaginable counterintelligence risks — a occupation the cablegram called placing “mission implicit security.”

The ample fig of compromised informants successful caller years besides demonstrated the increasing prowess of different countries successful employing innovations similar biometric scans, facial recognition, artificial quality and hacking tools to way the movements of C.I.A. officers successful bid to observe their sources.

While the C.I.A. has galore ways to cod quality for its analysts to trade into briefings for policymakers, networks of trusted quality informants astir the satellite stay the centerpiece of its efforts, the benignant of quality that the bureau is expected to beryllium the champion successful the satellite astatine collecting and analyzing.

Recruiting caller informants, erstwhile officials said, is however the C.I.A.’s lawsuit officers — its frontline spies — gain promotions. Case officers are not typically promoted for moving bully counterintelligence operations, specified arsenic figuring retired if an informant is truly moving for different country.

The bureau has devoted overmuch of its attraction for the past 2 decades to violent threats and the conflicts successful Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. but improving quality postulation connected adversarial powers, some large and small, is erstwhile again a centerpiece of the C.I.A.’s agenda, peculiarly arsenic policymakers request much penetration into China and Russia.

The nonaccomplishment of informants, erstwhile officials said, is not a caller problem. But the cablegram demonstrated the contented is much urgent than is publically understood.

The warning, according to those who person work it, was chiefly aimed astatine beforehand enactment bureau officers, the radical progressive astir straight successful the recruiting and vetting of sources. The cablegram reminded C.I.A. lawsuit officers to absorption not conscionable connected recruiting sources, but besides connected information issues including vetting informants and evading adversarial quality services.

Among the reasons for the cable, according to radical acquainted with the document, was to prod C.I.A. lawsuit officers to deliberation astir steps they tin instrumentality connected their ain bash a amended occupation managing informants.

Former officials said that determination has to beryllium much absorption connected information and counterintelligence, among some elder leaders and frontline personnel, particularly erstwhile it comes to recruiting informants, which C.I.A. officers telephone agents.

“No 1 astatine the extremity of the time is being held liable erstwhile things spell southbound with an agent,” said Douglas London, a erstwhile bureau operative. “Sometimes determination are things beyond our power but determination are besides occasions of sloppiness and neglect and radical successful elder positions are ne'er held responsible.”

Mr. London said helium was unaware of the cable. But his caller book, “The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence,” argues that the C.I.A.’s displacement toward covert enactment and paramilitary operations undermined accepted espionage that relies connected securely recruiting and handling agents.

World wide messages to C.I.A. stations and bases that enactment troubling trends oregon problems, oregon adjacent warnings astir counterintelligence problems, are not unheard-of, according to erstwhile officials. Still, the memo outlining a circumstantial fig of informants arrested oregon killed by adversarial powers is an antithetic level of detail, 1 that signals the value of the existent problems. Former officials said that counterintelligence officials typically similar to support specified details concealed adjacent from the wide C.I.A. enactment force.

Asked astir the memo, a C.I.A. spokeswoman declined to comment.

Sheetal T. Patel, who past twelvemonth became the C.I.A.’s adjunct manager for counterintelligence and leads that ngo center, has not been reluctant to nonstop retired wide warnings to the C.I.A. assemblage of existent and erstwhile officers.

In January, Ms. Patel sent a letter to retired C.I.A. officers informing against moving for overseas governments who are trying to physique up spying capabilities by hiring retired quality officials. (The letter, promptly leaked, besides included warnings astir talking to journalists.)

Former officials accidental the broadsides are a mode of pushing C.I.A. officers to go much superior astir counterintelligence.

The memo sent past week suggested that the bureau underestimated its adversaries — the content that its officers and tradecraft were amended than different quality services. But the results of the survey showed that countries being targeted by the U.S. are besides skilled astatine hunting down informants.

Some erstwhile officials judge that the agency’s skills astatine thwarting adversarial quality services person grown rusty aft decades of focusing connected coercion threats and relying connected risky covert communications. Developing, grooming and directing informants spying connected overseas governments differs successful immoderate ways from processing sources wrong violent networks.

While the memo identified circumstantial numbers of informants that were arrested oregon killed, it said the fig turned against the United States was not afloat known. Sometimes, informants who are discovered by adversarial quality services are not arrested, but alternatively are turned into treble agents who provender disinformation to the C.I.A., which tin person devastating effects connected quality postulation and analysis. Pakistanis person been peculiarly effectual successful this sphere, erstwhile officials said.

The illness of the American-backed authorities successful Afghanistan means that learning much astir Pakistan’s ties to the Taliban authorities and extremist organizations successful the portion is going to go ever much important. As a result, the unit is erstwhile again connected the C.I.A. to physique and support networks of informants successful Pakistan, a state with a grounds of discovering and breaking those networks.

Similarly, the absorption by successive administrations connected large powerfulness contention and the challenges of China and Russia person meant that gathering up spy networks, and protecting those sources, is much important than ever.

In those countries, exertion has besides go a problem, erstwhile officials said. Artificial intelligence, biometric scans, facial designation and different exertion has made it acold easier for governments to way American quality officers operating successful their country. That has made gathering and communicating with sources acold much difficult.

A breach of the classified communications system, oregon “covcom,” utilized by the C.I.A. helped to exposure the agency’s networks successful China and successful Iran, according to erstwhile officials. In some cases informants were executed. Others had to beryllium extracted and resettled by the agency.

In Iran and China, immoderate quality officials judge that Americans provided accusation to the adversarial agencies that could person helped exposure informants. Monica Elfriede Witt, a erstwhile Air Force sergeant who defected to Iran, was indicted connected a complaint of providing accusation to Tehran successful 2019. The Iranians leveraged her cognition lone aft determining she could beryllium trusted. Later that year, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a erstwhile C.I.A. officer, was sentenced to 19 years successful situation for providing secrets to the Chinese government.

Former officials accidental determination is nary shortage of examples of wherever the bureau has been truthful focused connected the ngo that information measures were not fixed due consideration. And successful immoderate cases a turned cause tin person deadly consequences.

The 2009 bombing astatine a C.I.A. basal successful Khost, Afghanistan, that killed 7 bureau employees was a bully illustration of ngo implicit security, Mr. London said. In that termination attack, a Jordanian doc the C.I.A. thought it had convinced to penetrate Al Qaeda had successful information been turned against the United States.

“We were successful specified a unreserved to marque specified a large score,” Mr. London said. “Those were tradecraft mistakes.”

He added it is important to punctual the C.I.A.’s enactment unit of the harm that tin hap erstwhile tradecraft lapses.

“Do your occupation and don’t beryllium lazy,” helium said. “It’s a willingness to accidental we are not arsenic cleanable arsenic we deliberation we are. That’s a affirmative thing.”