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Newer News: April 2020

March 2020 Intelligence News

• Financial Cost of Coronavirus Leads Top Counterintelligence Official to Relax Top-Secret Clearance Rules by William M. Arkin, Newsweek, March 25. The March 23rd guidance directed security officers to consider "mitigating factors," specifically if "loss of employment, a business downturn, unexpected medical emergency, a death, divorce or separation, clear victimization by predatory lending practices, or identity theft" results in financial problems.
• Justice Department drops plans for trial over Russian interference in 2016 U.S. election by Josh Gerstein, Politico, March 16. "With jury selection set to begin in just over two weeks, prosecutors asked a federal judge to permanently dismiss the charges special counsel Robert Mueller brought two years ago against two Russian firms linked to a St. Petersburg businessman known as Putin's chef, Yevgeny Prigozhin."
• Wyden and Khanna Introduce Bill to Protect Whistleblowers, Ensure Journalists Aren't Targeted for Publishing Classified Information, news release, March 5. "In America we don't prosecute journalists for what they write -- especially when it comes to how the government may be weaponizing the intelligence agencies for political gain," Wyden said.
• Defense Department Linguist Charged with Espionage, Justice Dept news release, March 4. "Mariam Taha Thompson was charged with transmitting highly sensitive classified information to a foreign national with apparent connections to Hizballah. According to the affidavit, the information Thompson transmitted included classified national defense information regarding active human assets, including their true names."
• Feds: Mystery witness will implicate 'Putin's chef' in election interference by Josh Gerstein, Politico, March 4. "U.S. prosecutors say they have a witness who will directly implicate a Russian businessman known as 'Putin's chef' in schemes to carry out election interference overseas."