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US Army Intelligence warns active-duty members of the military to be wary of unwanted approaches on social networking sites LinkedinWarning that they may be from foreign agents.
Lieutenant General Anthony Hale, deputy chief of staff for Army Intelligence, warned that America’s enemies were trying to take advantage of perceived discontent in the ranks generated by the record 43 days. government shutdownThat ended earlier this month, but left 750,000 federal employees furloughed without pay and uniformed personnel facing uncertainty over their pay and work orders.
“Foreign intelligence agencies are online, posing as consulting firms, corporate recruiters, think-tanks and other legitimate companies,” Hale wrote in a message dated Nov. 13 but circulated this week. according to militarytimes,
“Especially in the context of the recent lapse in appropriations and the government shutdown, our adversaries are searching online to identify individuals seeking new employment opportunities, expressing dissatisfaction, or describing financial insecurity.”
These foreign operators may approach soldiers and veterans with job offers or promises of “easy” money in exchange for white papers or privileged information, with the intent to collect sensitive information for their country’s benefit at the expense of our country, Hale said.
Army Counterintelligence Command spokesman Adam Lowe said metric ton Hale issued a similar warning in May 2024, noting that the service was seeing a “huge increase” in such covert methods.
“This latest shutdown came at the very end when soldiers and military civilians – many of whom have or had access to TS/SCI [Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information] – They have been put in precarious financial circumstances,” he said.
“This also comes at a time when online political discussions are [has] “It has become worse, and adversaries pay attention to expressions of dissent by those with access and try to exploit it.”
Lowe indicated he could not say much because there was “active pursuit of the adversary”, but he also said the military had recorded 25 arrests and more than 650 national security investigations since the counterintelligence command was activated four years ago, which he said represented a “significant increase” on earlier figures.
Seven US soldiers have been arrested for crimes including spying and sharing information with foreign agents so far this year.
Hale’s message presented the case of jailed 25-year-old intelligence analyst Corbin Shultz as a warning to troops.
According to the Justice Department, Shultz was sentenced in April to seven years in prison for “conspiring to collect and disseminate national defense information, illegally exporting controlled information to China, and accepting bribes in exchange for sensitive, nonpublic U.S. government information.”
An alleged Chinese spy, known as “Conspirator A”, reportedly contacted him through a freelance web-based work platform in 2022 and was ultimately persuaded to give up at least 92 documents on US military capabilities in relation to Taiwan and Russia for $42,000.
“Current and former federal employees should be aware of these approaches and understand the potential consequences of engaging,” Hale said regarding Shultz’s fall from grace.
“If the offer sounds flattering, urgent, special, or too good to be true, it probably is.”