10/5/2021- 1:34 p.m.
CIA STRUGGLING to recruit foreign informants — Agency admits dozens have been captured, killed or compromised (New York Times Report)
Intel officials warned all CIA stations last week of distressing numbers of informants recruited abroad to spy for the US being captured or killed, people familiar with the matter told the NYT.
A top secret cable said the CIA’s counterintelligence center was studying dozens of cases from the last few years involving foreign operatives who were killed, arrested or likely compromised.
The cable also gave specifics on numbers of agents executed while in service, which is a tightly-kept secret.
The cable reportedly addressed struggles the agency is having to recruit spies abroad.
In recent years, foreign intelligence in countries such as China, Iran and Pakistan have hunted down CIA sources and in some cases turned them into double agents.
