SpyWeek: Tulsi In, Kash Closer, Vance Stunner, FBI Purges, Trump's CIA

Welcome to SpyWeek, our weekly newsletter, where we look at news from the intersection of intelligence, foreign policy, and military operations.

DOGE RAMPAGE LEAK: Intelligence professionals and veterans are alarmed at another leak produced by Elon Musk’s uncleared DOGE youngsters rampaging through government personnel files. In the instant case a DOGE website update of federal workforce files “contained details about the headcount and budget for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence agency responsible for designing and maintaining U.S. intelligence satellites,” ABC News reported. “A former CIA official who served on classification review boards called the incident a ‘significant’ breach, "particularly if it involves the budget and personnel of the NRO," adding that "it could be even more significant if it involves declassifying sensitive information under executive authority." The security gaffe follows on a recent incident in which the CIA used an unclassified email channel to send a list of all new hires to the White House that included their first names and the first initials of their last names.

VANCE DIRECTIVE: Vice President JD Vance “stunned and silenced” his audience at the Munich Security Conference Friday when he advocated European nations open their doors to alternative parties (translation: far-right nationalists and neo-Nazis). Later, he met personally with Alice Weidel, head of the nationalist Alternative for Germany party, and extolled its cause. Of particular interest to us: In his speech, Vance also “ridiculed and diminished” the threat of Russian disinformation and other operations aimed at undermining the continent’s democratic governments, the New York Times reported.  “The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,” Vance said, startling the attendees and adding, “What I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States”—by which he seemed to mean far rightists.  German officials, in particular, loudly rejected Vance’s views. The divide may have important ramifications for relations between European intelligence services and their U.S. counterparts.