U.S. Fails to Screen for Those Who Spy for Money, Report Says

WASHINGTON —  Federal counterintelligence agencies have failed to change their methods to catch contemporary spies who betray America’s secrets for money rather than for ideology, a House Intelligence subcommittee charged Wednesday.

Too much time and money are devoted to physical security and electronic devices rather than focusing on human weakness, the report said, adding that individuals on the inside have been responsible for the most serious espionage losses in recent years.

It urged a fundamental reevaluation of existing screening programs to detect “financial vulnerability” of those with access to secrets or former employees aware of classified information who were fired or left their jobs with a grudge against the government.

Critical of Pentagon

Although the report was critical of the Pentagon and the CIA for intelligence failures, it also said that Congress must do more to tighten up its procedures for clearance of Senate and House staff members who work with secret information.

The subcommittee also said that the government is still classifying too many documents as secret and granting too many security clearances to individuals without adequate checks before, during and after their employment.

The subcommittee report, approved unanimously by the 17-member parent Intelligence Committee, urged the next President to make personnel security a top national priority.

“Financial gain, not ideology, is the primary motivation among most spies apprehended in the United States in recent years,” the report said in one of its major findings. “A large majority of recent intelligence losses have resulted from the actions of a cleared individual who decided to betray his country and not from hostile intelligence officers penetrating a secure facility.

“Increased (screening) efforts are required, especially in the area of assessing financial vulnerability among personnel holding security clearances,” it added.

The subcommittee said that the Office of the Secretary of Defense now has only six professional employees overseeing personnel and industrial security programs that cover more than 2.8 million members of the armed forces and 1.1 million workers in 12,000 defense facilities.

The major tool used to grant access to secret information, the report said, is a National Agency Check that costs only $10 and is widely regarded as inadequate because it does not include a credit report or a written inquiry to a former employer.