A CIA officer named David Rush allegedly invented an entirely fabricated top-secret special access program framed as continuity of government planning to steal forty million dollars in gold bars. He reportedly read in two colleagues as unwitting participants and used a bogus government contract to convince a defense contractor to purchase large quantities of gold. The FBI raid on his residence recovered 303 gold bars valued at roughly forty million dollars along with two million dollars in cash and thirty-five luxury watches. Investigators determined he had lied about college degrees and faked service as a Navy pilot yet cleared the agency's rigorous background process. A judge ordered him detained as a flight risk. Several CIA personnel have been placed on leave while the investigation expands. The case highlights how extreme secrecy protocols intended to shield operations from foreign adversaries instead concealed the fraud internally for years.
There's gotta be more to it his story. He had to have had help from people inside the Navy, DOD, and whatever college he listed on his application, as well as from people in the FBI doing his background check. Whether any FBI agents knew him or not, this type of sham requires help. Lots of help. That investigation is notoriously difficult to sham, or, it used to be.
I will say, though, that if you're able to get a lower level clearance first, like say a Secret Clearance, then getting it elevated to T.S. is relatively easy. Basically like a rubber stamp as long as you're finances and credit score are in decent shape and you haven't been in any major legal trouble. That's the way it went for me when I got my different clearances in the Navy.
So it's possible he had worked for a company that required a govt clearance before he applied for the CIA, who knows?
Our government was never delegated any power to keep secrets from us.
“Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.” ~ Lord Acton [John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton] (1834-1902), First Baron Acton of Aldenham
Letter, 23 January 1861
“Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.” ~ Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
“The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.” ~ Patrick Henry (1736-1799) US Founding Father
“One of the things that bothers me most is the growing belief in the country that security is more important than freedom. It ain't.” ~ Lyn Nofziger [Franklyn C. Nofziger] (1924-2006) American journalist, political consultant, author, Press Secretary for President Reagan
“Truth never envelops itself in mystery, and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself.” ~ Thomas Paine (1737-1809) US Founding father, pamphleteer, author
“The major function of secrecy in Washington is to keep the U.S. people ... from knowing what the nation’s leaders are doing.” ~ John Stockwell (1937-) U.S. Marine Corps Major, and Chief of Station and National Security Council coordinator for the CIA
A CIA officer named David Rush allegedly invented an entirely fabricated top-secret special access program framed as continuity of government planning to steal forty million dollars in gold bars. He reportedly read in two colleagues as unwitting participants and used a bogus government contract to convince a defense contractor to purchase large quantities of gold. The FBI raid on his residence recovered 303 gold bars valued at roughly forty million dollars along with two million dollars in cash and thirty-five luxury watches. Investigators determined he had lied about college degrees and faked service as a Navy pilot yet cleared the agency's rigorous background process. A judge ordered him detained as a flight risk. Several CIA personnel have been placed on leave while the investigation expands. The case highlights how extreme secrecy protocols intended to shield operations from foreign adversaries instead concealed the fraud internally for years.
SOURCE: https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/2063060186613314012 SOURCE (mirror): https://xcancel.com/MarioNawfal/status/2063060186613314012
There's gotta be more to it his story. He had to have had help from people inside the Navy, DOD, and whatever college he listed on his application, as well as from people in the FBI doing his background check. Whether any FBI agents knew him or not, this type of sham requires help. Lots of help. That investigation is notoriously difficult to sham, or, it used to be.
I will say, though, that if you're able to get a lower level clearance first, like say a Secret Clearance, then getting it elevated to T.S. is relatively easy. Basically like a rubber stamp as long as you're finances and credit score are in decent shape and you haven't been in any major legal trouble. That's the way it went for me when I got my different clearances in the Navy.
So it's possible he had worked for a company that required a govt clearance before he applied for the CIA, who knows?
I do believe JFK was right about this organization----into a thousand pieces!
Our government was never delegated any power to keep secrets from us.
“Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.” ~ Lord Acton [John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton] (1834-1902), First Baron Acton of Aldenham Letter, 23 January 1861
“Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.” ~ Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
“The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.” ~ Patrick Henry (1736-1799) US Founding Father
“One of the things that bothers me most is the growing belief in the country that security is more important than freedom. It ain't.” ~ Lyn Nofziger [Franklyn C. Nofziger] (1924-2006) American journalist, political consultant, author, Press Secretary for President Reagan
“Truth never envelops itself in mystery, and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself.” ~ Thomas Paine (1737-1809) US Founding father, pamphleteer, author
“The major function of secrecy in Washington is to keep the U.S. people ... from knowing what the nation’s leaders are doing.” ~ John Stockwell (1937-) U.S. Marine Corps Major, and Chief of Station and National Security Council coordinator for the CIA