PERSONNEL ISSUES

CIA Warns in Top-Secret Cable That Too Many Informants Are Getting Killed

Every CIA station across the world got the stark message: The agency is losing too many spies.

Leaders of the Central Intelligence Agency sent a cable to every CIA station on earth warning agents that too many of the agency’s informants were being killed or captured, The New York Times reports. The cable, sent last week, also outlined systemic issues that led to the dozens of documented incidents of arrest and death. CIA officials said agents across the agency had exercised poor tradecraft, been too trusting of their sources, and underestimated foreign intelligence, particularly adversaries’ technological capabilities. Douglas London, a former CIA operative, told the Times, “No one at the end of the day is being held responsible when things go south with an agent.”