US spy agencies resisting White House plan to create master list of espionage threats
July 1, 2026 11 Comments
AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES are reportedly refusing to abide by a White House directive that requires them to turn over the names of all individuals who are believed to be spying on the United States. The directive aims to build a master list of all known foreign intelligence actors with the goal of streamlining American counterintelligence efforts against them. However, according to a New York Times report, senior counterintelligence officials are concerned that such a centralized master list could leak and result in a catastrophic compromise of national security information.
Citing “people familiar with the matter”, the Times said on Monday that the effort to create a master list of foreign spies and Americans who are spying on behalf of foreign intelligence services is being led by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The agency has asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI to provide the names of all individuals who have been found to engage in espionage and are being watched by the Bureau. Likewise, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been asked to provide names of foreign espionage operatives that populate its lists of potential assets—foreign spies who may in time be turned by the CIA.
The master list of spies would potentially allow the entirety of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) to monitor the global activities of these espionage operatives and share information about them in real time. Additionally, the existence of such a list would in theory prevent operational duplication and help deconfliction within the IC when it comes to counterintelligence efforts. The central idea behind the master list dates to National Security Presidential Memorandum – 7, a directive issued by President Donald Trump in October 2017, during his first term in office.
However, senior counterintelligence officials are reportedly concerned that giving the ODNI full access to such a comprehensive master list of espionage threat actors could potentially compromise the integrity of counterintelligence operations. Information about espionage operatives and assets—both current and prospective—is usually protected behind several layers of classification and compartmentalization that shield it even within individual intelligence agencies. Additionally, some of the information relating to these individuals is acquired through counterintelligence activities authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and is thus subject to tight restrictions.
At a deeper level, the resistance of senior counterintelligence officials to surrender sensitive information about espionage to the ODNI reflects years of mutual suspicion and turf wars within the IC. According to the Times, these officials have yet to agree about how such a master list would be constructed, what information it would contain, who should have access to it, and how it should be maintained and updated.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 1 July 2026 | Permalink
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Iranian attacks on CIA facilities in Gulf prompts probe into Russian assistance
July 23, 2026 by Joseph Fitsanakis 4 Comments
The CIA maintains official stations inside American embassy facilities throughout the Gulf. But the agency also manages an extensive network of offices, logistics hubs, safe houses, and surveillance or other operational facilities throughout the region. The location of these facilities is highly classified and compartmentalized even within the CIA itself. According to intelligence sources cited by Reuters, few nations other than Russia possess the necessary resources to map the precise locations of CIA facilities and the desire to share them with Tehran.
Citing “four people familiar with US intelligence”, Reuters said that Iran has managed to successfully target “more than one and fewer than a dozen” CIA facilities in the Gulf since March. Among them is a secret facility in Iraq, as well as the CIA station in Saudi Arabia, which is located inside the US embassy complex in Riyadh. According to reports, Tehran deployed an advanced version of its Shahed and Mohajer drones to demolish the exterior wall of the CIA station before another set of kamikaze drones burst into the interior of the facility. Some analysts believe that the kinetic capabilities of the drones used in the attack had been enhanced using Russian technical expertise.
The Reuters report added that Moscow has a longstanding intelligence-sharing relationship with Iran and has been known to provide Tehran with targeting information and other forms of support. This relationship only strengthened since the onset of the current war between the US, Israel, and Iran. However, the report states that intelligence officials have yet to draw firm conclusions about Russia’s precise role in the Iranian attacks on CIA facilities.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 23 July 2026 | Research credit: M.J. | Permalink
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