CIA now actively hiring failed investment bankers

June 2, 2009 by Leave a comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
It’s been several months now since Dennis Blair announced that “the primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications”. Barack Obama’s Director of National Intelligence even hired James Rickards, a self-described “threat finance” expert, to advise him on “[c]ountries [that] might […] be tempted to engage in financial warfare” against the United States. It now appears that the rapid rise of microeconomic concerns to the top of the US intelligence community’s threat list has also affected the CIA. The Agency has announced a new recruitment program targeting fired investment bankers to work in its Directorate of Intelligence. Speaking on National Public Radio’s Marketplace, CIA official Jimmy Gurule said the new recruitment drive is part of creating “a national strategy […] to deal with these types of financial issues”. Unfortunately, Marketplace’s piece is extremely superficial. A more in-depth analysis of what “these types of financial issues” may mean, is available here.

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Analysis: Can US intelligence help with economic crisis?

March 14, 2009 by 1 Comment

By IAN ALLEN| intelNews.org |
Last month, US Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, warned that the ongoing global economic crisis should be Washington’s “primary near-term security concern”. Although it is unclear whether Blair’s statement represents a grass roots shift in the US intelligence community’s analytical and operational focus, his comments were seen as an attempt to raise economic intelligence to the top of Washington’s intelligence priorities. Observers have described such a potential transformation as “a sea change” and “a new prism” for analyzing global developments from an intelligence standpoint. But do Blair’s remarks represent a concrete change in US intelligence attitudes? Is the economic crisis really a more important intelligence concern than transnational terrorist networks? Read more of this post

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Analysis: US issues financial warfare warnings against China, Russia

February 20, 2009 by 1 Comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS| intelNews.org |
It turns out that Admiral Dennis Blair wasn’t kidding when he said last week that “the primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications”. Barack Obama’s Director of National Intelligence warned during his annual threat assessment that “the longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to US strategic interests”. The continuing credit vulnerability of the US economy is central to these fears, and it appears to be forcing the rapid rise of microeconomic concerns to the top of the US intelligence community’s threat list. A major aspect of these concerns centers on the hard-to-ignore fact that China currently holds close to $1 trillion-worth of US monetary debt. Trade experts suggest that, should China suddenly decide to offer these securities for sale, “the US dollar would tank”. The chances of this happening are slim -the Chinese economy would also suffer from such a move- but US intelligence agencies are taking no chances. On February 19, the office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a public warning to the Chinese government that it would consider any attempts to sell US Treasury bonds an act of “financial warfare”. Keep reading →

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