Former CIA Spies: "The CIA Tried To Ban This Story!" We're Leaving The US by 2030!

The CIA, warned by an ally of an internal mole, forms a "shadow cell" to expose and capture the traitor who was compromising American intelligence operations.

Ally Warns CIA of Internal Mole

A foreign ally contacted the CIA to report that an agency insider, codenamed the mole, was leaking information about operations, officers, and assets to an adversarial country referred to as "Falcon Intelligence." The CIA was unaware of the extent of information shared, but the tip from the ally indicated there was a penetration within Falcon House, the CIA group focused on Falcon country.

Foreign Intelligence Reports CIA Officer Leaks Secrets to Adversary

The leader of Falcon House revealed there was a mole inside the agency. CIA did not know what had been shared or how much, but an ally noticed something amiss that helped identify the mole's presence.

CIA Forms "Shadow Cell" to Expose Mole

To entrap the mole and establish intelligence sources, the CIA initiated an operation involving married officers Andrew and Jihee Bustamante.

CIA Assigns Married Officers Bustamantes to Trap Mole and Establish Intelligence Sources in Neighboring Country

The operation required the Bustamantes to craft new identities and aliases and operate in a friendly neighboring country, coded as "Wolf," adjacent to the adversarial Falcon. The CIA's primary objective was to collect information on Falcon while simultaneously tempting the mole to make discernible errors.

New Intelligence Streams Force Mole Mistakes, Revealing Identity

By creating new intelligence streams in Falcon, the mole made mistakes, leading to their identification. The effectiveness of the shadow cell's strategy was confirmed afterward, as the mole was arrested with evidence traced back to the Bustamantes' operations. Furthermore, the shadow cell model influenced a substantial restructuring within the CIA in 2014.

The Mole's Actions Compromise the Bustamantes' Undercover Identities

Through intelligence baiting, the mole's actions led to the exposure of Andrew and Jihee Bustamante’s undercover operations, risking their lives.

Mole Discovers Bustamantes' Roles, Alerts Adversary, Risking Lives

The mole, having taken the risk to learn and disclose the Bustamantes' roles, endangered the couple's lives by alerting the adversary co ...

The Bustamantes, operating under cover, exhibited advanced tradecraft in their "Shadow Cell" operation to collect intelligence and bait a mole within an adversarial country.

Bustamantes Assume New Identities and Commercial Covers in Adversarial Country

The Bustamantes assumed new identities to operate effectively in the adversarial country known as Falcon. They adopted the personas of a newlywed couple named Chee Hee and Andrew Bustamante. Andrew used the alias Alex Hernandez while traveling to Falcon to prevent being tracked. To support their covert operations, they established a fake business front, Acme Commercial, which was set up as a real but fake business run by the CIA where Andrew acted as a middle manager. Acme Commercial was designed to source disposable goods from foreign countries for distribution across Western countries.

"Dry Cleaning" Obscures Travel Routes to Evade the Adversary

The Bustamantes used advanced tradecraft known as "dry cleaning," wherein they would travel from a friendly country to a neutral one before entering Falcon. This disrupted any potential tracking efforts, making the hostile country believe the operatives came from a place they did not. This passport swapping and consistent cleansing route were integral to avoiding detection. Andrew Bustamante highlights a specific encounter when he detected being under surveillance, which triggered a "surveillance detection route" he had to use to shake off the surveillance team.

Bustamante's CIA Team Created For Shadow Cell Mission

A specialized team was assembled for this mission, known as the shadow cell, which included officers, targeters, linguists, and technicians. The shadow cell's objective was to infiltrate the hostile country, build targets, and support operations against them. This involved logistical elements like establishing a supply chain for encrypted phones, satellite phones, SIM cards, money, and specialized gifts to entice targets.

The cell structure was intentionally decentralized and compartmentalized within Wolf, a friendly country, to protect against infiltration by the mole. Andrew Bustamante played a risky role by purposely exposing himself to the CIA to bait the mole. Other case officers carried out covert operations in Falcon while maintaining the secrecy of the larger cell structure.

The Shadow Cell Uses Unconv ...

The Bustamantes dive into the inner workings of the CIA’s culture and discuss the implications for officer psyche, the utilisation of commercial fronts, and the extent of surveillance in the digital age.

Cia Fosters Officer Loyalty and Need For Validation

Cia Trains Officers to Manage "Head Trash" but Conditions Dependence on Agency Approval

The CIA employs techniques such as visualization and box breathing to help officers counter "head trash," or negative self-talk, during operations. This training, as detailed by Bustamante, fosters self-reliance in stressful situations but simultaneously cultivates officer loyalty, conditioning them to rely on agency validation. Bustamante indicates that this conditioning also prevents officers from realizing their full potential outside of the agency, suggesting that the CIA does not want its officers to succeed independently.

Cia Officers Risk Recruitment As Double Agents By Adversaries

The potential recruitment of CIA officers as double agents by foreign adversaries is a significant risk according to Jihee Bustamante, who highlights the peril of "disappearance" or long-term incarceration without government intervention. Andrew Bustamante underscores that spies are driven by a need for validation, which can be exploited by foreign intelligence services offering rewards that surpass monetary compensation, such as security for their family and assurances of recognition for their worth and work.

Cia Uses Commercial Fronts to Facilitate Intelligence Collection

Cia Invests In Companies For Funding and Officer Cover

Commercial businesses can serve as fronts for intelligence collection. Andrew Bustamante discusses the CIA's creation of both real and fake companies for such purposes. He specifically mentions In-Q-Tel, an investment vehicle through which the CIA funds new technology. These entities also act as covers for operatives with Andrew mentioning using a cover company to arrange an early return home.

Entities' Profits Fund Cia's Covert "Black Budget"

The CIA’s "black budget" is financed by profits from business ventures created by intelligence organizations, as explained by Bustamante. This discretionary spending for military and intelligence operations does not rely on taxpayer dollars, further emphasizing the autonomy and secrecy of CIA financial operations.

Cia and Intelligence Agencies Surveil Citizens Widely

Leveraging Legal Authorities to Ac ...