Month: April 2026

#FBI  #Counterintelligence   #AIReview
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The US Counterintelligence is dysfunctional and inefficient. How the Secure Act intends to address it?

AI Mode
The U.S. counterintelligence (CI) system is widely analyzed as dysfunctional and inefficient due to a reactive, fragmented structure that struggles to address modern, globalized threats from state actors. Experts warn that without significant reform, the nation faces the risk of a “9/11-scale intelligence failure”. [1, 2, 3]
The SECURE Act (part of the FY2026 Intelligence Authorization Act) intends to address these issues by fundamentally reorienting the community from a purely defensive posture to a proactive, unified, and offensive one. [1, 2, 4]
Problems in U.S. Counterintelligence

Fragmented and “Siloed” Structure: The CI community is often described as a “loose confederation” of independent organizations with narrow jurisdictions. This lack of unity allows adversaries to exploit “seams” between different agencies.
Reactive Law Enforcement Focus: Historically, U.S. CI has relied on a “law enforcement-centric” model that reacts to individual cases rather than proactively disrupting global state-sponsored networks.
Inefficient Decision-Making: Cumbersome procedures, such as multi-level reviews for information sharing and “turf battles” over roles and resources, have historically led to debilitating stalemates.
Critical Coverage Gaps: Current services provide coverage against less than 10% of high-priority foreign intelligence personnel in or transiting the U.S..
Information Overload and Secrecy: Analysts are often inundated with data, leading to “cognitive overload” that hampers effective analysis. Simultaneously, overclassification of documents prevents vital internal information sharing. [2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]

How the SECURE Act Intends to Address These Problems
The SECURE Act seeks to “reset” U.S. counterintelligence through the following reforms: [1, 12]

Centralized Authority: It establishes a Director of Counterintelligence with the power to direct rather than just recommend actions. This role serves as the principal advisor to the President on foreign spying threats.
Shift to Offensive Operations: The Act updates the legal definition of counterintelligence to include “deter, disrupt, investigate, and exploit”. This shift allows CI to use deception and proactive measures to neutralize foreign spies.
Closing Jurisdictional Seams: By giving a single director the ability to compel cooperation between various services, the Act intends to eliminate the gaps that foreign intelligence services currently exploit.
Operational Modernization: It mandates more vigorous operations, specifically targeting great power adversaries, and aims to move beyond the traditional “watch and wait” approach.
Addressing Emerging Vulnerabilities: Provisions include assessing vulnerabilities in critical areas like the commercial space sector (NASA and spaceports) and countering artificial intelligence (AI) threats. [1, 4, 5, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18]

Summary of Legislative Intent
Problem [1, 4, 5, 13, 14, 16, 17] SECURE Act SolutionReactive PostureRedefines mission to include offensive deterrence and disruption.Disjointed LeadershipEmpowers a single Director of Counterintelligence with directive authority.Permissive LandscapeIncreases proactive operations against high-priority foreign targets.Modern ThreatsMandates specific CI assessments for Space and AI sectors.
[1]  intelligence.house.gov
[2]  intelligence.house.gov
[3]  intelligence.house.gov
[4]  intelligence.house.gov
[5]  thehill.com
[6]  dni.gov
[7]  oig.justice.gov
[8]  georgewbush-whitehouse.archi…
[9]  intelligence.house.gov
[10]  intelligence.house.gov
[11]  hir.harvard.edu

[12]  thehill.com
[13]  thehill.com
[14]  intelligence.house.gov
[15]  aol.com
[16]  cornyn.senate.gov
[17]  congress.gov
[18]  congress.gov

— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) Apr 8, 2026

#CIA
Exclusive | ‘Ghost Murmur,’ a never-used secret tool, deployed to find lost airman in Iran in daring mission  nypost.com/2026/04/07/us-new…

— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) Apr 8, 2026