There is a powerful reason nearly all federal employees with access to classified information turn over deeply personal details about their lives and finances to security experts: Debts and other vulnerabilities can create weaknesses that our nation’s adversaries could exploit.
Multiple studies have shown that, while betrayal of one’s country is a crime that has complex psychological underpinnings, money is a leading motivator. And paying off large, unsustainable debts is often a driver of an interest in money.
For example, Aldrich Ames, the most damaging spy in the history of the CIA, and responsible for the deaths of multiple CIA assets in the former Soviet Union, told prosecutors after his arrest that he began spying for the Russians because he was in debt and needed funds to dig himself out of the hole. Continue reading.
Whether accurate or not, it’s an alarming admission.