The article said this person had some pretty substantial, and fairly easily detectable lies in his work history. Does the CIA not perform fairly robust background checks when hiring people? Especially senior officers?
Our local PD practically gives potential hires a free colonoscopy due to the depth and invasiveness of their background checks. This seems so bizarre.
We are not a serious country.
An FBI probe found that Rush had provided false information about his education and military background in his job application, including lying about obtaining university degrees and serving as a pilot in the navy.
He also filled out fraudulent time sheets and obtained $77,000 in military leave pay by falsely claiming he was a member of the navy reserves, according to the affidavit.
The document describes Rush as a former senior employee at a U.S. government agency with top secret clearance and access to classified information.
Sure it looks bad, but it could be that this guy was a really good spy. If he could fake his way into a TS clearance, he could probably infiltrate a lot of places.
Same thought when I read this story. It’s not easy at all to pull off a deception like that.
The fact that he is from North Korea is nothing to worry about. j/k
I figured that out when your president started selling gold sneakers and playing cards of himself portrayed as rambo.
The part of this story that shows me we are not a serious country is how easy it was for him to steal 40 million in gold, and then how easy it was to catch him.
So he requisitions all that gold without any real reason or justification–according to the article. Then someone figures out the gold is missing. And where did this mastermind store his stolen booty? In his house, of course.
The NYT article has a little more detail, but this is weird. He’s reportedly a former SES (Senior Executive Service) level employee, which is pretty senior (equivalent to a General or Admiral). The gold and money that was missing was discovered by an audit by the CIA, and then reported to the FBI for investigation once they couldn’t find the money, which seems like just what you’d expect from a serious organization.
As others here noted, it seems like the inflated academic credentials and Naval Reserve affiliation would be uncovered during hiring processes and/or security clearance screenings, so there are a lot of questions on exactly what happened.
Gift article below:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/us/politics/fbi-arrest-cia-official-gold-bars.html?unlocked_article_code=1.l1A.4-3q.oy6DsoXK9O3Z&smid=url-share
It sounds like someone should lose their job for giving him a clearance. I looked at the report after I got my TS clearance years back and they went a long way back interviewing people.
The reporting is really unclear. Security clearance paperwork is a separate administrative process from hiring paperwork, so maybe he lied on his resume and hiring application and HR paperwork, but not on his clearance paperwork?
I know my administrative department never gets a look at my security paperwork. Entirely separate.
how did they not catch the inflated academic credentials? If I apply for a job IN ACADEMIA they ask for my transcripts. I guess he could have faked those too.
I don’t remember needing to provide transcripts for my government hiring process, but I did have to certify my highest level of education and provide the school, year the degree was conferred, etc.
Mine are easy to check since it was the US Naval Academy for undergrad and then the Navy War College for my Master’s degree. Not sure what CIA requires.
Gold belonged to someone in Iraq or Afghanistan? I mean you can’t steal $40 million in gold and get caught some time later.
Someone ran cover for this guy until they didn’t.
NYTimes indicates that he requisitioned the gold from CIA for “work related expenses.”
“From last November to March, the court papers say, Mr. Rush asked for, and received, “a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses.”
That’s pretty crazy. As of the current NYTimes reporting, dude has only been charged with filling out fraudulent time sheets and lying about being in the Naval Reserve. No charges (yet) related to keeping $40M in CIA gold in your house.
His defense: Your honor, it was for laptops and pens for the CIA, I just hadn’t spent it yet.
It is obviously pretty easy to get large amounts of money, but I’m sure this is the first time that something like this has happened.
Shouldn’t this have a “/s”?
