Trump Wants One Master List Of Foreign Spies, Intelligence Agencies Say 'No'

The Trump administration has allegedly asked US intelligence agencies to provide the names of all foreign espionage targets, including suspected spies and people being considered as potential intelligence recruits. The aim is to create a single, central database of individuals linked to foreign spying activities.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has recently stepped up its efforts to collect the names of foreign spying targets from all US intelligence agencies, according to the New York Times report.

The ODNI, which was created after September 11, 2001, states that a central database would help intelligence agencies work together more effectively, avoid accidentally targeting the same individuals, and track foreign threats in real time.

The idea behind doing this is that if someone on the list travels, changes location, or carries out suspicious activities, the information would be updated in real time so every agency can see it.

However, senior officials at the FBI and CIA have resisted the proposal, saying it is unnecessary and could put highly sensitive intelligence at risk. For the FBI, it would include people the bureau is secretly investigating as suspected foreign spies and for the CIA, it would include people in other countries whom the agency hopes to recruit as secret informants or intelligence sources.

Some officials believe that putting all these names into one central database could be dangerous, as secret investigations that have been running for years could be exposed and the identities of suspected spies and confidential sources could leak. 

They feared that ongoing intelligence operations could fail if sensitive information is compromised. They say such identities are normally shared only with a limited number of officials, even within the agencies themselves.

Some officials are reportedly concerned about how the office would handle classified information under acting Director Bill Pulte, who has no previous intelligence experience. As per the report, the agencies have so far refused to fully hand over the requested information, and discussions have made little progress.

Another challenge is that some of the information comes from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). The information collected through these court-approved surveillance orders is highly confidential and can only be accessed by authorized officials. It cannot be freely shared with other agencies.

The concerns also stem from President Donald Trump's repeated claims that the 2020 US presidential election was fraudulent, even though there is no evidence to support those claims. Trump has also called for investigations into election results he disagrees with, including the California primary election earlier this month.

Officials fear that highly classified intelligence could be used for purposes beyond national security, according to the report.