A former intelligence officer who worked at the CIA for 17 years created a bogus classified program to steal millions from the U.S. government, federal officials now allege, marking the latest twist in a sprawling fraud case that has shaken the agency.
David Rush was arrested in May after FBI agents discovered he had taken 303 gold bars, each weighing about 2.2 pounds, dozens of luxury watches, and more than $2 million in foreign currency from his government office. But prosecutors have uncovered something far more elaborate: a scheme involving a fake "special access program," one of the government's most tightly guarded classification protocols.
According to officials, Rush initiated two colleagues into the nonexistent program and then persuaded one of them to transfer millions of dollars to it through what amounted to a fraudulent government contract. "He made up a contract," a source briefed on the matter said. The structure of the ruse exploited the very nature of such programs, which are so compartmentalized that participants are forbidden from discussing them with outsiders.
The fake program was nominally tied to "continuity of government operations," the contingency plans the U.S. maintains for scenarios like nuclear war and catastrophic disasters. On its face, the cover was plausible enough to lend credibility to Rush's pitch, even as questions linger about how he managed to establish and operate such a classified program without triggering oversight from supervisors or internal security mechanisms.
Authorities have also charged Rush with theft of public funds and falsifying his background to land the job in the first place. Court documents show he lied about his education and military service to obtain CIA employment and the necessary clearances. More strikingly, Rush claimed 744 hours of military leave on his timesheet despite being honorably discharged in February 2015, a fabrication that netted him roughly $77,000 in unearned compensation, according to an FBI criminal complaint.
Rush remains detained in Alexandria, Virginia. He had access to a top-secret intelligence gathering program known to only a handful of CIA staff and select lawmakers, though the agency and government officials have declined to disclose its name or operational details out of national security concerns.
The case has exposed gaps in the CIA's vetting and oversight procedures at a moment when the agency regularly grants employees access to some of the nation's most sensitive secrets. The scandal has already prompted the CIA to place several employees on administrative leave as investigations continue.
Author James Rodriguez: "This isn't just about theft or embezzlement, it's a stunning failure of the security apparatus that's supposed to protect classified operations."
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