(RightWing.org) – Have you ever wondered why big tech companies seem to be so in tune with what the federal government wants? It could be because hundreds of people who work in those tech companies are ex-feds. A media investigation has found that, over the last five years, former members of the CIA, FBI and other federal agencies have flooded into the tech industry.
Silicon valley is a Fed retirement home https://t.co/EPXngrWqrY
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 10, 2023
On April 9, the Daily Caller revealed the results of an investigation it carried out into tech industry recruitment from the federal government, and especially its intelligence agencies. It found, since 2017, technology companies had hired 248 former federal employees, including senior officials who moved into management roles. Terrifyingly, they found it wasn’t just US companies hiring former feds; the notorious Chinese TikTok app employs ex-intelligence officers, too.
The investigation revealed 130 former Justice Department, DHS, CIA, or FBI employees now work for Google. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, employs another 47. Twitter is just behind, with 46 — and TikTok, whose app has been banned from government-owned phones in the US, UK and several other countries over fears it’s sending user data back to China, has 25 employees who used to work in US intelligence or security agencies.
Reed Rubenstein, a former DoJ official in the Trump administration, called the increasingly close relationship between big tech and federal security agencies “terrifying.” He warned that while these officials might have quit their government jobs, they still have networks inside their old agencies — and companies are actually hiring them to access these networks.
Some of the ex-feds have moved into senior positions. One, a 25-year FBI veteran, moved to Twitter as a security manager. Twitter’s crisis manager and director of information security were also ex-FBI. Interestingly, the Daily Caller found most of the former agents employed by Twitter quit when Elon Musk bought the company. Twitter started hiring from the FBI in 2018, around the time it really started to crack down on conservative accounts. Are those agents now bailing out because, under Musk, Twitter won’t do the Biden administration’s bidding anymore?
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