Russia and China are recruiting officials fired by Trump

This is what four sources close to American intelligence reported to CNN, along with a document from the United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) that the media reviewed.

The NCIS document specifies that agents from foreign intelligence services have been instructed to identify potential targets on LinkedIn, TikTok, RedNote, and Reddit.

According to sources, Moscow and Beijing, eager to gather valuable information on American infrastructures, are looking to take advantage of the massive layoffs planned by the Trump administration.

Since January 20th, President Donald Trump has created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

For more than a month, this department, led by Elon Musk, head of SpaceX and Tesla, has carried out thousands of job cuts and layoffs in the public sector.

The CIA itself regularly uses similar tactics to recruit disgruntled employees in hostile countries, noted a former intelligence official.

The agency recently published a series of videos aimed at persuading Russian government agents to work for the United States, explaining how to securely contact the CIA.

«China has always been committed to developing its relations with the United States based on mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs […] We oppose unfounded speculation about China, without factual basis,» said Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy.

CNN has contacted the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as well as the Russian Embassy in Washington for comments, without success at the time of this writing.