The Trump Administration is considering the idea of outsourcing intelligence gathering and the capture of terrorists to a private company. So many red flags here.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

The White House and CIA have been considering a package of secret proposals to allow former US intelligence officers to run privatized covert actions, intelligence gathering, and propaganda missions, according to three sources who’ve been briefed on or have direct knowledge of the proposals. 

One of the proposals would involve hiring a private company, Amyntor Group, for millions of dollars to set up a large intelligence network and run counterterrorist propaganda efforts, according to the sources. Amyntor’s officials and employees include veterans of a variety of US covert operations, ranging from the Reagan-era Iran–Contra affair to more recent actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Amyntor declined to discuss the proposals, but a lawyer for the company said in a statement to BuzzFeed News that the type of contract being contemplated would be legal “with direction and control by the proper government authority.” 

Another proposal presented to US officials would allow individuals affiliated with the company to help capture wanted terrorists on behalf of the United States. In keeping with that proposal, people close to the company are tracking two specific suspects in a Middle Eastern country, the sources said, for possible “rendition” to the United States. 

A source speaking on behalf of the company stressed that while Amyntor officials are aware of and involved in the rendition plan, the company itself would not be involved.

What the actual fuck folks?

This is clearly an attempt to undermine the CIA and to engage in activities that the agency would never sanction.

Which seems to be supported by comments made by sources:  

Those familiar with the proposals say one of the driving impulses for privatizing some missions is a fear by some supporters of President Donald Trump, outside government, that the CIA bureaucracy has an anti-Trump bias that would thwart efforts to fulfill the president’s objectives. “The system does not work,” one source who is sympathetic to the Amyntor efforts told BuzzFeed News. “The people leaking this to you just want to destroy the president.”

Paranoid much?

The agency itself is located in the same small community of Whitefish, Montana which was also home to the company that received that sweetheart deal to restore electricity to Puerto Rico, and then failed miserably to do so. 

Gee, what a coincidence.

How could Congress even provide oversight to a private company like this, and how would the American people have any confidence that they were not breaking international laws in our name?

Such a bad feeling about this.