Twitter is hiring ‘alarming number’ of ex-agents, feds and US government spies: report

Twitter has hired a significant number of former FBI agents and other former “federals and spies”, according to an analysis of jobs and recruiting websites. The major microblogging company has employed “dozens of individuals from the National Security State to work in the areas of security, trust, safety and content”, the document seen by MintPress shockingly revealed. “Chief among them is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI is generally known as a homeland security and intelligence force. However, it has recently extended its remit to cyberspace,” he added.

The analysis revealed that some of the former FBI officials retained prominent designations within the social media company. For example, FBI veteran Karen Walsh, who served as a special agent for 21 years, has been named director of business resilience at the Silicon Valley-based company. Other roles have been filled by former employees of the Central Intelligence Agency and NATO’s Atlantic Council think tank.

“Twitter also directly employs serving military officers,” the analysis revealed.

In 2019, Twitter’s managing editor for the entire Europe, Middle East and Africa region, Gordon Macmillan, was actually an officer in the British Army’s infamous 77th Brigade. This military unit was dedicated to online warfare and psychological operations. Upon independent verification, some of Twitter’s top executives and employees were found to be employees of the United States Security Service and Spy Agency. Former FBI agent and whistleblower Coleen Rowley told MintPress that some of those agents already had their eye on post-retirement jobs, including Twitter. “The truth is that in the FBI, 50% of all normal conversations people had were about how you were going to make money after retirement,” he told the agency.

Twitter’s big ‘neutrality’ claims debunked

While Twitter makes big claims about “neutrality,” its record of hiring personnel primarily from U.S. national security organizations calls the company’s reputation into question. Twitter with these types of employees is arguably “the source of some of the largest and most extensive influencer operations in the world,” according to the analysis. The company “sees every issue the same way the US government does – and acts on it.” MintPress warned, adding that it also analyzed Twitter-compiled lists of countries struggling with misinformation and political divide.

“One can’t help but notice that this list matches quite closely a blacklist of opponents of the US government. All countries run disinformation campaigns to some degree. But these ‘former’ ghosts are unlikely to and federals are pointing fingers at their former colleagues or sister organizations or investigating their operations,” MintPress said. For example, labels and warnings are being added to state-affiliated media from Russia, China, Iran and Cuba, countries generally hostile to the United States.

In another shocking aspect that links the role of US government agencies in policing social media platforms, Facebook was found to have entered into a formal partnership with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Lab. This arrangement largely governs the feeds of more than 2.9 billion users worldwide, and they also help decide what content to promote or hold back. Meta employed former NATO press secretary Ben Nimmo as intelligence chief, according to the report. MintPress claims to have found prominent sites such as Reddit and various impactful US media outlets such as Thomson Reuters and others employing former spies.

“One of the primary functions of the media is to serve as the fourth estate; a force that strives to hold the government and its agencies to account. Yet, instead of doing so, it increasingly collaborates with them. becomes increasingly difficult to see where big government ends and big media begins,” the report suggests.