Shutdown puts US national security at risk – FBI
The ongoing US government shutdown has put national security at risk by directly affecting ongoing FBI investigations, Reuters reported, citing current and former employees of the agency. The bureau particularly lacks funds to pay informants and gather “real-time intelligence,” according to the news agency’s sources.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been furloughed as part of the shutdown, which entered its 30th day on Thursday. The Democrats have reportedly said they will not green-light a new spending bill in the Senate unless the Republicans fulfill all their demands, including extending subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
According to the FBI, the situation is now becoming increasingly tense. “There is no doubt that those choosing to play politics with government funding are putting national security at risk,” the agency’s spokesperson told Reuters. “President [Donald] Trump has repeatedly called for the federal government to reopen, and the FBI fully concurs with that position.”
A former FBI agent, Dan Brunner, said that the impasse was likely affecting “a lot of investigations, national security, and criminal investigations.” It could also create friction within the agency itself, since it has only been paying its special agents - a small fraction of its workforce, he warned. “It is a problem that the agents are getting paid and everyone else is not,” Brunner said.
Earlier, CNN reported on other issues the US is facing due to the shutdown, including disruptions in civil aviation and delays in nuclear arms production. Over 9,000 flights were canceled or delayed in just the first ten days of the shutdown due to a shortage of air traffic controllers. In a remark that drew widespread criticism, a senior Democratic aide told CNN that the party “will not concede short of planes falling out of the sky” .
The last government shutdown took place in 2018 during Trump’s first term and continued for 35 days, the longest in US history.
