Top Pentagon Official Worked Closely With C.I.A. Officer Later Found With Gold Bars
David J.Rush, the former C.I.A.
officer found last month with $40 million in gold bars in his home and now under F.B.I.investigation, had powerful friends in government.
It turns out that one of them, Stephen A.Feinberg, the deputy secretary of defense, even contacted the C.I.A.
earlier this year asking to work more closely with him.Before the C.I.A.fired Mr.
Rush, he and Mr.Feinberg worked together on a highly classified program focused on spying on China, according to the current and former officials.
Mr.Feinberg reached out to a senior agency official, pushing for Mr.
Rush to play a greater role in the classified program.Mr.Feinberg did not know about the criminal investigation of Mr.
Rush when he reached out to the agency, according to U.S.officials.
But Mr.Feinberg’s advocacy for Mr.
Rush demonstrates how trusted Mr.Rush was with secrets known to only a small group of American officials at the same time that court documents show he may have been defrauding the C.I.A.
of millions of dollars.At the request of U.S.government officials, The New York Times is withholding some details about the spying program that Mr.
Feinberg and Mr.Rush worked on because of the sensitive nature of the operation.Mr.
Feinberg and Mr.Rush have known each other at least since Mr.
Feinberg was the head of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board during President Trump’s first term.Mr.Rush was an officer in the C.I.A.’s Directorate of Science and Technology, a branch of the spy agency that Mr.
Feinberg — the co-founder of Cerberus Capital, a private equity firm — took a particular interest in when he ran the advisory board.The board advises the White House and spy agencies on intelligence collection and other matters.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
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