CI-Tip-Line

CI-Tip-Line

On behalf of the Department of Energy Office of Intelligence & Counterintelligence (DOE IN), we would like to congratulate you on your retirement or separation. As a part of your continuing responsibility to protect the sensitive, controlled, or classified information you may have been exposed to during your employment, we would like to ensure you are aware of the concerning trend of foreign intelligence entities targeting former federal employees for recruitment to solicit information. This site serves as a mechanism to report any potential targeting attempts.

Foreign intelligence entities are increasingly using social media platforms to include professional networking sites to spot, assess, and recruit current or former employees of the federal government. Your career, knowledge, and experience may make you an attractive target, regardless if you have ever held a security clearance. Intelligence operatives may pose as legitimate businesses or consulting companies. Their attempts may not always be obvious and could involve fictitious profiles, obscured identities, or use of third-party sites. Foreign research institutions competing with the United States and foreign government talent recruitment programs may also employ these tactics.

  • According to the FBI, as of August 2023, foreign intelligence entities used fictitious profiles and consulting companies on social professional networking websites to target individuals with access to sensitive or otherwise non-public information.
  • In 2019, former CIA officer Kevin Mallory was sentenced to 20 years in prison for espionage that began with contact from a hostile foreign intelligence officer posing as a headhunter for a think tank on LinkedIn. 

Foreign intelligence entities may also employ tactics of phishing [concealing a malicious link in an email or social media message], social engineering [tricking a user into divulging information for fraudulent intent], or social media exploitation [exploiting a user’s personal connections, including his/her profile, content, and interactions on social media to spot and assess employees for potential recruitment] to achieve their goals.

We applaud your vigilance and encourage you to remain security conscious. Report any suspicious contact or potential targeting to tips.fbi.gov or CITipLine@in.doe.gov.

For former employees who were security clearance holders, please remember your obligations with respect to protecting classified or controlled information as outlined in Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreements (Form 312) and/or Sensitive Compartmented Information Nondisclosure Agreement (Form 4414).

Thank you for your devoted service to the Department and our great nation. We wish you much happiness and success in your future endeavors.