The agency reportedly cannot pay its informants and move forward with some of the investigations, Reuters has reported
The ongoing US government shutdown has put national security at risk by directly affecting the ongoing FBI investigations, Reuters has reported, citing the agency’s current and former employees. 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 greenlight 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 getting 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 frictions within the agency itself since it has so far only paid 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 also reported about other issues the US faced because of the shutdown, including civil aviation disruptions and delays in nuclear arms production. Over 9,000 flights had been canceled or delayed in just the first ten days of the shutdown due to a shortage of air traffic controllers. A senior Democratic aide has previously told CNN that the party “will not concede short of planes falling out of the sky” in a remark that drew widespread criticism.
The previous government shutdown took place in 2018 during Trump’s first term and lasted 35 days, the longest in US history.
