Here’s one of the more entertaining memos I’ve read recently coming out of the DOGE-tossed federal bureaucracy. This one’s from NIH, dated today and from the NIH Office of Defensive Counterintelligence and Personnel Security (ODCPS). And the gist is management saying that while we’re busy making your lives hell, banning travel, communication and research reviews, defunding your projects and firing you one by one to drag out the torture we need you to be extra vigilant because apparently foreign governments are trying to recruit you guys because you’re so upset.
I’m taking a bit of liberty with the language but not much.
“As the Federal Government undergoes workforce modifications,” the memo begins, “staff must remain vigilant against those who will seek to exploit this period of transition.” Apparently foreign governments are recruiting and there are also insider threat concerns. A bit later: “Employees and fellows must be cautious of unsolicited job offers and suspicious collaboration requests …”
And why would that be? Well, we hear, continues the all-staff memo, that “some foreign government and talent programs are attempting to recruit current or former NIH employees who were either dismissed or accepted the early retirement option.”
“Be mindful of the solicitation methods and what you are asked to provide. Such offers may present a serious risk not only to our national security but the enduring NIH research.”
