The CIA must have known something was up when former officer David Rush claimed 667 pounds of gold.
Instead of asking for diamonds or rare gems — the easiest, most common form of currency the agency has long favored for undercover operations — Rush asked for heavy gold bars, a choice that a former CIA official told The Post was an obvious red flag.
Now Rush is in custody in Alexandria, Va., jailed and charged with grand larceny — even though it’s the intelligence agency itself that is facing tough questions from lawmakers about how he was allowed to get to this level.
The first clue is the gold itself.
“He tends to go to other places because it’s easier. The gems are better. The diamonds are better,” former CIA officer in Iran Reuel Marc Gerecht told The Post.
“People don’t realize how heavy money is. It used to be a problem for large payments – especially if you tried to do it secretly. You could just settle for cash. Gold – you would need mules,” he exclaims.
The security lapse allegedly allowed Rush, who had a top-secret security clearance, to collect in stages 303 gold bars worth $40 million weighing 667 pounds.
He also netted a dozen luxury watches, mostly Rolexes, and $2 million in cash, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of Virginia. Each bar weighs 1 kilogram, or 2.2 kilograms.
The scandal is causing a lot of controversy, as the Senate Intelligence Committee is now beginning an “aggressive” look into the agency’s loose purse strings and lax inspections.
The government says that Rush was able to make up large parts of his academic and military history – apparently deceiving trained investigators and releasing large sums of loot without causing immediate alarm, because the CIA operates in an unscrupulous manner. He is said to have said that the loot is needed for “work-related expenses.”
“It’s not British banks. You don’t have many lines of people checking things. The institution is very much a trust-based system. Sometimes they get burned by that,” Gerecht said.
“It’s a disgrace to the CIA,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a watchdog group that has slammed the Secret Service for putting President Trump at risk.
“It shows that this organization is a disaster in terms of internal security,” he said. “This is a security problem at the CIA. Who else works there with a fictional background?” he said.
The Post reported on Friday that the breach may reveal dangerous patterns.
“The fact that this has slipped through the cracks makes me worry that there are other people who have slipped through the cracks.” said former CIA officer Tracy Walder.
The timeline outlined in the FBI agent’s affidavit points to some of the violations.
He accuses Rush of providing false information about his education “on his USG application” – meaning it was not picked up in his initial background check.
Contradictory details were allegedly later revealed in US Navy records – apparently also missed.
The affidavit reveals that he applied to work at the dealership three times, using different information each time, and missed another opportunity.
Investigators did not immediately reveal that he did not have a pilot’s license – and that he was not a flight instructor.
The largest movement of gold and funds was removed between November 2025 and March 2026, which means they were allowed more than once. It says the CIA notified the FBI after conducting its own internal investigation, but did not say when.
And the feds couldn’t figure out what happened to a “substantial amount” of foreign currency, according to the affidavit.
Lawmakers are getting ready to do their own thing.
“The Senate Intelligence Committee exists to provide strong oversight of the Intelligence Community, including ensuring accountability when serious allegations of misconduct arise,” said Rachel Cohen, a spokeswoman for Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
He said Warner was “following this issue closely” and will work with the panel’s chairman, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to “carry out the Committee’s oversight responsibilities diligently and aggressively” – an indication that the agency will have to provide detailed explanations to lawmakers about what went wrong.
The House Intelligence panel also collects information, without laying a hand. “House Intel Committee and Chairman [Rick] “Crawford (R-Ariz.) has been kept informed of this case as things develop,” said a committee source.
Those panels are key indicators for the agency, which has long opposed external audits.
A 2001 Government Accountability Office report said the Agency had not been audited since the 1960s, in part because “we do not have access to certain ‘disallowed’ CIA accounts and we cannot compel our access to foreign intelligence and conflict information.”
Rush’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “The FBI is working closely with our partners at the CIA and the Department of Justice as we continue to fully investigate this matter,” the joint statement said.
