In March 2018, Patrick Martin of the World Socialist Web Site published a political pamphlet entitled “The CIA Democrats.”
In it, he wrote that “an extraordinary number of former intelligence and military operatives from the CIA, Pentagon, National Security Council and State Department” were “seeking nomination as Democratic candidates for Congress in the 2018 midterm elections.”[1]
Some of these candidates, like Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA operative with three tours in Iraq,[2] were recruited as part of a “red-to-blue” program targeting vulnerable Republican-held seats.
In the 2018 race, there were far more former spies and soldiers seeking the nomination of the Democratic Party than for the Republicans. Martin wrote that there were so many “spooks” that with a “nod to Mad Magazine,” one might call the primaries “spy vs. spy.”[3]
CovertAction Magazine has kept tabs on the “spook-soldiers” who were elected as part of the Class of 2018 and followed their careers in Congress. (according to Martin, 30 spook-soldiers won primaries and 11 were elected to Congress).
Key members of this class continue to advance hawkish foreign policies along with the shadowy practices of the intelligence agencies as members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which is supposed to be a congressional oversight body.
Below is a summary of the five key members of the 2018 class we have tracked:
1. Elissa Slotkin
A conservative Democrat endorsed by Liz Cheney (R-WY) who is now running for the U.S. Senate, Slotkin is the wealthy heiress of the Hygrade Foods fortune and has supported a bill to boost funding to local police.
Prior to her election to Congress, Slotkin put her stamp on the U.S.’s disastrous Ukraine policy as Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs following the U.S.-backed Maidan coup in 2014.
In February 2021, Slotkin was appointed Chairwoman of the Intelligence & Counterterrorism Subcommittee within the House Committee on Homeland Security. In that capacity, she pleased her former employer by hyping threats to public safety from domestic extremists and alleged foreign terrorists, while pushing for ever more draconian anti-terrorism legislation than what was already on the books.
Slotkin’s category of domestic extremists included people who oppose pandemic restrictions, despite their harmful effects on mental health and violation of constitutional liberties, along with those whom she brands as “conspiracy theorists”—a term that was made pejorative by the CIA in the 1960s in order to try to validate the corrupt Warren Commission and its false conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone JFK assassin.
A super-hawk on Ukraine, Slotkin was part of a congressional delegation that met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom she characterized as a “man who has risen to the occasion in war.” Slotkin subsequently told an NPR reporter: “I think we got to give them [Ukraine] what they need….This is a black and white issue. Our weapons have made a huge difference.”
When the war with Ukraine broke out, Slotkin supported a bill that aimed to expedite security assistance to Ukraine, and another designed to eliminate Europe’s energy dependence on Russia.
Inserting a clause into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would direct the Pentagon to better capitalize on commercial innovation in Michigan’s auto industry, Slotkin has sponsored the “Dictator Act” which would investigate whether the Chinese government is helping Vladimir Putin evade Western sanctions.
Described as a “moderate” or “conservative” Democrat of the kind the CIA and plutocratic elite that it serves likes, Slotkin is one of only five Democratic House members who voted against an amendment to prohibit support to and participation in the Saudi-led coalition’s military operations against the Houthis in Yemen—a genocidal operation.
Endorsed by the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) because of her strong pro-Israel stance, Slotkin further voted against H.Con.Res. 21, which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.
When asked by a reporter about her favorite CIA movie, Slotkin tellingly responded: “Zero Dark Thirty” which glorified the use of torture in the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
In the same interview, Slotkin praised the CIA’s Hollywood liaison office, which she said helps Hollywood to “really understand what is going on”—comments that are in line with the CIA’s official cover story for their PR operations in Hollywood, and make it seem like the Agency is merely concerned with greater accuracy, not covering up its crimes or trying to rehabilitate its public image.
2. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA)
Spanberger grew up in Richmond, Virginia, holds an MBA from Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management (now Business), and taught English literature at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia. She worked as a CIA case officer from 2006 to 2014 in the Middle East after previously working on money-laundering and narcotics cases for the U.S. Postal Service.[4]
Today, Spanberger serves on the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which is supposed to provide oversight of the CIA and other intelligence agencies!
When the Democratic Party nominated her to the party’s leadership table, the World Socialist Network concluded that the Democrats had “made what amounts to a pledge of allegiance to [a] program of imperialist aggression.”
Promoting a hard line on China and advancing strong support for NATO, Israel and greater military surveillance at the U.S.-Mexico border, Spanberger is conservative on economic and criminal justice issues but liberal on social issues like abortion.
The World Socialist Website described Spanberger as “one of the more notorious right-wing figures among House Democrats when she denounced the political impact of the mass protests against the police murder of George Floyd.”
On a conference call of House Democrats after the 2020 election, Spanberger declared, “We need to not ever use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again,” adding that the party would get “fucking torn apart in 2022” if it did not suppress policies such as Medicare for All.[5]
Stating her firm belief that “the United States of America is the world’s superpower, and we have a responsibility to be a stabilizing force,” Spanberger had the backing of Foreign Policy for America, a political action committee promoting the anti-Russian campaign being waged by the Democrats and the military-intelligence apparatus.
Spanberger used her bully pulpit to defend the intelligence agencies for allegedly “providing good information that allowed presidential administrations to make good decisions on policy initiatives and engagement with foreign countries.”
She also led the charge about Russian election meddling, stating: “The fact that Donald Trump would at times seemingly take the side of foreign adversaries over the well-sourced intelligence of the intelligence community [in denying Russian election meddling on his behalf] is troubling as an American—not just as a former intelligence officer.” [6]
Echoing Kamala Harris, Spanberger criticized Trump for meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, stating that “I think any time we see the president of the United States warmly greeting an authoritarian leader and later professing to have fallen in love with him, no matter how tongue-in-cheek those comments are, is deeply concerning.”
But Spanberger was later silent when Joe Biden met with Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman and many other autocratic foreign leaders allied with the United States.
And as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Spanberger voted to provide billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine—whose president banned 12 opposition parties and sanctioned terrorist attacks on political rivals and journalists.
As a reflection of her hawkish views, Spanberger has led the attempt to get the State Department to designate Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. Spanberger told MSNBC that she believed the U.S. should be as “absolutely supportive of Ukraine as we possibly can” and to “give them enough weapons to win this war.”
Just as the CIA and military-industrial complex want.
3. Jason Crow (D-CO)
Crow is a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and House Foreign Affairs Committee, who served in the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq and as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2006.
Crow is a gung-ho supporter of the war in Ukraine, advocating for providing more long-range missiles and rockets to Ukraine and more advanced fighter jets capable of striking inside Russia.
Holding close friendships with Ukraine military and political leaders, Crow claims against all evidence that Putin engaged in an “unprovoked war” in Ukraine—the CIA’s line—and that Putin is intent on reforging the Russian empire.
Crow supports the New Cold War and the Pentagon’s arms build-up targeting Russia and China, calling Xi and Putin dictators who “would love to see the democratic free nations of this world fail.” Crow claims that “Taiwan would eventually fall if we’re not able to help Ukraine win.”
He calls for turning Ukraine into a heavily armed “porcupine” over the long term so the country could never be swallowed by Russia. Crow is part of the NATO parliamentary assembly, which is NATO’s Congress. Endorsed by AIPAC, he is also an Israel hawk.
One of Crow’s biggest donors, revealingly, is Palantir Technologies, a data-analytics company founded with CIA seed money, which has played a key role in the Ukraine War by tracking Russian military movements and helping Ukraine to coordinate battlefield maneuvers along with bomb targeting.[7]
Palantir additionally signed a major cooperative agreement with the Israeli Defense Ministry and has provided Artificial Intelligence (AI) software used by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for bomb targeting and for accumulating data on Palestinians in the occupied territory. There is concern that the company’s AI software platform also is being weaponized against ordinary Americans.
4. Jared Golden, (D-ME)
Jared Golden is a Marine Corps veteran who served combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and was elected with the class of 2018 to Congress in Maine.
A conservativre Blue Dog Democrat who was named Vice Chairman of the of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommitte of House Armed Services Committee, Golden supported gargantuan military budgets under the National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA).
The latter have significantly increased funding for the Portsmouth naval shipyard in Kittery, Maine and provided funds for developing new naval destroyers and F-35 jets and CH-53k helicopters, which will benefit Pratt & Whitney’s factory in North Berwick, Maine, and the Hunting Dearborn factory in Fryeburg, Maine.
Rejecting calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza War, Golden voted in favor of a bill that would provide an additional $14.3 billion to support Israeli military operations in the Gaza strip, and organized a letter signed by himself and other members of Congress advocating for President Biden to give F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. [8]
Kristen Salvatore, who was arrested protesting outside Golden’s office, said that to see my tax money going to drop bombs on civilians as advocated for by Rep. Golden is “reprehensible.”
5. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ)
Equally reprehensible is the record of Mikie Sherrill, a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot who flew missions in Europe and the Middle East, and served as a Russian policy officer, working at the Commander-in-chief of the U.S. Navy, Europe.
A conservative Democrat who has voted with Joe Biden 100% of the time, Sherrill received over $300,000 from the financial industry in 2023-2024.
Sherrill has served on the House Armed Services Committee and Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and Chinese Communist Party, a relic of the Cold War which promotes Sinophobia and confrontation with China.
On her website, Sherrill wrote that, serving on the House Armed Services Committee, she was able to “significantly increase funding for Picatinny Arsenal—a major military research and manufacturing institute in her district—which remains the Army’s leading research institution for armaments and ammunition.”
Sherrill continues: “Beyond supporting the critical research and development programs at Picatinny, I am also proud to support the many defense technology companies that call NJ-11 home and are on the cutting edge of modernizing our Armed Forces. Many of my provisions in the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act support funding for our local defense industrial base and businesses.”
Sherrill is an anti-Russia and anti-China national security hawk. On her website, she writes:
“Both Russia and China have continued to build their military might and promote their influence across the globe. Neither country shares our values and often they are undermining our interests across the world. We must ensure we modernize our military to meet this threat and provide critical funding for cybersecurity and election protection. Putin instigated an unprovoked attack against Ukraine—a sovereign, democratic nation. He has attempted to rewrite history and has unleashed propaganda and disinformation in pursuit of his clear desire to rebuild the Soviet Union’s so-called sphere of influence. [In 2022], I traveled twice to Ukraine, once in January before Putin’s invasion and again in July. I met with President Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials about the support they need from us and imparted to them the fierce support in New Jersey—home to one of the largest Ukrainian American communities in the country—for their independence and democracy. We secured emergency funding through a bipartisan package to support the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom. American weapons support has made a tangible difference in the Ukrainians’ ability to hold off Russian aggression, including the M-777 Howitzer, developed here at Picatinny Arsenal.”
The M-777 Howitzer, it should be noted, has been used to strike at and kill civilian targets in the Donbass, though has not reversed the failings of Ukraine’s summer 2023 counteroffensive.
Sherrill favors continued military support to Israel and a growing police state at home. She boasts on her website about supporting the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022, which she claims would “better equip our law enforcement with information related to possible attacks and their relationship with hate crimes.”
In May 2022, Sherrill and then-Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Chairman of the Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and Chinese Communist Party, participated in a strategic-operational war game, “Dangerous Straits: Battle for Taiwan 2027,” with the Center for a New American Security and NBC’s Meet the Press.
The war game provided important insight into how a potential war with China over Taiwan could develop, and how the U.S. and its allies and partners could defeat an attack on Taiwan by China.
Where Have You Gone George McGovern and Frank Church?
Sherrill’s participation in the Taiwan-China war game is emblematic of the hawkish positions adopted by the class of 2018 soldier-spooks.
The group reflects the takeover of the Democratic Party by neo-conservative, pro-militarist and pro-CIA elements.
In the 1970s, the Democrats included in their ranks figures like George McGovern and Frank Church who opposed the Vietnam War and most other wars and crusaded against the CIA and its excesses.
Those days—unfortunately—are long gone.
(Left) George McGovern [Source: boston.com]; (Right) Frank Church [Source: en.wikipedia.org]
Patrick Martin, The CIA Democrats (World Socialist Web Site Pamphlet Series, 2018), 7. ↑
Slotkin was a top aide to Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, who oversaw death squads as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and in Honduras during the 1980s Contra War. ↑
Martin, The CIA Democrats, 8.
The CIA’s official webpage describes Spanberger’s position with the CIA as an agent involved in “clandestinely spotting, assessing, developing, recruiting, and handling non-US citizens with access to foreign intelligence vital to US foreign policy and national security decision makers.” Spanberger is next planning to run for governor of Virginia. In late October 2023, Spanberger signed a letter with Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Dan Goldman (D-NY), and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) thanking the Biden administration for “demonstrating strong U.S. global leadership in a dangerous and uncertain moment for Israel, the greater Middle East region, and the world.”↑
In 2021, after Republican candidates won the statewide contests in Virginia and took control of the state assembly, Spanberger publicly complained about the “leftist” policies of the Biden administration which she claimed had sparked a right-wing backlash. “Nobody elected him to be FDR,” she said. “They elected him to be normal and stop the chaos.” ↑
Spanberger led the charge in Congress for impeachment of Donald Trump on the grounds that he tried to blackmail Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into enacting an investigation into Hunter Biden and his shady business dealings in Ukraine. ↑
Palantir supplied Ukraine with software systems to help it target Russian tanks and track Russian troop movements. Palantir CEO Alex Karp met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after which he agreed to open an office in Ukraine. Karp later bragged that Palantir was “responsible for most of the targeting in Ukraine,” referring to Russian tanks, artillery and other weapons systems. Karp also told David Ignatius of The Washington Post that “Palantir AI was ‘winning’ the war for Ukraine.” ↑
During the 2022 election cycle, Golden received $31,530 from AIPAC. In April 2024, he and Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), and John Moolenaar (R-MI), sponsored a bill to impose sanctions on any Chinese military firm that provides material support to Russia. Golden stated that “Russia’s aggressive push for territorial expansion is a direct threat not only to the sovereignty of Ukraine, but to the American-led security framework established after World War II. Vladimir Putin is testing boundaries in a way we haven’t seen since Hitler invaded Poland. I’m proud to work with Rep. Gallagher to ensure there are consequences for the PRC enabling Russia’s dangerous behavior.” ↑
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About the Author
Jeremy Kuzmarov holds a Ph.D. in American history from Brandeis University and has taught at numerous colleges across the United States. He is regularly sought out as an expert on U.S. history and politics for radio and TV programs and co-hosts a radio show on New York Public Radio and on Progressive Radio News Network called “Left on Left.” He is Managing Editor of CovertAction Magazine and is the author of five books on U.S. foreign policy, including Obama’s Unending Wars (Clarity Press, 2019), The Russians Are Coming, Again, with John Marciano (Monthly Review Press, 2018), and Warmonger. How Clinton’s Malign Foreign Policy Launched the U.S. Trajectory From Bush II to Biden (Clarity Press, 2023). Besides these books, Kuzmarov has published hundreds of articles and contributed to numerous edited volumes, including one in the prestigious Oxford History of Counterinsurgency . He can be reached at jkuzmarov2@gmail.com and found on substack here.
