This is one of the oddest stories I’ve seen. Let’s examine the surface level first. Surface level because it involves the CIA.
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A former high-ranking CIA official who allegedly lied about his credentials to secure $77,000 in bogus military leave was busted after FBI agents found a mind-blowing fortune, including $40 million worth of gold bars, hidden inside his Virginia home.
The feds conducted a raid at the residence of David Rush last week, uncovering a staggering 303 gold bars, $2 million in cash and nearly three dozen luxury Rolex watches, according to court documents.
Rush, until recently a “senior executive service-level employee” at the CIA, reportedly requested the massive haul of gold and foreign currency for “work-related expenses” between November and March.
The gold reportedly amounts to 303 bars. That’s 303 gold bars.You don’t get those back as change at the local quick shop or at your local bank. Even better, it seems virtually nothing about this guy’s resume was accurate:
Rush is currently only charged with inflating his college resume and scamming the government out of military leave pay after he allegedly falsely claimed to be a member of the Navy Reserve.
According to the affidavit, Rush fabricated much of his background on his way to securing a senior executive service role in the federal government.
Rush enlisted in the Navy in 1997, was honorably discharged in 2015 and after that, he never enlisted in any other branch of the US military, the court documents state.
Following his Navy discharge, Rush allegedly falsified active status as a captain to pocket $77,000 in unearned military leave while drawing an inflated executive salary.
He also claimed he received a mathematics degree from Clemson University and an electrical engineering master’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, but registrars found no record of him.
Rush additionally alleged to have certifications from the US Air Force and Naval Test Pilot schools, but FAA and military files reveal he lacked a pilot’s license, serving instead as an IT technician, among other roles.
That resume was sufficient to grant Rush numerous promotions, reaching a role in the Senior Executive Service, though his exact position wasn’t mentioned.
Pretty much everything about this stinks. How could anyone reach a high rank in the CIA without at least an initial, extensive background check? Someone at Rush’s position presumably held a high security clearance. Those aren’t granted without extensive vetting beyond that for mere employment. Amazingly, Rush is reported to have been twice investigated and rejected for CIA employment before finally being accepted. In at least four background checks for the CIA, no one discovered that Rush lied about his education, lied about serving in the Navy Reserve, stole $77,000 in military leave pay, and lied about being a pilot and attending test pilot school? Missing one of those red-light-flashing, siren-blaring indicators might be possible, but all of them? Not many people attend a military test pilot school, and those who do know each other, or know of each other. No one bothered to check?
And what about the gold and cash? There were 303 bars of gold and $2 million in cash that Rush apparently told someone in the CIA he needed for “work-related expenses,” and he collected it within a span of only five months. “You need $40 million in gold and $2 million in cash for expenses? Sure. I’ll call for a heavy-duty truck to transport that stuff. Where will you keep it? In your office and at your home? No problem. What’s that? Do you need to sign for it? Nah. We trust you.”
Apparently, high-ranking CIA officials don’t have to itemize their expenses, nor do CIA accountants have to keep track of millions in gold and cash.
Didn’t anyone at the CIA say: “Hey Bob, it looks like we’re missing 303 bars of gold and $2 million in cash. Any idea where that went?” Apparently not, because the missing loot was only discovered during a “routine audit,” and the CIA Director referred the matter to the FBI. Are there no procedures for disbursing gold bars?
But this is the CIA. Are we really to believe they hand out, without accounting for it, that kind of money, and that weight—gold is heavy stuff—of gold on request for “expenses?” Rush didn’t put the bars in his pockets and walk out the front door. How often does the CIA do that sort of routine audit? We can reasonably assume assets like this are kept under the radar for black operations. Was Rush involved in some black operation that went bad, so bad the CIA decided to turn him over to the FBI and make the agency look like it’s populated by idiots? Was this a domestic political operation that went bad?
We’ll likely never know the truth, but this sort of thing doesn’t inspire confidence in government.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
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