David Rush, a former senior CIA officer with 17 years at the agency, has been arrested and charged with stealing over $40 million worth of gold bullion bars, luxury watches, and foreign currency from government premises. US officials now allege he also defrauded the government by inventing a fictitious "special access programme" — a highly classified security protocol — convincing a colleague to funnel millions into it via a fraudulent government contract. The scandal has prompted the CIA to place several employees on administrative leave and raised serious questions about how the agency vets and monitors staff with access to the United States' most sensitive intelligence operations.