US spy chief admits that honeypot target ‘went out of control’

The FBI chief who oversaw the agency’s secret surveillance program is admitting he misused the program, a top U.S. intelligence official said Tuesday.

In a rare public admission, FBI Director James Comey admitted that his honeypot program was “out of control” and that he “never fully understood” the scope of the program and the importance of its safeguards, according to an official briefed on the statement.

The revelations came as Comey testified in a Senate panel hearing about how he learned about the honeypot’s existence in a classified briefing on April 18, 2016, the day he resigned.

Comey said he didn’t know the honeynet was even being used until he read an article in the New York Times about its use on the eve of the presidential election.

He also said the program was designed to be used by “foreign intelligence targets” but it became a target for U.K. and German intelligence services, who used it to track down and hack into the emails of members of the Trump campaign.

“In hindsight, I’m not sure I ever fully understood the significance of the honeypots, and the scope,” Comey said Tuesday at a Senate hearing.

“And I never fully understood how it could have been so important to get this information.

I didn’t even fully understand how important it was.”

Comey’s remarks come at a sensitive time for the spy agency, which is under fire from critics for its role in the targeting of Trump campaign officials and its lack of transparency in the case.

Comey said that despite being warned that the program would lead to the “loss of life” and “loss and destruction” of evidence, he chose to use it to target the emails and social media accounts of the political enemies of his boss, President Donald Trump.

He added that the honeynets were also used to find the phone numbers and emails of top Trump campaign aides.

“This was a terrible mistake, and I regret it,” Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I never thought that the very thing I was about to do was in any way going to have an effect on the outcome of the election.

It’s a terrible thing.

It should never have been done.”

Comeys testimony comes amid mounting criticism of the FBI’s oversight of the spy program, with members of Congress and the American public demanding answers about the agency and its methods.

The FBI’s role in surveillance is closely watched by lawmakers and public officials in the wake of revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that the U.N. agency was tapping the phones of millions of Americans.

But the Justice Department has said that while the agency does gather information about Americans’ phone calls, it has no involvement in the covert programs it has overseen.