Before arrest with 303 gold bars, CIA officer spun tale he was Top Gun fighter pilot - BERITAJA

More than 15 years ago, the Ashburn Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department successful Northern Virginia welcomed a caller enlistee whom galore members would travel to admire: a subject man named David Rush.

He wasn’t conscionable highly intelligent. He was besides capable, calm nether unit and a beingness specimen, according to interviews pinch a half-dozen erstwhile Ashburn unpaid firefighters.

“The David Rush I remember, he was chiseled,” said Jeff Bellmer, a retired lieutenant astatine the department. “Big back, skinny waist, fit.”

David Rush during his clip astatine the Ashburn Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department.Obtained by Beritaja

Despite his intelligence and beingness gifts, Rush didn’t enactment for illustration a large shot, his erstwhile occurrence section colleagues said. He was reserved and humble. But erstwhile he did get to talking about his subject career, the stories he told were conscionable astonishing — really he had graduated first successful his people astatine Top Gun, the legendary Navy combatant aviator school, and flown F-14 Tomcat combatant jets complete Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Rush told maine he had ejected and bailed retired of 2 F-14s, and the 3rd 1 he landed complete location astatine Andrews pinch the cockpit connected fire,” Bellmer said.

“He was conscionable specified a neat feline for maine astatine the time,” Bellmer added. “The first existent naval aviator that I had travel across.”

Rush made a akin belief connected Lloyd Harting, different erstwhile Ashburn unpaid firefighter.

“He told maine he was a erstwhile combatant pilot, and I had nary logic to uncertainty him,” Harting said. “He was wholly believable. He looked the part. He talked the part.”

But now Bellmer and Harting don’t cognize what to judge aft prosecutors accused Rush, 49, of being a serial fabulist who spun an elaborate fabrication for years. He was arrested precocious past month successful a national lawsuit that has rocked the CIA and generated a bid of sensational headlines.

Inside his humble location successful Ashburn, about 40 miles westbound of downtown Washington, national agents discovered 303 golden bars worthy much than $40 million, according to national prosecutors. They besides seized $2 cardinal successful rate and 35 luxury watches, about of them Rolexes.

Why he had each that golden and rate is now the taxable of a national investigation. Rush, a CIA serviceman for about 17 years, is accused of creating a clone apical concealed intelligence program to person authorities costs for his individual enrichment, according to 2 group pinch knowledge of the investigation.

Rush is besides accused of fabricating his world and subject grounds erstwhile he applied to the spy agency successful the early 2000s.

Among the fabrications, national prosecutors say, was that he was a Navy pilot. Rush did service successful the Navy — from 1997 to 2015 — but he was an accusation systems technician. And according to national prosecutors, he didn’t moreover person a pilot’s license.

Rush’s lawyer declined to comment.

So acold he has been charged only pinch stealing nationalist money by filling retired fraudulent clip sheets. Prosecutors opportunity he pocketed $77,000 successful subject time off salary aft he falsely claimed he was a personnel of the Navy Reserve beyond 2015.

A judge ordered Rush to stay down bars past week, raising interest that he is simply a imaginable formation risk, and a charismatic branded him a “master manipulator” and a “tremendous fraud.”

A cardinal mobility being mulled complete by lawmakers connected Capitol Hill pinch oversight of the intelligence community, arsenic good arsenic successful Ashburn unpaid firefighter group chats: If the allegations are true, really did he negociate to gaffe done authorities inheritance checks, past a polygraph exam and dupe an agency entrusted pinch the country’s about delicate secrets?

“That’s the $64,000 question,” said Harting, the erstwhile Ashburn firefighter. “How did he propulsion this off? I can’t judge it.”

Call motion ‘Dumpster’

Rush, a autochthonal of New York, had been successful the Navy for 11 years erstwhile he joined the Ashburn unpaid occurrence section successful 2008. It’s a proud organization, established successful 1945, whose members person the aforesaid training arsenic profession firefighters and activity overnight shifts responding to emergencies.

To go a member, 1 must walk a criminal history check, activity astatine slightest 1 12-hour displacement a week and complete an intensive occurrence academy training programme astatine a installation successful adjacent Leesburg. Rush graduated from the programme successful 2009, the twelvemonth he joined the CIA.

“He was decidedly 1 of the apical guys successful the class,” said Danny Prouty, who attended occurrence schoolhouse pinch Rush. “Both academically and physically, he was very capable.”

Rush’s estimation arsenic a combatant aviator dispersed about the department, Prouty said, but he didn’t spell retired of his measurement to talk about his subject profession aliases different activity attention.

“The measurement group bulls--- astatine the firehouse, you benignant of ever person your bulls--- detector connected — it’s often not difficult to prime retired group for illustration that,” Prouty said. “But I don’t deliberation anyone would person honestly ever guessed his full entire backstory was wholly fabricated.”

He wasn’t the only personification successful the section pinch subject experience. One of the others, an Army veteran, said that they talked extensively and that he ne'er sewage moreover the slightest inkling that Rush whitethorn person been lying about his Navy career.

“He was very nonchalant about it,” said the Army veteran, who said connected the information of anonymity because of the delicate quality of his existent work. “At 1 constituent he said to me: ‘Being a combatant aviator is the easiest occupation successful the world. You push the instrumentality forward, the crushed gets bigger. You propulsion the instrumentality back, the crushed gets further away.’”

Rush told the Army seasoned that his Navy telephone motion was Dumpster. There was, naturally, a communicative to spell pinch the name.

“He said that he was drunk location and ended up successful a dumpster, and that’s really he sewage his telephone sign,” the Army seasoned said.

Rush’s lawyer didn’t respond to a petition for remark connected the Army veteran’s recollection that Rush told him his telephone motion and the root of it.

Rush worked for the section for 10 years, until 2018, according to its existent chief, Melvin Byrne. Byrne said Rush passed a inheritance cheque pinch nary issues.

“It was the authorities constabulary that did it, and location was thing different than a speeding ticket, and that was only 10 miles per hr over,” Byrne said.

Rush was a elder CIA serviceman until his clip pinch the agency came to an extremity nether still-unknown circumstances earlier his apprehension connected May 19.

From November to March, Rush made respective requests for “a important amount of overseas rate and tens of millions of dollars successful golden bars for work-related expenses,” tribunal documents say. He apparently did truthful aft he created a fictional programme that was expected to impact contingency plans to support the authorities operating successful the arena of a atomic warfare aliases different dire emergency, Beritaja has reported, according to the 2 group acquainted pinch the investigation.

Rush had worked successful the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology and was a liaison to the Defense Department for a delicate atomic submarine program. He was fixed the duty astatine the petition of Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, pinch whom he had a adjacent master narration complete the years, Beritaja has reported.

Feinberg hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing, and Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell has denied that Rush and Feinberg had a “close narration of immoderate kind.”

According to his subject work record, Rush enlisted successful the Navy successful 1997. Four years later, he tried to suffice for the Navy SEALs, the elite typical operations force, but didn’t make it. He went into the Navy Reserve the pursuing year, successful 2002, and became a cryptologic warfare officer. He was honorably discharged successful 2015.

His grounds indicates that he saw nary combat, but he did complete a rigorous programme to gain a nickname of “enlisted aviation warfare specialist,” which would require heavy knowledge of subject aircraft.

Bellmer, the retired lieutenant, said he loved talking to Rush about combatant jets. Bellmer’s begetter was successful the Air Force and imparted his passion for planes, truthful the chap firefighters had communal interests.

“We talked planes. We talked jets,” Bellmer said. “He knew each the talk. He knew each the dialogue. A very believable guy.”

Bellmer said he moreover told his friends about Rush — that location was this feline astatine the occurrence section who won Top Gun and ejected from not 1 but 2 F-14s.

“If this full point is simply a fraud, he played the portion to a T,” Bellmer said. “That’s for illustration Leonard DiCaprio successful ‘Catch Me If You Can.’”

“I told the guys I want to spell spot him,” Bellmer added. “I want to look him successful the look and go, ‘Rush, WTF, man!’”