Technology and national security analyst Mike Benz is raising new questions about Jeffrey Epstein’s potential ties to U.S. intelligence agencies, focusing on the lack of a CIA name trace in official government reporting.

In a detailed statement, Benz criticized both the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Justice for failing to conduct or disclose basic investigatory steps regarding Epstein’s longstanding connections to figures with known intelligence links.

Benz, who has previously testified before Congress and leads the Foundation for Freedom Online, reviewed hundreds of declassified CIA name traces — internal checks the agency routinely conducts when individuals are publicly alleged to have ties to the intelligence community.

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He said Epstein’s case stands out due to the agency’s apparent lack of action.

“I’m gonna make a longer video on this tomorrow, but I just spent the past six hours reading through hundreds of declassified CIA name traces where, when there’s a high profile media event, mainstream media publication alleges that a particular individual is connected to the CIA, and the CIA routinely runs a name trace in order to determine whether or not the allegation is true or not,” Benz said.

“So that the Director of Central Intelligence and senior leadership knows that whether the rumors swirling around are true or false, there’s no name trace. We don’t even know if a name trace was done at CIA on Jeffrey Epstein, and it’s inconceivable,” he continued.

Benz pointed to Epstein’s unusual business relationships and real estate ties with the U.S. government as reasons a name trace should have been an obvious step.

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“This is a guy who personally negotiated the transfer of a CIA proprietary airline to the business he had power of attorney over in 1995. This is a guy who personally had the State Department as his landlord after the U.S. government seized a residence in New York City,” Benz said.

“This is a guy who was widely alleged to quote belong to intelligence as the reason for his high profile sweetheart plea deal.”

He also referenced the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) report from November 2020, which addressed questions about Epstein’s ties to intelligence without citing any CIA records or requesting a name trace.

“In the Justice Department OPR report in November 2020, where Alex Acosta is asked about Epstein ties to intelligence… there’s one paragraph description that says, and we believe it would be highly unlikely if Epstein had intelligence ties, because if he did, defense counsel would have told us,” Benz said.

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“Of course, we know in that case, defense counsel arranged private meetings with Alex Acosta, and Alex Acosta’s inbound emails all got deleted — 11 months worth, beginning with the start of the investigation,” he added.

Benz questioned the DOJ’s reasoning and why it did not directly consult the CIA.

“Why wouldn’t you task the CIA to do a name trace on Epstein and get all CIA files on Epstein so that you can determine whether Epstein has at least U.S. intelligence ties?” he said.

“Why would you take 21 months to prepare this 248-page report… and you don’t even query the CIA to do a name trace?”

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He emphasized that many name traces he reviewed were initiated by DOJ components or inspector generals, often based on far less serious allegations.

“25–30% of these name traces I’ve been reading start with the Justice Department or an inspector general asking for the name trace. Sometimes they’re unilaterally done out of morbid curiosity,” Benz said.

The statement concluded with a call for further review, including action by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“There’s another reason that Pam Bondi has to get the meta files around the DOJ OPR, go straight to the CIA Office of General Counsel, see what was actually queried,” Benz stated.

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As scrutiny continues surrounding Epstein’s connections and past plea deals, Benz argued that a transparent accounting of all CIA records — starting with a formal name trace — is long overdue.

WATCH:

Benz followed up on his initial post and showed that a name trace can take two weeks…