Can you imagine a world where we allowed the Geraldos of the world to use subterfuge and moles to go out and SEEK classified information using the same methods that the Soviets or Chinese would?

Media moles are called leakers, and they're all over the place. Many are highly placed officials purposefully leaking to control the narrative. Interestingly, leaks that benefit the government's positions seem to receive less investigatory attention from the FBI et al.