Even the PENTAGON fears 'Merchant of Death' Viktor Bout will go back to selling ... trends now

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Officials at the Pentagon fear the 'Merchant of Death' Viktor Bout will go back to selling arms after he was freed from a federal prison in Illinois in a prisoner swap to get WNBA star Brittney Griner out of a Russian penal colony.

'I think there is a concern that [he] will return to doing the same kind of work that he's done in the past,' one senior Defense Department official told Politico Thursday.  

At least one Democrat and a number of Republicans warned that Americans detained abroad could be used as 'bargaining chips' after the prisoner exchange. 

'We cannot ignore that releasing Bout back into the world is a deeply disturbing decision,' said Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. 'We must stop inviting dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans overseas as bargaining chips, and we must try do better at encouraging American citizens against traveling to places like Russia where they are primary targets for this type of unlawful detention.'

Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, gave a similar warning.