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US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017

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  • US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017

    I check CNN regularly for things not covered by my main news source. What's your read on this one? Not a good look for The Donald.


    Story on CNN

    In a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the United States successfully extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government, multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge told CNN.

    A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy.
    The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel.
    The disclosure to the Russians by the President, though not about the Russian spy specifically, prompted intelligence officials to renew earlier discussions about the potential risk of exposure, according to the source directly involved in the matter.
    At the time, then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo told other senior Trump administration officials that too much information was coming out regarding the covert source, known as an asset. An extraction, or "exfiltration" as such an operation is referred to by intelligence officials, is an extraordinary remedy when US intelligence believes an asset is in immediate danger.
    A US official said before the secret operation there was media speculation about the existence of such a covert source, and such coverage or public speculation poses risks to the safety of anyone a foreign government suspects may be involved. This official did not identify any public reporting to that effect at the time of this decision and CNN could not find any related reference in media reports.
    Asked for comment, Brittany Bramell, the CIA director of public affairs, told CNN: "CNN's narrative that the Central Intelligence Agency makes life-or-death decisions based on anything other than objective analysis and sound collection is simply false. Misguided speculation that the President's handling of our nation's most sensitive intelligence—which he has access to each and every day—drove an alleged exfiltration operation is inaccurate."
    A spokesperson for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to comment. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said, "CNN's reporting is not only incorrect, it has the potential to put lives in danger."
    Wide concerns about Trump in intelligence community
    The removal happened at a time of wide concern in the intelligence community about mishandling of intelligence by Trump and his administration. Those concerns were described to CNN by five sources who served in the Trump administration, intelligence agencies and Congress.
    Those concerns continued to grow in the period after Trump's Oval Office meeting with Kislyak and Lavrov. Weeks after the decision to extract the spy, in July 2017, Trump met privately with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Hamburg and took the unusual step of confiscating the interpreter's notes. Afterward, intelligence officials again expressed concern that the President may have improperly discussed classified intelligence with Russia, according to an intelligence source with knowledge of the intelligence community's response to the Trump-Putin meeting.
    Knowledge of the Russian covert source's existence was highly restricted within the US government and intelligence agencies. According to one source, there was "no equal alternative" inside the Russian government, providing both insight and information on Putin.
    CNN is withholding several details about the spy to reduce the risk of the person's identification.
    The secret removal of the high-level Russian asset has left the US without one of its key sources on the inner workings of the Kremlin and the plans and thinking of the Russian president at a time when tensions between the two nations have been growing. The US intelligence community considers Russia one of the two greatest threats to US national security, along with China.
    "The impact would be huge because it is so hard to develop sources like that in any denied area, particularly Russia, because the surveillance and security there is so stringent," a former senior intelligence official told CNN. "You can't reacquire a capability like that overnight."
    Months of mounting fear
    The decision to pull the asset out of Russia was the culmination of months of mounting fear within the intelligence community.
    At the end of the Obama administration, US intelligence officials had already expressed concerns about the safety of this spy and other Russian assets, given the length of their cooperation with the US, according to a former senior intelligence official.
    Those concerns grew in early 2017 after the US intelligence community released its public report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which said Putin himself ordered the operation. The intelligence community also shared a classified version of the report with the incoming Trump administration, and it included highly protected details on the sources behind the intelligence. Senior US intelligence officials considered extracting at least one Russian asset at the time but did not do so, according to the former senior intelligence official.
    In the first months of his administration, Trump's handling of classified intelligence further concerned intelligence officials. Ultimately, they decided to launch the difficult operation to remove an asset who had been working for the US for years.
    The President was informed in advance of the extraction, along with a small number of senior officials. Details of the extraction itself remain secret and the whereabouts of the asset today are unknown to CNN.
    Ronald Reagan:"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

    Homer: "Bart...there's 2 things I know about women. Never give them nicknames like "jumbo" or "boxcar" and always keep receipts...it makes you look like a business man."

  • #2
    Good to see Andrew McCabe is earning all that money CNN is throwing at him.

    Comment


    • #3
      How is it not a good look for the Donald?

      First off...any article by CNN about Trump is going to try and shed him in a negative light...but this literally says concerns started under Obama....

      So I take it you're a leftist? I'm not even a trump supporter but you guys make it way too obvious.

      Comment


      • #4
        [emoji23] at reading CNN and believing it.


        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Ruffdaddy View Post
          How is it not a good look for the Donald?

          First off...any article by CNN about Trump is going to try and shed him in a negative light...but this literally says concerns started under Obama....

          So I take it you're a leftist? I'm not even a trump supporter but you guys make it way too obvious.
          He was extracted because three letter agencies were worried Trump or his staff might give up their asset. So instead they gave their asset up themselves, negating his chance and giving CNN an exclusive story about something he might have been able to do.

          Russiagate was in full swing around the time this happened and the Trump administration was still trying to weed out their moles.

          Comment


          • #6
            Leftys give away the info freely and it's no big deal, but ole Trump 'might' do something and its OMG end of the world.
            G'Day Mate

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by BP View Post
              He was extracted because three letter agencies were worried Trump or his staff might give up their asset. So instead they gave their asset up themselves, negating his chance and giving CNN an exclusive story about something he might have been able to do.

              Russiagate was in full swing around the time this happened and the Trump administration was still trying to weed out their moles.
              Yeah, kinda how I interpreted that too.

              I'm pretty apolitical these days, and not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I can easily see the potential that the decision to exfiltrate was political posturing, rather than due to true concerns relating to Trump.

              "An extraction, or "exfiltration" as such an operation is referred to by intelligence officials, is an extraordinary remedy when US intelligence believes an asset is in immediate danger."

              Such immediate danger that they considered exfiltration for at least 5-6 months before taking action? Yeah, not buying it. Sounds like the decision had nothing to do with Trump, and they're just trying to link the two after-the-fact. Probably also why they waited two years, until the ramp-up for the next presidential election, to report on it.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Ruffdaddy View Post
                How is it not a good look for the Donald?

                First off...any article by CNN about Trump is going to try and shed him in a negative light...but this literally says concerns started under Obama....

                So I take it you're a leftist? I'm not even a trump supporter but you guys make it way too obvious.
                Not in the slightest.

                "At the end of the Obama administration, US intelligence officials had already expressed concerns about the safety of this spy and other Russian assets, given the length of their cooperation with the US, according to a former senior intelligence official."

                It does say the concerns started under Obama but the premise of the story is that Trump's actions, allegedly carelessly sharing information, could be traced back exposing the originating source.

                I know that not a day has passed since the beginning of this administration that CNN hasn't devoted 10% (min) of their online front page to bash, shade or otherwise hurt Trump. I hate CNN, but I view it to see what they are saying. Sometimes I take the articles and share them with my lib parents and show them the obvious slant, misrepresentations of fact, etc. I just wanted to see what the group could extract from this story.
                Ronald Reagan:"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

                Homer: "Bart...there's 2 things I know about women. Never give them nicknames like "jumbo" or "boxcar" and always keep receipts...it makes you look like a business man."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by barronj View Post
                  I just wanted to see what the group could extract from this story.
                  A big nothing burger...no story here. They started having concerns under Obama that the spy was compromised...waited a few years...thought about exfil...waited months...then fear Trump would share classified intel and blow it. Allegedly that's what they feared. Meanwhile, both Hillary and Comey did, beyond a reasonable doubt, leak/lose/share classified information and no big deal. That story totally screams smear piece and fake news...

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Show me the CNN article tying the imprisonment and death of 20 CIA spies in China to Clinton's emails, and I'll start to consider them a valid source of information about spy activity. Until then, they are nothing more than a propaganda arm of the Democrat party and the deep state.
                    When the government pays, the government controls.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by 46Tbird View Post
                      Show me the CNN article tying the imprisonment and death of 20 CIA spies in China to Clinton's emails, and I'll start to consider them a valid source of information about spy activity. Until then, they are nothing more than a propaganda arm of the Democrat party and the deep state.
                      ^
                      This!
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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by BP View Post
                        Good to see Andrew McCabe is earning all that money CNN is throwing at him.
                        Ha. Spot on.

                        What you espouse to in this modern climate...the public. Well, it's all about the BenJamins...
                        Last edited by LS1Goat; 09-10-2019, 03:24 AM.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          The Central Intelligence Agency on Monday evening slammed what it called CNN's "misguided" and "simply false" reporting -- which the agency called a "narrative" -- concerning the intelligence community's alleged withdrawal of a sensitive source placed deeply in the Kremlin.


                          ...Numerous other holes quickly surfaced in CNN's reporting. Commentator Aaron Mate pointed out in a Twitter thread that several major news organizations had previously cited a high-level official in the Russian government as a source -- suggesting that the intelligence community itself, not Trump, had compromised the spy.

                          For example, The Washington Post reported in June 2017 of "'sourcing deep inside the Russian government' -- so deep that it purportedly 'captured Putin’s specific instructions' to launch a pro-Trump influence campaign," Matte noted.

                          And the Times reported in August 2018 of "anonymous intel officials complaining that their 'vital Kremlin informants have largely gone silent.'" But "if these Kremlin informants are so vital, why are US intel officials talking about them?" Matte asked.

                          The source resurfaced in May 2019, when the Times "reported on intel fears of this source being exposed."

                          "Again, the irony is lost that it's the ones who are complaining who are the ones revealing this supposed source," Matte wrote. "So there's a pattern here of intel leaks in order to: create a false link between Trump-Russia; to reveal supposed high-level Russian sources that advance the Russiagate narrative & then falsely blame Trump for these sources' supposed vulnerability."
                          Last edited by barronj; 09-10-2019, 05:03 AM.
                          Ronald Reagan:"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

                          Homer: "Bart...there's 2 things I know about women. Never give them nicknames like "jumbo" or "boxcar" and always keep receipts...it makes you look like a business man."

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            So an interesting theory now is that it could have been Rinat Akhmetshin whose suspected to be the source for the Steele dossier.

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