C.I.A. Informant Extracted From Russia Had Sent Secrets to U.S. for Decades
![]() 2109 Tuesday, 10 September, 2019, 12:05 Decades ago, the C.I.A. recruited and carefully cultivated a midlevel Russian official who began rapidly advancing through the governmental ranks. Eventually, American spies struck gold: The longtime source landed an influential position that came with access to the highest level of the Kremlin. As American officials began to realize that Russia was trying to sabotage the 2016 presidential election, the informant became one of the C.I.A.’s most important — and highly protected — assets. But when intelligence officials revealed the severity of Russia’s election interference with unusual detail later that year, the news media picked up on details about the C.I.A.’s Kremlin sources. C.I.A. officials worried about safety made the arduous decision in late 2016 to offer to extract the source from Russia. The situation grew more tense when the informant at first refused, citing family concerns — prompting consternation at C.I.A. headquarters and sowing doubts among some American counterintelligence officials about the informant’s trustworthiness. But the C.I.A. pressed again months later after more media inquiries. This time, the informant agreed. The move brought to an end the career of one of the C.I.A.’s most important sources. It also effectively blinded American intelligence officials to the view from inside Russia as they sought clues about Kremlin interference in the 2018 midterm elections and next year’s presidential contest. |
Netanyahu quietly leaves White House without announcement of breakthrough in Gaza talks (video)
14910:40"Rumors about Israel using the territories of neighboring countries have not been confirmed" - Pezeshkian
460Yesterday, 16:28#Axios: "Trump promised Zelensky to send 10 Patriot missiles"
407Yesterday, 15:53"We did not request a meeting with the American side" - Bagai
341Yesterday, 14:29Fidan։ "Turkey awaits Ukrainian response on timeframes of next Istanbul meeting"
374Yesterday, 13:47Arsenyan was presented with the position of the Russian Foreign Ministry regarding the need to maintain a constructive information field around Russia in Armenia
409Yesterday, 13:23Trump: "I would like to lift sanctions on Iran!"
360Yesterday, 10:52"We are preparing to introduce the toughest sanctions against Russia" - Barro
308Yesterday, 10:16