Secret CIA assessment: Putin 'probably directing' influence operation to denigrate Biden

[Mike 03]

Washington Post
Opinion by Josh Rogin
Columnist
September 22, 2020 at 3:00 a.m. MST

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top aides are “probably directing” a Russian foreign influence operation to interfere in the 2020 presidential election against former vice president Joe Biden, which involves a prominent Ukrainian lawmaker connected to President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, a top-secret CIA assessment concluded, according to two sources who reviewed it.

On Aug. 31, the CIA published an assessment of Russian efforts to interfere in the November election in an internal, highly classified report called the CIA Worldwide Intelligence Review, the sources said. CIA analysts compiled the assessment with input from the National Security Agency and the FBI, based on several dozen pieces of information gleaned from public, unclassified and classified intelligence sources. The assessment includes details of the CIA’s analysis of the activities of Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach to disseminate disparaging information about Biden inside the United States through lobbyists, Congress, the media and contacts with figures close to the president.

“We assess that President Vladimir Putin and the senior most Russian officials are aware of and probably directing Russia’s influence operations aimed at denigrating the former U.S. Vice President, supporting the U.S. president and fueling public discord ahead of the U.S. election in November,” the first line of the document says, according to the sources.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Treasury Department have identified Derkach as a Russian agent, but it has not been publicly reported that the CIA, NSA and FBI believed Putin may be personally directing the campaign. Derkach has denied working on behalf of Moscow.

The CIA assessment described Derkach’s efforts in detail and said that his activities have included working through lobbyists, members of Congress and U.S. media organizations to disseminate and amplify his anti-Biden information. Though it refers to Derkach’s interactions with a “prominent” person connected to the Trump campaign, the analysis does not identify the person. Giuliani, who has been working with Derkach publicly for several months, is not named in the assessment.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/22/secret-cia-assessment-putin-probably-directing-influence-operation-denigrate-biden/

May be a paywall.

[kentuck]

1. Trump will call Putin this week.

But will anyone know?

[Mike 03]

4. Worse, he probably talks to Putin on an unsecure line.

(That used to be the case early on in the administration--not sure if it still is an issue).

[TheRealNorth]

9. I suspect they use secure lines

Putin is smart enough to know that he doesn't want the Germans or French to intercept those calls.

[Mike 03]

2. Here's an important paragraph.

Derkach told Politico in July that he passed along packets of materials to several lawmakers and White House officials. He said he notified Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) about the material. Johnson, Grassley and Graham have denied they received information from Derkach. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has declined to comment on whether he received materials from Derkach. Democratic leaders wrote to Wray in July to demand a briefing based on concerns that members of Congress were being used to launder information as part of a foreign interference operation.

Critical info.

[LakeArenal]

3. That's a secret? Really. Secret?

[Squinch]

6. Right? SMDH.

[Mike 03]

7. Still, it's good to have validation from Trump's own CIA

to go along with the warning from the FBI.

Also, I surmised that Johnson and Grassley had received packets, but I didn't know about Graham.

[LuvJoesPartner]

5. My question regarding this matter is

what steps are they taking to push back on the Russian influence. What good are these tax-payer funded government agencies if they report the problem that we have already known about and do diddly squat about it in 4 plus years? It is ridiculous and should be unacceptable to all Americans.

[soothsayer]

8. "Probably"? Ok