CIA Reportedly Had Asset So Close To Putin That Spy Could Photograph Secret Documents
Source: Huffington Post
09/09/2019 11:31 pm ET
The U.S. agency waged a mission to extract the informant from Russia in 2017 after Trumps election, multiple media outlets reported.
By Nick Visser
The CIA spent decades cultivating an informant who became so close to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the individual could photograph documents on his desk and send them back to U.S. intelligence officials, according to a series of shocking reports published by CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post on Monday.
The unnamed source quickly became one of the CIAs most important assets as the informant rose through the ranks of Russian politics, providing essential information for decades, including intelligence about Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. But the spy agency became worried about the informants safety shortly after Trump was elected and ultimately waged a secret mission in 2017 to extract the source from Russia, CNNs Jim Sciutto first reported on Monday.
Link to tweet
Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cia-russia-informant-putin-extracted_n_5d76f3b5e4b0fde50c2bbc9b
RockRaven
(14,782 posts)GODDAMNED FUCKING TRAITOR
RDANGELO
(3,430 posts)Response to RDANGELO (Reply #2)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
PSPS
(13,512 posts)This was on May 5, 2017
tblue37
(64,979 posts)And Trump spilled the beans just to brag about how he gets the "best" intelligence, like a 5-year-old bragging that he knows a big secret.
PSPS
(13,512 posts)tblue37
(64,979 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,211 posts)CNN says decision made shortly after 2017 Oval Office meeting
US officials alarmed by Trumps private meeting with Putin
Martin Pengelly in New York, Luke Harding in London and Shaun Walker in Budapest
Mon 9 Sep 2019 12.00 EDT
The US extracted one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government in 2017, it was reported on Monday, in part because of concerns that mishandling of classified intelligence by Donald Trump and his administration could jeopardise the sources safety.
CNN cited multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge of the matter and said a person directly involved in the discussions said the move was made because Trump and his officials could not be fully trusted.
The US extracted one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government in 2017, it was reported on Monday, in part because of concerns that mishandling of classified intelligence by Donald Trump and his administration could jeopardise the sources safety.
CNN cited multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge of the matter and said a person directly involved in the discussions said the move was made because Trump and his officials could not be fully trusted.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/09/us-removed-covert-source-in-russia-due-to-safety-concerns-under-trump
elias7
(3,976 posts)secondwind
(16,903 posts)This gave me the willies!
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Tass has this to say this morning (quoting due to relevance):
"He has never worked for the Administrative Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation," Elena Krylova, Spokesperson for the head of the Russian Presidential Administrative Directorate, told TASS, commenting on reports alleging that Smolenkov was its employee prior to 2017...
...Some Russian media outlets reported citing anonymous sources that the individual in question could be someone named Oleg Smolenkov, who supposedly worked for the government. Some of them mentioned Smolenkovs other places of employment.
https://tass.com/politics/1077450
And:
"No, I am unable to confirm this, because I do not know if he was an agent or not. I can merely confirm that there was such an employee of the presidential staff and that he was dismissed at a certain point," Peskov said, when asked if he could confirm Smolenkov was a CIA agent...
https://tass.com/politics/1077458
NickB79
(19,110 posts)It would make them look incompetent and weak.
Nitram
(22,663 posts)partly true but significant details changed for purposes of misdirection, or that the story is entirely true. We will probably never know. There are a lot of layers between perception and truth when it comes to intelligence games.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)It's state owned Russian mediia. It's even less independent from Putin than Fox is from Trump.
AZ8theist
(5,338 posts)Response to Ghost Dog (Reply #7)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
Fix The Stupid
(947 posts)What if the headline were this?
"KGB had asset so close to US president he could photograph Secret Documents"
Would this place be in an uproar?
Why? Why not?
NickB79
(19,110 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Which I already do.
Are you in an uproar? Why? Why not?
Flaleftist
(3,473 posts)And most of us here are in an uproar about it.
Sapient Donkey
(1,568 posts)Umm, as someone said above I think most rational people would be outraged that we let it happen. By we, I mean the people who are supposed to prevent that from happening. I can also say I hold a similar view toward Russian activities toward our elections. My real frustrations are with our own people who didn't do a good enough job to stop it, or who in some cases even enabled it, and also with the American people (including myself) for allowing them to manipulate our minds the way they did and continue to try.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)Also, not sure what your point is. Of course we'd be mad. We're members of an American political party. We want our spies keeping tabs on hostile foreign powers.
Bayard
(21,801 posts)Sorry dude, we have a traitorous moron in the White House now, so you have to leave your country before he gets you killed.
Response to Bayard (Reply #9)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
mikeysnot
(4,755 posts)NickB79
(19,110 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,211 posts)31 minutes ago
CNN said President Trump's meeting with Russia's Sergei Lavrov in 2017 had spooked the CIA
More details have emerged of an alleged high-level spy the US reportedly extracted from Russia amid fears his cover was about to be blown.
Russian media named him as Oleg Smolenkov, who worked for a key aide to President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Smolenkov was not senior, had been fired years ago and the extraction reports were fiction, the Kremlin said.
A CNN report said the CIA had feared President Trump's "mishandling" of intelligence could put the spy at risk.
CNN said the extraction came after the president met senior Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in the White House in May 2017 and had unexpectedly shared classified US intelligence.
More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49651576
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Or similar. There's more:
Smolenkov, his wife and three children went on vacation to Montenegro on June 14, 2017, and disappeared without a trace. A murder investigation initiated in Moscow got nowhere. Kommersant found a notice in the Washington Post saying a couple named Oleg and Antonina Smolenkov (the wife has the same name as the missing officials) bought a house in Stafford, Virginia, in June 2018. It also discovered a record of a deed on a Stafford property in Oleg Smolenkovs name.
On Tuesday, an NBC correspondent apparently visited the property, although the resulting story didnt mention Smolenkovs name or the Stafford location. It did say that, once the reporter rang the doorbell, two young men came racing up in an SUV and started asking questions about the purpose of his visit, introducing themselves only as friends of the owner.
If indeed the CIA extracted Smolenkov from Russia, one might question why he continued to use his real name. But the timing of the Smolenkovs disappearance and their apparent re-emergence in Virginia, watched over by anonymous friends, suggest he could be the mole in question...
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/man-prized-u-asset-kremlin-123449914.html
brooklynite
(93,840 posts)Response to Judi Lynn (Original post)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.