Good day all. Since the installation of the worst President* in United States history, Joe Biden, foreign governments have been laughing at him and pretty much doing whatever they want.
Part of this is the simple fact that some of these governments bought some of Hoovernose’s paint by numbers portraits. Others understand that Joe Biden is and always was a moron and they could count on him to always do the wrong thing.
Russia under Putin is one of the latter cases. (They didn’t have the money for payoffs I gather) They have been doing whatever they want anywhere they wanted to knowing that Biden wouldn’t do much about it. In this case, the Russians tried to kill a CIA asset on U.S. soil. This is something that just doesn’t happen outside of the movies. Here are the details from Fox News:
A 2020 attempt by Russian agents to target and kill a CIA asset on U.S. soil signals a major shift in how the U.S. intelligence community assesses the threat faced by foreign informants who are vital to U.S. intelligence gathering.
Earlier this week The New York Times revealed an unprecedented attempt by Moscow to pursue Aleksandr Poteyev, a former high-ranking Russian intelligence officer turned informant for the CIA who was living in Miami.
Russia has a long history of going after people in foreign countries with England being the last one I know of. They used a nerve agent, (Novichok, which I always though was a movie toxin), to kill Sergei and his daughter, Yulia Skripal. The attempt failed however, they and a British police detective were seriously injured. However, the Russians were careless, (Unsurprisingly) in getting rid of the toxin and someone found it. Thinking it was perfume from the bottle he gave it to a woman who used it and died.
According to Rebekah Koffler, a Russian-born former DIA intelligence officer who worked with the CIA’s National Clandestine Service on operational projects involving defectors and author of “Putin’s Playbook,” Moscow going after a U.S. asset on American soil is “a game changer.”
“We have many people working for us who risk their lives… in Russia providing really highly sensitive information. In certain cases we exfiltrate them when their life is in danger when their cover is blown,” she told Fox News Digital. “This is a game changer.”
If you go by all the spy movies and novels, they all have an “Unwritten agreement” that the two sides don’t go after defectors on the other sides territory. There were a few we could have gone after in the past and a few others currently that some people want to, bluntly, make very dead. (Snowden)
The former intelligence officer explained that the U.S. intelligence community goes to great lengths to ensure the safety and security of informants forced to flee their homeland and seek protection within U.S. borders in exchange for their intelligence services.
Which is only fair of course.
“If they attempted to kill this guy, they’re going to attempt to kill our other guys that we have here,” she explained.
This can blow up very badly for a number of reasons. The Russians complete disregard for “Collateral Damage is well known. If Americans had been hurt or killed, especially kids, look out! Obviously, I don’t know how security is maintained for these people, or if their neighbors or local law enforcement know that there are CIA assets who have “Come in from the cold” and been set up in the United States. It obviously worked in this case.
I can see a “Worst case scenario” where a neighbor sees or hears something, calls the police and then grabs his shotgun to see if his neighbor is being robbed. That could very easily go sideways very fast and if a citizen or police officer is killed or injured, never mind the asset, well, Americans are not known for writing strong letters of disapproval outside the Beltway when a foreign agent kills an American.
Koffler, who has personally been a target of Russian harassment, said the U.S. intelligence community previously assessed that though Moscow has intimidated Russians who aid Washington, the threat level against assets and within U.S. borders was still believed to be relatively low – an assessment that is no longer accurate.
“It’s a very alarming development,” she said. “We just realized none of these people are safe anymore, and that’s very disturbing.”
It’s dangerous. It’s also something that I’m surprised Russians even considered under President Trump. The last time the Russians did something stupid involving U.S. personnel was in Syria. It cost them a battalion or thereabouts. Putin stopped trying stupid things after that.
The plot to assassinate Poteyev was foiled after a Kremlin asset botched a surveillance scheme that attracted the attention of a security guard, which alerted the U.S. intelligence community.
The plan the Russians came up with is right out of a novel. It involves blackmail, third parties and the usual threats.
Russia attempted to gain information on Poteyev by forcibly recruiting an unassuming Mexican scientist, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes.
Fuentes was found to have two wives, one a Russian living in Germany with two daughters, and the other living in Mexico – a peculiar arrangement that Moscow exploited.
I wonder if the two women knew about each other? These days, that kind of “arrangement” really isn’t all that big of a deal as long as all parties are consenting.
The mother of two was stopped and prevented from leaving Russia after they returned for a visit, forcing Fuentes to travel to Russia to see them.
While there he was approached by a man believed to be a Russian agent and was eventually instructed to rent an apartment in Miami under a different name near where Poteyev was believed to live. He was then told to do surveillance and locate Poteyev’s vehicle, copy down the description of where it was kept and take its license plate number. Fuentes was also reportedly told not to take a picture of the car.
That’s interesting. I gather the Russians were concerned about the NSA hacking the phone or Mr. Fuentes online accounts? In any case, it didn’t work for the simple reason Mr. Fuentes, who isn’t a trained operative, screwed up.
But the scientist blew the operation when he tried to enter a complex where Poteyev’s vehicle was believed to be kept, passing through an entry gate by tailgating the car in front of him. Fuentes was then stopped by a security guard, at which point his wife walked away from the scene, located Poteyev’s car and took a picture of it – all of which was captured on security camera footage, according to reporting by The New York Times.
So much for following orders and not taking pictures. I’m curious though, Which wife was this?
Koffler pointed out that the failure of Russia’s assassination attempt demonstrated that security procedures the U.S. intelligence community has in place to keep defectors safe are working.
For now that is.
“We may need to invest more resources now that we know the Russians will be conducting ‘wet deeds’ covert operations on U.S. soil, but so far what we’ve done has worked in terms of keeping these guys alive,” she said in reference to operational tactics used by Russia in assassination attempts like poisonings.
Considering how careless the Russians have show in handling toxic substances, if they had tried to make an attempt, it’s possible others would have been injured or killed as “Collateral damage.” I’m also wondering if they weren’t looking to do something other then their typical poisoning. Perhaps a car bomb? Maybe a drive by shooting?
One thing I am now considering is the Ukraine. There is little doubt that Putin thought it would be a cakewalk, (He was wrong), and that Biden wouldn’t do anything about it. At first, Dementia Joe was holding things back, but soon went the other way. (A bit to far the other way in many people’s opinion) Now I wonder if our support isn’t tied into Putin’s attempt to carry out an assassination on U.S. Territory? It definitely fits the American tendency to massively overreact. Who actually knows?
Thatisall
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