Skip to main content

Let's Play Spy Games


Let's Play Spy Games

     We've recently learned that a US asset inside the Kremlin had to leave Russia and come to live in the US.  This started me thinking in the most simplistic terms about international intelligence activities.  Of course, I have no credentials in this area, so this is just the speculation of a curious citizen.
     We know that Vladimir Putin was formerly head of the KGB, one of the main intelligence agencies of the former Soviet Union.  As such, I would be surprised if he did not surveil everyone in his administration.  I'm guessing that this would entail giving false information to select people, then seeing if any of that info later turned up in some other countries' news, thus pointing directly to a particular person in his confidence. 
     Of course, US intelligence agencies are aware of this type of play, and have ways of countering it, or using it to our advantage.  But . . .
     Imagine that Putin gives this type of info to one of his underlings, and that the information is extremely flattering or is of monetary interest, or both, to Donald Trump.  Then imagine that Trump meets secretly with Putin, with no advisors, no secretary, perhaps not even an American translator.  Then imagine that in that meeting Putin asks Trump a seemingly innocuous question which would reveal to Putin that Trump heard the false information.  Does any rational person think that Trump would be savvy enough to realize what was going on and keep his mouth shut?  Or do our intelligence agencies have to pull their informants out of danger, not knowing if they have been compromised?
     I'm sure that the intelligence games that are being played are much more complicated and sophisticated than this, so you can imagine my concern every time Trump opens his mouth in private or in public.  I have no confidence that Trump, who refuses briefings, who brags about doing things his way, who denigrates our intelligence organizations, and who has shown himself to be far, far less than a "stable genius" can be trusted to play this kind of game.
     Just one more argument that being a danger to US interests is impeachable, regardless of whether or not a crime has been committed.

PeteBarkett.blogspot.com
September 9, 2019

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to End Gridlock in Washington, DC

How to End Gridlock in Washington, DC      I'm calling on all Democrats to end the gridlock in Congress.  The plan is theoretically simple, perhaps a bit more difficult to achieve.  Here's what you do:  register to vote as a Republican.  "Are you crazy?," you say.  Let me explain.      I first conceived of this idea after the umpteenth election where a Democrat led in the polls, then was defeated handily in the election, due to voter suppression, redistricting, racial and political gerrymandering, and blatantly biased election laws, not to dismiss the possibility of tampering with unaccountable and hackable voting machines.  I thought that if Black, Latino, Asian and other minority voters registered as Republicans, it might make it more difficult to unethically suppress their ability to vote.      But then, thinking back to the days of Dixiecrats (Southern Democrats who beginning around ...
Post a Comment
Read more

On Coronavirus

On Coronavirus   On July 28th, in his corona virus update, President Trump said that there are large areas of the country that are free from the virus.   He was immediately attacked for that statement.   That attack was unfair because, contrary to his normal struggles with integrity, in this case he was exactly correct.   Three undeniable examples confirm this.   Firs29t, take deserts for example.   The high deserts of the northwest states combine with the Mojave, the Sonoran, and the other southwest deserts to comprise an area of 200,000 - 300,000 square miles which are almost completely plague free.     Add in Alaska, almost all of which is covid free, and which is nearly one third the size of the contiguous states and you have an extremely large area.   Second, lakes.   The Great Salt Lake is great.   Don't forget Lake Tahoe, a million lakes in Minnesota, and the Everglades and other swamps.   Then there are the ...
Post a Comment
Read more