Kathianne
06-01-2017, 07:51 AM
Russia on front burner may not lead where some want and others fear:
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/russia-spies-espionage-trump-239003
<header class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: proxima-nova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);">Russia escalates spy games after years of U.S. neglect
Lawmakers and intelligence officials say that the United States missed opportunities to crack down on Russian espionage efforts.
</header>
By ALI WATKINS (http://www.politico.com/staff/ali-watkins)06/01/2017 05:12 AM EDT
In the throes of the 2016 campaign, the FBI found itself with an escalating problem: Russian diplomats, whose travel was supposed to be tracked by the State Department, were going missing.
...
It’s a trend that has led intelligence officials to conclude the Kremlin is waging a quiet effort to map the United States’ telecommunications infrastructure, perhaps preparing for an opportunity to disrupt it.
...
“We’ve definitely been ignoring Russia for the last 15 years,” another intelligence official said, calling the Kremlin “resurgent.”
Politico spoke with half a dozen current and former US intelligence officials about Russian spy strategies. All requested anonymity to openly discuss espionage.
...
For years, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle had pressed a hesitant Obama White House to crack down on some of the Kremlin’s more brazen stateside maneuvers.
“There was a general feeling that this was not getting the attention it deserved,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee who has supported the panel’s efforts in pressing the White House to tow a harder line with the Kremlin.
Around last summer, that tension reached a fever pitch.
Lawmakers, frustrated by Russian diplomats’ repeated violation of travel rules, had inserted a provision in last year’s intelligence authorization bill would have required Russian diplomats to provide ample notice to the State Department if they planned to travel more than 50 miles from where they were based, and further, would have required the FBI to validate that travel. According to several sources involved in the discussions at that time, the Administration fought desperately — and failed — get those provisions taken out of the bill.
Around that same time, two key democratic lawmakers informed the White House of plans to publicly finger Russia as the foreign power behind a widespread effort to manipulate the ongoing US election — something no official US government entity had yet done. Fearful of escalation, the administration tried to get Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam Schiff, then the two leading Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees, respectively, to back off. They didn’t, and released the statement anyway. Backed into a corner by Congress, the Administration released a statement saying the same a week later
...
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/russia-spies-espionage-trump-239003
<header class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: proxima-nova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);">Russia escalates spy games after years of U.S. neglect
Lawmakers and intelligence officials say that the United States missed opportunities to crack down on Russian espionage efforts.
</header>
By ALI WATKINS (http://www.politico.com/staff/ali-watkins)06/01/2017 05:12 AM EDT
In the throes of the 2016 campaign, the FBI found itself with an escalating problem: Russian diplomats, whose travel was supposed to be tracked by the State Department, were going missing.
...
It’s a trend that has led intelligence officials to conclude the Kremlin is waging a quiet effort to map the United States’ telecommunications infrastructure, perhaps preparing for an opportunity to disrupt it.
...
“We’ve definitely been ignoring Russia for the last 15 years,” another intelligence official said, calling the Kremlin “resurgent.”
Politico spoke with half a dozen current and former US intelligence officials about Russian spy strategies. All requested anonymity to openly discuss espionage.
...
For years, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle had pressed a hesitant Obama White House to crack down on some of the Kremlin’s more brazen stateside maneuvers.
“There was a general feeling that this was not getting the attention it deserved,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee who has supported the panel’s efforts in pressing the White House to tow a harder line with the Kremlin.
Around last summer, that tension reached a fever pitch.
Lawmakers, frustrated by Russian diplomats’ repeated violation of travel rules, had inserted a provision in last year’s intelligence authorization bill would have required Russian diplomats to provide ample notice to the State Department if they planned to travel more than 50 miles from where they were based, and further, would have required the FBI to validate that travel. According to several sources involved in the discussions at that time, the Administration fought desperately — and failed — get those provisions taken out of the bill.
Around that same time, two key democratic lawmakers informed the White House of plans to publicly finger Russia as the foreign power behind a widespread effort to manipulate the ongoing US election — something no official US government entity had yet done. Fearful of escalation, the administration tried to get Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam Schiff, then the two leading Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees, respectively, to back off. They didn’t, and released the statement anyway. Backed into a corner by Congress, the Administration released a statement saying the same a week later
...