Focused Read in 3-4 minutes
“Collusion Doesn’t
Have to be Criminal to be an Ongoing Threat”
( First, what you need to
know about the authors of the Dec. 15th article, which establishes some level of credibility in the context of the subject matter:
“Alex Finley former officer of the
CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa
and Europe. She is the author of Victor in the Rubble, a satire about
the CIA and the War on Terror.
Asha Rangappa, Senior Lecturer at Yale’s
Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. She served as an FBI
counterintelligence agent from 2002 to 2005.
John Sipher, Director of Customer
Success at CrossLead, Retired Member of the CIA’s Senior
Intelligence Service.” )
Highlights of the article follow ⬇
During the hearing with
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Wednesday, some members of
the House Judiciary Committee did not try to conceal their attempt to
discredit and derail Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation...
The way that the Russia
investigation has been framed has made it easy for them to do that:
Its legitimacy appears to rest on finding a smoking gun of
criminality – a simple yes or no on whether any of the cast of
characters in this saga committed a serious federal offence.
But making this merely
about the bright line between illegality (criminality) and legality
means that most Americans are missing what is right under our noses.
To wit, there is no question that Russia made multiple, unprecedented
attempts to penetrate a U.S. presidential campaign, that its
approaches were not rebuffed, and that its contacts were sensitive
enough that everyone, to a person, has concealed them.
These facts might never be
adjudicated inside a courtroom – they may not even be illegal –
but they present a clear and present national security threat that we
cannot ignore.
We write here to broaden the public understanding of
that security threat, and to underscore why the principal part of
Mueller’s investigation—which is a counterintelligence probe not
a criminal one—is performing a vital role for our country.
Assets: Tools In A Toolbox
Russia’s intelligence
services, like any intelligence service worth its salt, aims to
recruit a variety of assets (a.k.a. sources). Assets are a spy’s
version of a “toolbox.” ...
A Russian Courtship
From an intelligence
standpoint, the numerous Russian approaches to the Trump campaign
look like a textbook recruitment effort.
Campaign officials were an
attractive target for Russian intelligence, of course. They provided
a chance to catapult Russian influence into the Oval Office, and to
obtain the Holy Grail: to manipulate a sitting presidential
administration to act in a way that is favorable to Russia.
(And even if their
candidate did not make it into the White House, they would have a
grip on him and some of his most powerful associates for years to
come.)
...The sheer number of
Russia’s attempted contacts with the highest level of a U.S.
presidential campaign and then transition team is mind-boggling...And those are only the
contacts we know about...
The Pattern of Deception
By accepting certain
meetings, members of the Trump team communicated that they were
indeed interested in having a relationship. ...
Here’s where the
deception on the part of Trump and his team is telling.
Trump and his
crew never, not once, considered reporting Russian approaches to
their campaign, even after law enforcement and intelligence officials
made it public that Russia had attempted to interfere with the
election.
Rather, at every turn, they encouraged unethical behavior
and misled the American people, Congress, and even the FBI, claiming
repeatedly they had nothing to do with Russia or Russians – even as
evidence continues to surface that reveals otherwise.
Further, since taking
office, the Trump administration has strenuously resisted taking any
action against Russia for its attack on our democratic process. In
fact, the President continues to call the intelligence community’s
assessment a “hoax” and has taken no meaningful steps to protect
against further interference in the future.
President Trump even went
as far as trying to return Russia’s spy compounds which were
confiscated by the Obama administration as a part of its sanctions.
Even after Congress passed a bill reinforcing sanctions against
Russia this past August, the Trump administration has yet to enforce
them.
This inexplicable policy
position, combined with the administration’s pattern of deception,
suggests two explanations (which are not mutually exclusive):
The
first is that Russia’s relationship with at least some members of
the campaign did proceed, and involved ethically or legally
questionable activities that the campaign needs to conceal.
Second,
it may be that members of the Trump campaign have engaged in
problematic activities known to Russia – related or unrelated to
the election itself – which Russia now holds as a sword of Damocles
over them.
Either way, it strongly suggests that Russia could have
leverage over those who are now in charge of protecting the United
States, rendering them unable to act solely in the interest of our
country.
Is Collusion a Crime?
Most of the things
intelligence officers and assets do—particularly during the process
of recruiting someone—aren’t necessarily illegal...
This isn’t to say that
Mueller won’t find evidence of criminal acts in his investigation.
Based on the indictments and plea deals we’ve seen so far, it’s
clear that at least some of the people associated with the Trump
campaign have committed crimes.
But the U.S. criminal code is narrow:
It encompasses specific activities like computer hacking, or money
laundering, or lying to federal agents. Mueller will also proceed
cautiously, only bringing charges where both the law and evidence are
extraordinarily clear.
What becomes public through the criminal
justice system, then, will only be a sliver of what actually took
place between Russia and the Trump campaign behind the scenes.
The only crime that might
reveal a larger effort is conspiracy, which is an agreement among two
or more people to commit a crime. But it’s unlikely that there
would be evidence of an explicit quid pro quo in the intelligence
world.
This is because intelligence operations are
“compartmentalized”—that is, each asset only knows their own
role, but not necessarily to what extent others might be involved –
so no one asset would understand or know the full breadth of an
entire operation. ...
But the truth is that
“collusion” with the Kremlin doesn’t have to be criminal to be
dangerous.
If the Trump campaign received offers of assistance from
Russia, and they did nothing to discourage that help (or even
encouraged it), they are indebted to a foreign adversary whose
national interests are opposed to those of the United States.
You can
be sure that at some point, Putin will come to collect, if he has not
done so already –
and when it comes to protecting our democracy the
administration will be a puppet of a foreign adversary, not our
country’s first line of defense.
While the potential criminal
aspects of this case need to be investigated, we need to take a good
look at what we already know.
The national security threat is staring
us right in the face.
You
can read more here
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( Courtesy of ThinkProgress )
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The Democratic Party Website
Also
C-SPAN (a good place for speeches & hearings direct source (s))
→ Fact checking organizations courtesy of the Society of Professional Journalists
in alphabetical order...
follows on Twitter include:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ US Intelligence | Author | Navy Senior Chief | NBC/MSNBC
⭐⭐⭐ Federal Government Operations | Vanity Fair | Newsweek | MSNBC Contributor | Author
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Voting Rights/Voter Suppression | Author | Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible media -- at the moment:
📰📰📰 Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible Talking Heads -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
( ⬆⬆⬆ Wallace is new to the job but for right now
her work on Trump GOP has been credible, IMO)
...for Networking for Democrats today!
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