Russia’s arrest of Paul Whelan, a court-martialed Marine Corps private, on espionage charges, has triggered speculation about a possible trade for Maria Butina, convicted Russian agent and one of the world’s worst spies in 2018 According to a Russian news agency, Whelan was arrested in Moscow last week, just minutes after receiving a USB memory...
Category: Europe
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Hacker Attack Targets German Politicians But Not the Far Right
Imagine if the DNC email hack of 2016 was combined with the hacking of former President Bush, the hacking of all members of Congress except for the Freedom Caucus, and the hacking of, say, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, and comedian Chris Rock. That’s is the unfolding spectacle now gripping Germany. From Bild, a leading newsweekly...
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Russian Intelligence Probed for Dirt on Investors Who Backed Clinton
Buzzfeed provide a glimpse of another Russian intelligence operation targeting the U.S. government. The Russian’s target in this case was the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, which enforces U.S. sanctions against Russia and Iran, as well as money laundering laws. The Russians sought information about the business partners of William Browder, a...
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The Six Worst Spies of 2018
It was a banner year for bad spies. The ideal covert operation, a CIA man once said, remains secret “from conception to eternity.” So too with the ideal spy. The true artists of espionage are those who are never detected or are detected too late to be harmed, humiliated, prosecuted or persecuted. The most famous...
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After Turkish Spy Chief’s ‘Very Unusual’ Visit, Two Flynn Associates Are Indicted
When Turkey’s intelligence chief Hakan Fidan visited Washington earlier this month, reportedly to brief Congress on the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, he came with another agenda: pressing the Trump administration to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish national whom Turkey accuses of masterminding an attempted coup in July 2016. Today, Istanbul got Washington’s answer. The Justice...