The CIA released another video Monday appealing to Russians disillusioned with the country’s leaders, offering them a way to pass secrets to the American spy agency.
Titled “Why I contacted CIA: the motherland,” the Russian-language video, posted on Telegram and other social media platforms, attempts to connect with Russians’ sense of patriotism and the disparity between soldiers’ making sacrifices on the battlefield and the comfortable lives of the country’s elites.
The CIA posted two similar videos last year on social media.
“We are seeing more outreach from Russians as a result of these videos,” a CIA spokesperson said. “If it weren’t working, we wouldn’t be on video number three.”
… that’s great and all, but pretty much anyone can be a social media influencer. How about some actual counter-intelligence work, that most of us couldn’t actually do?
I wouldn’t mind hearing about some more Russian spies getting caught, if they really want to earn their pay.
It’s not like they’re just sitting there on their arse this whole time. Ukraine is being fed a shit load of intelligence to help support them, for obvious reasons this isn’t going to be publicly announced each time they do.
Like I said, their intelligence gathering is fine, I was not complaining about that.
Their counter-intel is fine. This is a public campaign designed to generate awareness and make as many people aware as possible. They see the uprising. HUMINT from thousands of widowed women may give them valuable information that otherwise could’ve slipped past.
Fair point. Though I still do not think their “counter-intel is fine”. Ukrainian counter-intel appears strong, but ours is lacking, unless you count the work of journalists. The work of civilians like Christo Grozev should not be necessary though.
You only hear about their failures and campaigns they want you to hear about. Like when Trump gave up info that outed some of our top Russian spies, and like this.
I am well aware that much of the work occurs behind the scenes. However, that does not excuse numerous failures. I am not willing to simply give them the benefit of the doubt and my trust, a position that I simply find prudent. They are an agency of my democratic government, and we should pay attention and be critical.
What are you saying? Please elaborate.
I’m saying that very few of our institutions have the resources and experience necessary to fight back against any form of espionage. Our intelligence agencies do, so I would appreciate a pivot from intelligence-gathering and destabilization operations, which are a part of their mission, to counter-intelligence against our rivals, which is also part of their mission. This seems to have been neglected, given how Russian spies have managed to perform assassinations in the west, become Italian admirals and German fintech CEOs, and do on-the-ground surveillance in Ukraine in support of their invasion.
I am deeply disappointed in our CIA these days. Their intelligence gathering is fine, but they should be protecting us as well.
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Lots of rule 5 violations today. People need to take a step back. Moon phase? Something in the air?
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (perjorative, perjorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (perjorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect!
Counter-intelligence work does not require one to move to China or Russia when the targets that need detection are not operating in China or Russia.