Trump’s return raises questions over future of CIA’s Russian recruitment drive
The CIA has been trying to entice Russians disaffected by invasion of Ukraine
but Trump is likely to want to make an ally of Kremlin
For the past three years, the CIA has run an unusually bold outreach programme.
It targeted Russians within the country’s government and security services,
attempting to turn them into double agents.
Slickly produced recruitment videos portrayed cooperation with the US secret agency as the patriotic choice for officials disaffected with Vladimir Putin’s regime and the war in Ukraine.
The videos ended with instructions on how to contact the CIA in a secure manner.
Come January, however, any Russians who answered those calls will be facing a very different geopolitical reality.
Donald Trump will be back in the White House and,
if he pursues the same policies as last time around,
will look to make an ally of Putin’s Russia.
His nomination for a key intelligence post is Tulsi Gabbard,
who has raised concerns with her remarks on foreign policy in recent years, including speaking of
“Russia’s legitimate security concerns” as part of the cause of the war in Ukraine.
The dramatic change in potential policy towards Russia and Ukraine,
combined with Trump’s well-established dismissiveness of concerns over the security of classified information,
may lead to sleepless nights among any double agents who remain inside Russia.
@cdarwin We shall see. The CIA has a long history of doing its own thing, independent of any government oversight. See Iran-Contra, drug transport, etc. The CIA is capable of funding itself, independent of government oversight, independent of the "black" parts of the US budget.
In the past, this has been a problem. Given what's coming, this problem might prove to be a solution.
