Tag: Espionage

That Espionage Act

2022 gave the American public some shiny objects to chase….the Russian invasion of Ukraine…..a mass shooting in Uvalde…..the abortion ruling by SCOTUS and now the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar a Lago property.

With the latest raid on the property of ex-president Trump there has been more focus on the Espionage Act because of the documents that were allegedly found at the president’s Mar a Lago property.

What is the Espionage Act?

Espionage Act essentially made it a crime for any person to convey information intended to interfere with the U.S. armed forces prosecution of the war effort or to promote the success of the country’s enemies. Anyone found guilty of such acts would be subject to a fine of $10,000 and a prison sentence of 20 years.

The Espionage Act was reinforced by the Sedition Act of the following year, which imposed similarly harsh penalties on anyone found guilty of making false statements that interfered with the prosecution of the war; insulting or abusing the U.S. government, the flag, the Constitution or the military; agitating against the production of necessary war materials; or advocating, teaching or defending any of these acts.

That brings us to the FBI raid on the Trump property in Florida.

After a week punctuated with reprimands of the Department of Justice by Republican lawmakers and their subsequent demands for accountability following an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, the search warrant released Friday indicates the search was conducted in connection with, among other things, the Espionage Act.

The Espionage Act is actually a series of statutes under 18 US Code Chapter 37 related to the collection, retention, or dissemination of national defense or classified information. The Mar-a-Lago search warrant referred to Section 793 — “Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information,” which doesn’t just cover “spying” in the sense that many think of when they hear the term. Section 793 specifically states that people legally granted access to national defense documents — people like the former president — are subject to punishment should they improperly retain that information.

Under the Presidential Records Act, which relates to the retention of government documents by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), official documents and other material or information a president or a vice president may have obtained while in office must go to NARA for preservation.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/13/23304194/the-espionage-act-trump-documents-mar-a-lago

For over a week now Trump supporters have been losing their minds over this raid.

The back and forth will continue because it makes great fodder for the upcoming election.

More to come I am sure.

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Trump On The Wire

More real news for this Saturday.

The latest episode of Trump Reality Show has him being invaded by the FBI in his golf course palace……the reasons for the raid have been debated in the social media sites…..that does not matter….what matters is what the FBI found in the raid….

A list compiled by the FBI shows agents took 11 sets of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago after searching former President Donald Trump’s home Monday, including some labeled top secret and sensitive. About 20 boxes were removed, reports the Wall Street Journal, whose reporters have seen the three-page list. Among the items logged were photo binders, Roger Stone’s grant of clemency, and information about the “President of France.” The warrant signed by a judge was included with the list, showing that agents wanted to search the estate’s “45 Office” and all storage rooms where boxes of documents could be kept, in any of the buildings on the property.

Trump’s lawyers say he declassified documents while he was still in office, though federal regulations require that a process be followed. “The Biden administration is in obvious damage control after their botched raid where they seized the president’s picture books, a ‘hand written note,’ and declassified documents,” said Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich. Some files were marked “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” which indicates top-secret/sensitive compartmented information. Such documents usually are to be reviewed in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility by personnel with special clearance.

The FBI documents indicate the agency is looking into whether Trump violated the Espionage Act, a review by Politico shows. Other potential charges involve removal or destruction of records and obstruction of an investigation, the warrant says, which are punishable by fines and prison terms. The Justice Department’s original intent was to secure the documents after Trump failed to turn them over, per the Journal. The agency shifted to a criminal investigation when investigators grew concerned that Trump aides were being evasive about the files.

If the accusations are true then Trump needs to be arrested and thrown under the jail…..I mean leaving top secret docs lying around some stodgy golf course is a reach of the secrets act….time to make this dullard pay for his arrogance and stupidity.

Just a thought

I will return your weekend of worthless news back next Saturday….sorry for the interruption.

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The Return Of Maria Butina

Closing Thought–22Sep21

Or maybe you may remember her as Anna Chapman.

Still nothing?

Let’s take a shirt trip in the “Way Back” machine……

The alleged Russian spy capturing most of the media attention today is Anna Chapman. The New York Post describes her as “a flame-haired, 007-worthy beauty” with a “Victoria’s Secret body” who is accused of passing info to Russian handlers weekly since January. Her Facebook page has all kinds of “suggestive self-portraits,” notes Lauren Frayer at AOL News. Chapman is 28, divorced, and reportedly has a master’s in economics and an online real estate business. She lives in a swanky part of New York City’s financial district.

An FBI agent was to set her up by posing as a handler and asking, “Excuse me, but haven’t we met in California last summer?” She was to answer, “No, I think it was the Hamptons.” She never showed up for that rendezvous, however, perhaps because she smelled a rat. Moscow, meanwhile, has acknowledged that some of those arrested are Russian citizens but criticized the State Department for its “Cold War-era spy stories,” reports AP.

After her arrest along with several other members of her American cell the clarity of her mission was exposed….

The US government on continued to flesh out its case against the 29-year-old Siberian woman accused of spying for Russia, and its most recently revealed allegations include offers of sex and contacts with the spy agency that succeeded the KGB. Prosecutors laid out the allegations in documents filed Wednesday in court in an attempt to have Maria Butina detained until her trial; a judge on Wednesday afternoon denied her bail, the Huffington Post reports. Characterizing her as an “extreme” flight risk, the documents noted she has access to money and cited surveillance video that indicated she was actually planning to leave. The AP reports her apartment lease is up at the end of the month and her belongings were already boxed at the time of her arrest. More:

  • The Anna Chapman reference: The FBI uncovered Twitter communications between Butina and a Russian official identified by NPR and CNN as Alexander Torshin, whom the US sanctioned in April. NPR reports he was allegedly her point of contact within the Russian government. One alleged message from Torshin sent in March 2017: “You have upstaged Anna Chapman. She poses with toy pistols while you are being published with real ones.”
  • And another: Butina allegedly sent Torshin a photo showing her near the Capitol on the day of Trump’s inauguration. His alleged reply: “You’re a daredevil girl! What can I say!” The AP reports Butina replied, “Good teachers!”
  • More on Torshin: He was part of a group sanctioned due to their ties to Vladimir Putin and the hand they had in “advancing Russia’s malign activities.” He has been a National Rifle Association life member since 2012.
  • Her other alleged connections: Per CNN, prosecutors allege Butina was in contact with members of the Russian FSB, the successor to the KGB, and that she also communicated with a billionaire who she referred to as her “funder.”
  • What each side alleges: Butina’s lawyer says she was simply a student studying at American University who “at most” was trying to strengthen relations between the US and Russia. Prosecutors allege Butina had been instructed to use contacts she was forging at the NRA and conservative groups to amass info on US officials and politics.
  • Sex: The court papers reference a Person 1 with whom Butina had a relationship; NPR identifies him as political fundraiser Paul Erickson. But the FBI alleges Butina “offered an individual other than Person 1 sex in exchange for a position with a special interest organization. Further, in papers seized by the FBI, Butina complained about living with Person 1.” That organization was not named.

Butina was deported back to Russia where she became an instant personality and national hero……and that brings us to  today……

Butina is running for the Russian parliament with an unusual backer…..

Convicted Russian agent Maria Butina has been elected to the lower house of Parliament in her home country but not in her home city.

BusinessInsider reported Sunday that Butina was elected to represent the rural region of Kirov Oblast, about 2,700 miles from her hometown Barnaul, Altai Krai. When she was just 19, she served on the public council of Altai Krai.

She appeared in the U.S., claiming she was a “gun-rights activist,” focusing on meeting leaders involved in the National Rifle Association (NRA). She connected with GOP officials and political leaders to set up a “back-channel” with the Kremlin. Butina remains to insist she was never a spy for Russia but pleaded guilty to being a Russian foreign agent in 2018.

One of Butina’s big supporters for her election was Patrick Byrne, the supporter of President Donald Trump, who spent a lot of time at the White House as Trump crafted his protest losing the 2020 election. The two had previously been lovers, prior to Paul Erickson. Byrne told Insider that he gave the donation to her political campaign because he had “a desire to let her land on her feet and restart her life in Russia.”

https://www.rawstory.com/maria-butina-patrick-byrne-russian-political-donation/

Interesting, eh?

Why would this American former CEO, a raging Trumper,  care about Russian politics?

Or is she back to her old infiltrate thing?

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Does Anyone Remember The Cambridge 5?

A History Sunday……

Probably only UK visitors will be the only ones that will remember and then only those that are aging….like me.

The Cambridge Five were the most notorious of all the spies who worked for the Soviet Union. This British quintet were exceptional for a number of reasons: while they worked independently, they knew the identities of one another; they spied at a critical time (during the Second World War and the early Cold War); the content of their espionage complemented each other, as each worked in different parts of the government. And the amount of information they provided was unsurpassed.

The five were recruited while students at the University of Cambridge in the 1930s and each would go on to have successful dual careers as British civil servants and Soviet spies. Kim Philby (1912–88) spent most of his career working for the British intelligence agency MI6, including a period as head of Soviet counterespionage and as MI6 liaison officer to the CIA in Washington DC. Donald Maclean (1913–83) had a successful career in the Foreign Office, working on atomic and military matters. Guy Burgess (1911–63) worked briefly for MI6, but also spent some time in the Foreign Office, working in London on propaganda, and then in the British Embassy in Washington.

From the mid-1930s through the early 1960s, the Soviet Union benefited from the services of five British traitors. Reams of classified documents transferred from British files and offices to those of the Soviet’s. During the height of World War II and the Cold War which followed, classified information shared between the United States and Great Britain received an eager welcome from the Soviets. The traitors sent so much information to their Soviet handlers that some in the NKVD/KGB questioned its value. Others were simply overwhelmed by the amount of data received and had insufficient time to properly analyze it all. Much of the damage done by the group originally labeled the Cambridge 4, later expanded to 5 when another traitor’s activities came to light, remains unknown.

This Spy Ring Betrayed the US and British to Soviet Intelligence

These spies did some major damage to the US and the UK in their sell-out to the Soviets.

Be Smart!

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Class Dismissed!

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“lego ergo scribo”

Are These From “Q”?

“Q”?

The equipment dude from James Bond movies…..he had amazing gadgets….

He was the one that provided James with all those fantastic tools like a collapsible helicopter, a watch for track radiation, a car with injection seat and oil jets, etc……you get the picture, right?

Well in real life none of those are provided to field agents….however there were some really cool stuff….there was a glove gun, lipstick gun, coal bomb and my favorite the “rectal kit”……

Spying became an integral part of the Cold War. Both sides went out of their way to acquire as much knowledge as they could about each other. While Hollywood has romanticized the whole image of espionage, the real thing is far from romantic. It is a dangerous cat and mouse game that typically results in torture, prison, or execution for the spy if caught by the opposing team.

During the Cold War, spies had to prepare themselves for the worst. Their ability to blend with their surroundings was vital to their survival. The USSR and the US spent large amounts of money training, recruiting, outfitting, and deploying spies all around the world. This resulted in many technological innovations, all the way from tiny spy cameras to deadly assassination weapons.

…read more….

8 Amazing Spy Gadgets Used During the Cold War

Whatcha think?  Cool right?

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The Espionage Act of 1917

Yes dear it is time for a little history since many are as ignorant about history as they are about civics.

For over 100 years a full century the US has had espionage law on the books….and it has been used in many and various ways…

Let’s look at the Act….

The Espionage Act of 1917, passed by Congress two months after the United States declared war against Germany in World War I, made it a federal crime for any person to interfere with or attempt to undermine the U.S. armed forces during a war, or to in any way assist the war efforts of the nation’s enemies. Under the terms of the act, signed into law on June 15, 1917, by President Woodrow Wilson, persons convicted of such acts could be subject to fines of $10,000 and 20 years in prison. Under one still-applicable provision of the act, anyone found guilty of giving information to the enemy during wartime may be sentenced to death. The law also authorizes the removal of material considered “treasonable or seditious” from the U.S. mail.

Key Takeaways: Espionage Act of 1917

  • The Espionage Act of 1917 makes it a crime to interfere with or attempt to undermine or interfere with the efforts of the U.S. armed forces during a war, or to in any way assist the war efforts of the nation’s enemies. 
  • The Espionage Act of 1917 was passed by Congress on June 15, 1917, two months after the United States entered World War I. 
  • While The Espionage Act of 1917 limited Americans’ First Amendment Rights, it was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court in the 1919 case of Schenck v. United States. 
  • Potential punishments for violations of the Espionage Act of 1917 range from fines of $10,000 and 20 years in prison to the death penalty.

https://www.thoughtco.com/1917-espionage-act-4177012

One hundred years ago, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Espionage Act into law, and since then it has been used to criminalize the disclosure of national defense and classified information.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/06/one-hundred-years-espionage-act

Further reading…..http://totallyhistory.com/espionage-act-of-1917/

I bring up this bit of history because of the this current administration is dealing with “whistle blowers”….they are being persecuted and prosecuted…..

But in the House a reform bill to the Espionage Act is being offered……

Legislation proposed in Congress would amend the United States Espionage Act and create a public interest defense for those prosecuted under the law.

“‘A defendant charged with an offense under section 793 or 798 [in the U.S. legal code] shall be permitted to testify about their purpose for engaging in the prohibited conduct,” according to a draft of the bill Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard introduced.

Such a reform would make it possible for whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, Reality Winner, Terry Albury, and Daniel Hale to inform the public why they disclosed information without authorization to the press.

The legislation called the Protect Brave Whistleblowers Act is supported by Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.

https://dissenter.substack.com/p/proposed-reform-to-us-espionage-act

I was around for the Pentagon Papers and the trial of Ellsberg for their release….I have always felt the American people should not be put in the dark by the government….that is what the USSR did and what China still does.  This country is better than that….that is until we elected that dude on the Golden Throne in DC.

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“lego ergo scribo”

Spies Among Us

Time for the old professor to offer up some history….this post is about the 10 most famous spies…..

These are someone’s idea (not mine) of the most famous spies……

In and out of wartime, spies play an essential role in information gathering for their nations (and, on occasion, as double-spies for other nations). The spies listed here are the most famous in history.

1. Mata Hari Born: 1876; Died: 1917

Top 10 Famous Spies

These people are someone’s idea of the most famous spies….I disagree…..but it depends on where you stand I guess……

Me?

I like the spies for Washington during the Revolutionary War and the female spies used by the sides in the American Civil War….

First is Washington’s spies…..

In the summer of 1778 George Washington authorized the formation of a secret chain of agents known as the Culper Ring. Operating in British-occupied New York, this spy ring gathered and shared military intelligence on the British Army’s tactical operations using a coded language and a disappearing ink dubbed the ‘sympathetic stain.’ Those involved in the Culper Ring did so at great personal risk to their lives and honor–covertly traveling through occupied territory and swearing oaths of allegiance to the king–all the while passing information to Washington.

The following excerpt from Alexander Rose’s, Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring, describes the establishment of the Culper Ring and the risks involved with eighteenth-century espionage.

https://www.amrevmuseum.org/read-the-revolution/history/washingtons-spies

Then onto the American Civil War…..

Hundreds of women served as spies during the Civil War. Here’s a look at six who risked their lives in daring and unexpected ways

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/women-spies-of-the-civil-war-162202679/

A little more on these women…..

https://www.thoughtco.com/female-spies-of-the-confederacy-4026015

Please if you have any others to add do so….I want to add Tubman to the list……

Class Dismissed!

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Closing Thought–28Jan19

What the Hell is DIA?

30 years ago very few Americans had evn heard of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)….it was ultra secret and a bit shadowy…but recently the former head of DIA has made the news and a DIA contractor has been killed in Syria….so once again…what the Hell is the DIA?

DIA, provides military intelligence to warfighters, defense policymakers and force planners in the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community, in support of U.S. military planning and operations and weapon systems acquisition.  We plan, manage, and execute intelligence operations during peacetime, crisis, and war.

Our diverse workforce is skilled in military history and doctrine, economics, physics, chemistry, world history, political science, bio-sciences, and computer sciences to name a few. We travel the world, and meet and work closely with professionals from foreign countries.

To this day few people know exactly what the DIA does…it came to be a thing when Obama fired the head of the DIA, Flynn…..but functions are still in the shadowy world of intelligence.

This is a new day and a new transparency…..

…the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Lt. Gen. Robert P. Ashley Jr., gave a wide-ranging interview in which he discussed the DIA’s core mission. Ashley noted that the DIA is charged with producing foundational military intelligence for consumption by warfighters and senior leaders to avoid surprise and prevent or decisively win wars.

As a DIA veteran, however, I’ve always worried that descriptions of the agency’s core mission have typically been overly broad and never been quite so clear cut. Ambiguity over the DIA’s responsibilities prompted Congress to probe more deeply into the specifics of how the agency is charged with supporting U.S. national security and defense objectives. Specifically, Section 2432 of the latest proposed Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 seeks “to prevent imbalanced priorities, insufficient or misaligned resources, and the unauthorized expansion of mission parameters” of the DIA. It further calls for “a repeatable process for evaluating the addition, transfer, or elimination of defense intelligence missions, roles, and functions, currently performed or to be performed in the future by the Defense Intelligence Agency.” Thus, a clearer explanation of what the DIA does and, more importantly, what it is supposed to be doing is in order, and I try to provide that here.

https://warontherocks.com/2019/01/explaining-the-dias-critical-role-in-national-security/

Just another cog in our National Security…..

Hopefully I help my reader understand the function and the necessity of this “agency” within our intel community.

Spying By The Book

I do love a good spy thriller…..and we have a whopper going on in DC proper….

You know I really think that the mash up with Don, Jr and his spies would not be such a big deal if he would have come clean in the beginning….now every time he opens his mouth few will believe anything he is saying….even FOX News is starting to doubt his honesty…..

There is more from an ex-KGB spy…….

The story of the Trump presidency is quickly turning into a bad spy novel with bumbling, idiotic protagonists.

Donald Trump Jr. stumbled into a major scandal this past week when he tweeted out emails showing that he actively tried to collude with a surrogate of the Russian government to obtain dirt on Hillary Clinton.

It was soon revealed that the meeting was a bigger affair than it originally seemed, with eight people in attendance. Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Rob Goldstone, Moscow-connected attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya, a translator, and one as yet unrevealed participant all attended.

Source: An Ex-KGB Spy Just Revealed A Chilling New Detail About Trump Jr.’s Secret Russian Meeting

How does this situation stack up against known KGB techniques?

Donald Trump Jr.’s June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer and a Russian-American Lobbyist – among others – begs the question, was this a Russian intelligence operation? If so, is this typical Russian tradecraft, or something out of the ordinary? And what should we expect in the coming years? The Cipher Brief’s Kaitlin Lavinder asked former CIA Chief of Station Daniel Hoffman, who did a tour in the Soviet Union and is a Russia expert, his thoughts on this.

Source: Straight Out of the Russian Intelligence Playbook | The Cipher Brief

How will this bad novel turn out?

Was He A Commie Spy?

I feel I must throw some history in today….to some this is a waste of time (to them I say….Sesame Street is on at 3  pm)……there have been lives ruined by the accusation of being a “Commie”…..a popular accusation from the days of the Cold War….now it has been replaced by socialist or Marxist….even liberal.

Sorry I digress.

Ever heard of the Manhattan Project?

In case you have not…it was a secret program during WW2 to develop an atomic bomb…..some of our brightest minds were part of this program and even a few old Germans that fled prosecution for crimes by working with the US under the handle of Operation Paper Clip….

One of the great minds in this program was Robert Oppenheimer, a physicist…..the reason I bring this up is because he was accused of being a communist spy during the witch hunts of McCarthy and his band of inquisitors….

But was he as accused….a spy?

The relationship of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to communism and Soviet espionage has been a controversial subject since 1954, when the decision of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to decline renewal of his security clearance put the issue firmly into the public arena. Journalists and historians addressed the issue repeatedly in the decades that followed. Nothing fueled the liberal/left critique of the so-called “national security state” more than the supposed excesses of the US government in the Oppenheimer case, save the cases involving Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs.[1]

But while the emotional level, even shrillness, of the debate continued, the substance of the argument became increasingly stale and repetitive; there was little new evidence to clarify the ambiguities of the matter. In the last two decades, however, new evidence has emerged that, while not resolving all ambiguities and still leaving a number of details unclear, nonetheless allows confident answers to the question of whether Robert Oppenheimer was a Communist and a spy. It demonstrates that he had, indeed, been a Communist but had not been a spy.

Source: Washington Decoded: J. Robert Oppenheimer:

Many lives were ruined by the mere accusation of being a communist sympathizer…..especially when the Congress led the charge for awhile….but was he, Oppenheimer, a spy or not?