NEW: My overview about the ODNI report and how it doesn’t have to name (American) names—we know who you are: thedailybeast.com/us-intel-expos…
And this KGB manual helps explain so much of what’s in the ODNI: newlinesmag.com/reportage/you-…
Yes, “dupes.” The ODNI not doesn’t suggest the Americans were witting Russian agents and there’s an entire category devoted to those who are manipulated by Russian spies without those spies ever acknowledging who they work for. See the above piece.
“Confidential contacts” can even suspect they’re dealing with Russian intelligence officers but never know for sure and they still qualify as such, as opposed to witting agents in the field. It’s a sub-spy asset. The ODNI says pro-Kremlin narratives were “launder[ed]”...
...through various Americans. Recruiting Americans outright is a far riskier endeavor and requires months or years of effort. Manipulating and influencing is easier. Giuliani was a desperate nut and a conspiracy theorist with a client who was even more so. An easy mark.
Look up Harry Hopkins, if you want to see how this game is played. These categories do matter, too, because they have legal ramifications — ramifications Moscow understands all too well.
One of the ironies of the past five years is seeing those who think they’re giving Russia a lot of credit actually giving it far too little credit. Don’t take my word for it. Read the KGB manuals (still in use today) I’ve spent three years having translated and published.
While you’re at it, look up Auden’s “Spain 1937,” one of the best political poems of the 20th century. “To you, I’m the yes-man, the bar-companion, the easily-duped.” That phrase explains so much more than the Boris-and-Natasha expectations inculcated in the popular imagination.
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