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The insistence of President Donald Trump to hold a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin has jostled US intelligence agencies that usually have an intimate look at such a sit-in, but the American spies still have extraordinary abilities.
This is largely due to the existence of a top-secret US collection service specializing in the on-the-fly communication of opponents, including those in the entourage of Putin at last week's summit in Helsinki
19659004] In private, sources familiar with US intelligence have expressed confidence that the so-called special collection service has not only read Putin's two-hour lecture , but also what the best spymasters of the Kremlin think. This means that the National Security Agency and the CIA are less strategically disadvantaged. that the US secret services have publicly acknowledged. But because they probably lack the only element of critical intelligence they need most – a verbatim account of what Trump and Putin said during the meeting – these officials seem somehow When it comes to fulfilling their most important mission, it is important to help US policymakers determine what will happen next.
"Most questions about what happened in Helsinki – and about the risks the president has created here – ignore a more fundamental concern: how can Intel's officers effectively support the politics, at any level? ", asks David Priess, a former CIA officer and White House daily." If, head-to-head with Putin, the president has done or has changed of politics, and that he refuses to tell everyone what has happened, how can the national security bureaucracy prepare the memos and talking points? "
If his public statements are to be believed, Dan Coats, Trump's chief intelligence officer, revealed last week that he did not have complete visibility on what was being discussed and what was going on. There was a "risk".
A DNI spokesman said Monday that Coats had not said anything publicly to indicate that his position had changed. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to answer questions directly on Monday that Trump has informed senior intelligence officials of his clash with Putin and that he has only used of his memory or taken notes, consulted with his entire national security team, "Sanders said at the briefing. "I will not go into specific details about how the President interacts every time with his national security team."
Meanwhile, Trump himself continues to tease his version of the discussion.
The Fake News spoke negatively about my meeting with President Putin and all that I gave up, remember, I gave up NOTHING, we simply talked about future profits for the two countries "Trump tweeted Monday morning
Himself being the only obstacle that prevents them from confirming his claim conclusively – and from getting a complete picture of what happened in Helsinki – no. is not lost for current and former US secret service officials
. the video recordings of such a critical event would be a given, especially if there was not a senior assistant in the room specifically there to take detailed notes. It's also something that Putin's side most certainly possesses. US intelligence analysts would like to analyze every word, facial expression and body language change of Trump and his cunning opponent, and share their findings with the White House, Congress, US military and diplomatic leaders and their many intelligence allies in the United States. the whole world.
Instead, John Schindler, a former NSA Electromagnetic Intelligence Analyst, says that "the only way they learn from what was said at this in camera meeting is through NSA reports. the Russians say was said at this meeting. And what the French Foreign Ministry thinks and insert another country here in Helsinki, according to what the Russians told them. "
" It's obviously so crazy that no one thought it would happen, "said Schindler.The agencies were quick to figure out what an American seated president had said at one time. meeting with a known belligerent adversary: "What is really important from the point of view of intelligence, is what we collect at the meeting. on the other hand, the Russians could lie about it and we would not even know it.
The ultimate and most frustrating irony for the intelligence community? "Finally, we will end up with each version of what happened. "Trump plans to revoke the authorizations of the former CIA, FBI leaders ” data-size=”promo_xsmall_rectangle”/>
Intelligence officers are particularly paralyzed because even if they are able to get a full account, "Schindler said," except Trump. " of the meeting, they would be extremely limited in the way they could use it without risking Trump's anger. Given his clear intention to make the meeting something between him and Putin, he could even claim that any collection was made without his permission, and therefore illegal.
James Bamford, author of four books on the operation of the NSA is indeed illegal for the NSA and the CIA to intercept communications from Americans – at home or abroad – unless & ## They do not give their express approval. Agencies could also request a special intelligence gathering warrant, usually by demonstrating that the individuals in question act as agents of a foreign power, as was the case with the former advisor of Trump's campaign, Carter Page.
"And I do not think Trump would appreciate that," said Bamford. "The NSA is a bureaucracy in which people only do what they are ordered to do if it comes from the top down, so there is no chance in hell that anyone would have spied on the president of the United States without express prior permission. "
US Intelligence officials have clearly expressed concern that Trump would have been alone with Putin long before the details of the Helsinki meeting were finalized. But these worries crossed the roof as these officials witnessed Trump's erratic behavior at the chaotic press conference that immediately followed.
Trump sided with Putin about his own security agencies. said both countries were to blame, while later claiming that he delivered difficult speeches during their private session. Putin suggested that Trump made significant concessions on several key security issues, including Syria.
What was also alarming for some US veteran spies, they said in the interviews, was the behavior of Trump – drooped and deferent to Putin, who for a long time boasted of his ability to manipulate rivals when he did not want to. he was alone with them
A former senior intelligence official said Coats, the national intelligence director, was referring to this vibrant Trump-Putin at a live event last week. Instead of saying that he did not know what Trump had discussed with Putin, Coats said, "I do not know what happened at this meeting," adding, "If he I had asked how it should be. "
Since the summit had been finalized a few weeks earlier, US intelligence agents had to scramble for their agents, analysts, and technical colleagues. Leaders are in a position to spy on an event that could be one of the most consistent of the Trump presidency, according to current and former US officials. The special collection service, the ultra-classified team of interceptors from the NSA and the CIA, has no doubt begun to get in position as soon as the decision was made, they said.
The Special Collection Service has worked so deep in the shadows that even its existence and name were unknown to the public for decades. In 2013, explosive details about his activities appeared to the public, when former US intelligence service provider Edward Snowden sent reporters a mass of documents from the NSA
sometimes called STATEROOM, which often provided in Washington a decisive advantage. during trade negotiations and political negotiations at the United Nations, within reach of US embassies abroad and in remote locations such as the Helsinki meeting. But Snowden's documents sparked an avalanche of criticism, including details of how SCS had systematically interfered on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's private mobile phone for a decade as part of a vast electronic program covering dozens of European and Latin American leaders. other elements of the vast American security apparatus have also mobilized, as well as espionage agencies of American allies like Britain, neutral countries like Finland and opponents like China, a neighbor from Russia which is also the largest US trading partner. some former US intelligence officials. All would intend to aspire everything they could from the summit, both in the field and via electronic intercepts and what is called electromagnetic intelligence.
This has made the capital of Finland the modern equivalent of Vienna in the race. until the summit meeting an international crossroads for ghosts of all nationalities. US officials believed that Russia would deploy an unprecedented number of intelligence agents to Helsinki, a coastal town located 188 miles west of St. Petersburg, the largest spy center in the country. Kremlin (19659002). According to established protocols, Coats or other intelligence leaders would inform White House officials, and perhaps John Trump or National Security Advisor John Bolton, of what the NSA, the CIA, and Other agencies were able
What really happened during this process, including whether Trump and his team specifically shot down the use of particular collectible abilities, is the only thing that has happened. one of the best kept and ranked secrets. The NSA, the CIA and the Intelligence Directorate all declined to comment
. Current and former officials agreed with Bamford that these agencies, especially the NSA, would avoid using their extremely intrusive collection capabilities against US targets, particularly Trump and his collaborators and Marina Gross, who as a translator Trump's was the only other non-Russian in the room.
Ideally, US intelligence agents would be able to watch the video of the event to see the interaction between Trump and Putin, and look for other hints, as if the Russian president received information that his side had learned during the meeting itself.
Trump is not the first president to go it alone with such a formidable opponent of the Cold War. President Ronald Reagan did it with Mikhael Gorbachev in 1987, but he provided detailed and public readings thereafter.
In the case of Trump, US intelligence agents were particularly suspicious of the insistence on confidentiality before the meeting. Putin despite several US investigations that had already concluded that the Russian president personally endorsed the Russian election campaign
Two former intelligence officials said that they were more concerned, for the first time in memory, that their own Chief said and did that Trump's comments at the chaotic press conference raised even more worry among intelligence officials as to whether Trump was making promises going against US interests on issues like Crimea , Syria, Iran and nuclear weapons. to understand what really happened.
Trump's overall refusal to criticize Putin, and salute Praise for Putin's incredible "offer" to make an interrogation exchange of Russian intelligence officers and prominent Americans, including including former ambassador Michael McFaul, were particularly noteworthy, according to former officials. before the Congress on what happened during the meeting. The Trump White House has been trying to tarnish the meaning of the whole event, saying, essentially, that it has resulted in no agreement or commitment.
The Russians have gone on the offensive since Helsinki, with TASS and other states. run media outlets that spread one story after another about how Russia is going forward on issues for which Trump has offered concessions.
For their part, US intelligence officials spent more time and energy trying to figure out if Trump had actually made any concessions, and had he revealed things that he It should not have, according to Schindler, Priess and Peter Harrell, a "We let the Russians shape, publicly and privately, what would have been agreed at the meeting," said Harrell, "without the consistent ability for the United States to repel. "
