WEIRD, WHO WAS IN CHARGE THEN? Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Chinese Agents.
How were the Chinese able to roll up the network?
Now, nearly eight years later, it appears that the agency botched the communication system it used to interact with its sources, according to five current and former intelligence officials. The CIA had imported the system from its Middle East operations, where the online environment was considerably less hazardous, and apparently underestimated China’s ability to penetrate it.
“The attitude was that we’ve got this, we’re untouchable,” said one of the officials who, like the others, declined to be named discussing sensitive information. The former official described the attitude of those in the agency who worked on China at the time as “invincible.”
Other factors played a role as well, including China’s alleged recruitment of former CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee around the same time. Federal prosecutors indicted Lee earlier this year in connection with the affair.
What’s the most disgusting thing about Peter Strzok, the disgraced anti-Trump FBI agent who was fired a few days ago for unprofessional behaviour? I know, I know, you’ve got a lot to choose from there. Some might say ‘Cheating on his wife with fellow FBI employee and anti-Trump hysteric Lisa Page.’ Some might point to his extraordinary texts about Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. My personal favourite was this exchange between paramour Page and Strzok:
Page: ‘[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!’
Strzok: ‘No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it.’Your partisan, selective enforcing justice department at work, ladies and gentlemen.
All of that is distasteful and, as Inspector General Michael Horowitz noted in is delicately phrased but nonetheless devastating report on the FBI’s bias during the 2016 presidential campaign, grounds for disciplinary action.
At the end of the day, however, I think it is Peter Strzok’s coda that is the most repellent thing about him. Inspired, perhaps, by yet another disgraced FBI agent, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok was barely out on the pavement in front of FBI headquarters before he started a ‘GoFundMe’ campaign.
At first he was asking for $150,000. When the money started pouring in, he raised his goal to $350,000. As I write, his goal is $500,000 and he has managed to attract $417,000 from 10,000 credulous souls.
Everyman’s guide to success and riches in the FBI. 1. Join the bureau. 2. Do bad stuff and get fired. 3. Hit the jackpot.
h/t GR