(Ken Silva, Headline USA) For most people involved, the war between Russia and Ukraine has been an unending series of horrors.
But for the CIA, the conflict represents what Director William Burns called a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to recruit spies.
“Disaffection with the war will continue to gnaw away at the Russian leadership, beneath the steady diet of state propaganda and practiced repression. That disaffection creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us at CIA, at our core a human intelligence service,” Burns said in a lecture Saturday in the United Kingdom.
“We’re not letting it go to waste. We recently used social media—our first video post to Telegram, in fact—to let brave Russians know how to contact us safely on the dark web. We had 2.5 million views in the first week, and we’re very much open for business.”
Burns was referring to the CIA’s video published in May, asking Russians to contact the spy agency with links using Tor—a web browser that encrypts user activity.
“The idea is to use Tor to access a CIA site on the dark web that the agency uses to gather information from people around the world,” noted antiwar.com editor Dave DeCamp. “The CIA has been posting similar instructions on social media throughout the war.”
DeCamp also noted that Burns’ lecture in the UK followed a to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A U.S. official reportedly said that the trip took place before Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short-lived uprising against the Russian military establishment.
Zelensky reportedly confirmed that he met with Burns in an interview with CNN recorded on Sunday, but he was tight-lipped about what was discussed.
“My communication with the CIA chief should always be behind the scenes,” he said. “We discuss important things—what Ukraine needs and how Ukraine is prepared.”
Legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has provided an alterior motivation for Zelenskyy keeping his meetings with the CIA secret: Accoridng to Hersh, the CIA knows he and other top Ukrainian officials have siphoned some $400 million in U.S. aid.
The issue of corruption in Ukraine was reportedly raised by Burns to Zelenskyy at a meeting last January. Hersh reported in April that Zelenskyy was presented with a list of 35 generals and senior Ukrainian officials that have apparently been wetting their beaks.
Hersh was told that the meeting “was out of a 1950s mob movie.”
“The senior generals and government officials in Kiev were angry at what they saw as Zelenskyy’s greed, so Burns told the Ukrainian president, because ‘he was taking a larger share of the skim money than was going to the generals,’” Hersh wrote.
However, Zelenskyy reportedly responded to the CIA director with a shrug. Hersh said Zelenskyy’s “half-hearted response,” coupled with the “lack of concern” in the White House, has seriously angered some top U.S. intelligence officials.
“They have no experience, judgment, and moral integrity. They just tell lies, make up stories. Diplomatic deniability is something else,” an official reportedly told Hersh, adding that there was a “total breakdown between the White House leadership and the intelligence community.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
