I am also concerned today about the presence of pro-China/ CCP moles, not only within the US intelligence community, but also US universities, think tanks, media, corporations, etc. Russia has an evil regime and so does China. Just like the West allowed for Russia to become an economically thriving regime between 2000-2021 (thanks to massive energy exports enabling Moscow to invest massively into its armed forces), America did it on even greater scale with China. I hope the US will have the same drive/ ambition for regime change in China as it allegedly has now for Russia, but I have some doubts. I am, of course, not an expert. But as a ‘casual’ observer, what I see does not bring me much comfort. In other words, based on what I see (and little I know) I do not trust Washington being able, not only to contain China, but making sure Beijing would no longer represent a long term threat to US national security. Instead what I see is a U.S. administration clipping the wings of the Pentagon and the US intelligence community, just as a perfect storm is brewing.
Bull shots! Paul Redmond probably got old school tough with some relative newbies and they want revenge. Baer is naïve and and an egotist and much of an analyst even if a good writer.
Does not give me confidence in Spy Talk’s fact checking, or Stout’s intelligence credentials for that matter, that his piece states that Sy Hersh wrote with Bob Baer. Never happened. Hard to figure how Stout came up with that one.
Dr. Stout's skepticism regarding Bob Baer's newest book is well placed. Baer seems to have made all sorts of claims and comments about events surrounding Ames and Hanssen (I don't consider Edward Lee Howard's treasonous sins comparable to those of the first who but then I suppose Baer couldn't use the Third Man theme) based on what others told him. He never had access to the core secrets. That Baer has written an entertaining book is to his credit. Whether it sheds light on anything important is another matter. I burst out laughing, though, when the finger meant for the Fourth Man was aimed at Paul Redmond. Redmond was not well liked, had a particularly foul mouth, and was hard on his subordinates, not always with cause, but he was a professional and intelligent and about as unlikely a candidate for a Soviet spy as anyone I can imagine. Hard to imagine, however, that any serious CIA officer would give credence to Zaporozhsky. The KGB practiced compartmentation with purpose. I never experienced anything like it in the CIA, and the FBI was hopeless at it. Did he fabricate his leads about KGB penetrations of the CIA and FBI? Don't know, but his claim to have knowledge on this topic would enhance interest in him. Lots more to be said on this subject but not now. My credentials? I was one five officers considered to be a possible KGB agent when the search for Ames began. Many others had access equivalent to mine. Never did find out why I made the cut and others didn't.
Baer ascribes the losses of Soviet assets not attributable to Ames, Hansen, or Howards’ turncoat minstreling to be the work of a “Fourth Man” chalked up to be some kind of 4-D man. The KGB is sufficiently well versed in routing out traitors among its ranks without any help from a mole at CIA. Not only did they “practice compartmentation with purpose” they also practiced executive action with conviction. When it comes to finger-pointing and falsely accusing one’s colleagues of treason, the KGB has a PhD. Nothing would serve the interests of the KGB better than to have the CIA targeting itself for espionage and entangling itself up in paranoid mole hunts.
I am also concerned today about the presence of pro-China/ CCP moles, not only within the US intelligence community, but also US universities, think tanks, media, corporations, etc. Russia has an evil regime and so does China. Just like the West allowed for Russia to become an economically thriving regime between 2000-2021 (thanks to massive energy exports enabling Moscow to invest massively into its armed forces), America did it on even greater scale with China. I hope the US will have the same drive/ ambition for regime change in China as it allegedly has now for Russia, but I have some doubts. I am, of course, not an expert. But as a ‘casual’ observer, what I see does not bring me much comfort. In other words, based on what I see (and little I know) I do not trust Washington being able, not only to contain China, but making sure Beijing would no longer represent a long term threat to US national security. Instead what I see is a U.S. administration clipping the wings of the Pentagon and the US intelligence community, just as a perfect storm is brewing.
Bull shots! Paul Redmond probably got old school tough with some relative newbies and they want revenge. Baer is naïve and and an egotist and much of an analyst even if a good writer.
Does not give me confidence in Spy Talk’s fact checking, or Stout’s intelligence credentials for that matter, that his piece states that Sy Hersh wrote with Bob Baer. Never happened. Hard to figure how Stout came up with that one.
Dr. Stout's skepticism regarding Bob Baer's newest book is well placed. Baer seems to have made all sorts of claims and comments about events surrounding Ames and Hanssen (I don't consider Edward Lee Howard's treasonous sins comparable to those of the first who but then I suppose Baer couldn't use the Third Man theme) based on what others told him. He never had access to the core secrets. That Baer has written an entertaining book is to his credit. Whether it sheds light on anything important is another matter. I burst out laughing, though, when the finger meant for the Fourth Man was aimed at Paul Redmond. Redmond was not well liked, had a particularly foul mouth, and was hard on his subordinates, not always with cause, but he was a professional and intelligent and about as unlikely a candidate for a Soviet spy as anyone I can imagine. Hard to imagine, however, that any serious CIA officer would give credence to Zaporozhsky. The KGB practiced compartmentation with purpose. I never experienced anything like it in the CIA, and the FBI was hopeless at it. Did he fabricate his leads about KGB penetrations of the CIA and FBI? Don't know, but his claim to have knowledge on this topic would enhance interest in him. Lots more to be said on this subject but not now. My credentials? I was one five officers considered to be a possible KGB agent when the search for Ames began. Many others had access equivalent to mine. Never did find out why I made the cut and others didn't.
Baer ascribes the losses of Soviet assets not attributable to Ames, Hansen, or Howards’ turncoat minstreling to be the work of a “Fourth Man” chalked up to be some kind of 4-D man. The KGB is sufficiently well versed in routing out traitors among its ranks without any help from a mole at CIA. Not only did they “practice compartmentation with purpose” they also practiced executive action with conviction. When it comes to finger-pointing and falsely accusing one’s colleagues of treason, the KGB has a PhD. Nothing would serve the interests of the KGB better than to have the CIA targeting itself for espionage and entangling itself up in paranoid mole hunts.