Exclusive: US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017
Washington (CNN)In a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the United States successfully extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government, multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge told CNN.
A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy.
The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel.
The disclosure to the Russians by the President, though not about the Russian spy specifically, prompted intelligence officials to renew earlier discussions about the potential risk of exposure, according to the source directly involved in the matter.
At the time, then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo told other senior Trump administration officials that too much information was coming out regarding the covert source, known as an asset. An extraction, or "exfiltration" as such an operation is referred to by intelligence officials, is an extraordinary remedy when US intelligence believes an asset is in immediate danger.
The source was considered the highest level source for the US inside the Kremlin, high up in the national security infrastructure, according to the source familiar with the matter and a former senior intelligence official.
According to CNN's sources, the spy had access to Putin and could even provide images of documents on the Russian leader's desk.
The covert source provided information for more than a decade, according to the sources, and an initial effort to extract the spy, after exposure concerns, was rebuffed by the informant. CNN is reporting the additional information about the covert source who was extracted from Russia in 2017. The information, which adds further understanding to the value of the informant, was initially withheld by CNN but was subsequently reported by the New York Times Monday evening.
A US official said before the secret operation there was media speculation about the existence of such a covert source, and such coverage or public speculation poses risks to the safety of anyone a foreign government suspects may be involved. This official did not identify any public reporting to that effect at the time of this decision and CNN could not find any related reference in media reports.
Asked for comment, Brittany Bramell, the CIA director of public affairs, told CNN: "CNN's narrative that the Central Intelligence Agency makes life-or-death decisions based on anything other than objective analysis and sound collection is simply false. Misguided speculation that the President's handling of our nation's most sensitive intelligence—which he has access to each and every day—drove an alleged exfiltration operation is inaccurate."
A spokesperson for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to comment. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said, "CNN's reporting is not only incorrect, it has the potential to put lives in danger."
Wide concerns about Trump in intelligence community
The removal happened at a time of wide concern in the intelligence community about mishandling of intelligence by Trump and his administration. Those concerns were described to CNN by five sources who served in the Trump administration, intelligence agencies and Congress.
Those concerns continued to grow in the period after Trump's Oval Office meeting with Kislyak and Lavrov. Weeks after the decision to extract the spy, in July 2017, Trump met privately with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Hamburg and took the unusual step of confiscating the interpreter's notes. Afterward, intelligence officials again expressed concern that the President may have improperly discussed classified intelligence with Russia, according to an intelligence source with knowledge of the intelligence community's response to the Trump-Putin meeting.
Knowledge of the Russian covert source's existence was highly restricted within the US government and intelligence agencies. According to one source, there was "no equal alternative" inside the Russian government, providing both insight and information on Putin.
The secret removal of the high-level Russian asset has left the US without one of its key sources on the inner workings of the Kremlin and the plans and thinking of the Russian president at a time when tensions between the two nations have been growing. The US intelligence community considers Russia one of the two greatest threats to US national security, along with China.
"The impact would be huge because it is so hard to develop sources like that in any denied area, particularly Russia, because the surveillance and security there is so stringent," a former senior intelligence official told CNN. "You can't reacquire a capability like that overnight."
Months of mounting fear
The decision to pull the asset out of Russia was the culmination of months of mounting fear within the intelligence community.
At the end of the Obama administration, US intelligence officials had already expressed concerns about the safety of this spy and other Russian assets, given the length of their cooperation with the US, according to the former senior intelligence official.
Those concerns grew in early 2017 after the US intelligence community released its public report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which said Putin himself ordered the operation. The intelligence community also shared a classified version of the report with the incoming Trump administration, and it included highly protected details on the sources behind the intelligence. Senior US intelligence officials considered extracting at least one Russian asset at the time but did not do so, according to the former senior intelligence official.
In the first months of his administration, Trump's handling of classified intelligence further concerned intelligence officials. Ultimately, they decided to launch the difficult operation to remove an asset who had been working for the US for years.
The President was informed in advance of the extraction, along with a small number of senior officials. Details of the extraction itself remain secret and the whereabouts of the asset today are unknown to CNN.
UPDATE: This story has been updated to include additional details about the covert source
CNN’s Jim Sciutto under fire for ‘simply false,’ 'incredibly premature' anti-Trump report condemned by CIA, White House
CNN’s Jim Sciutto is under fire after the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) condemned his report Monday on an alleged spy’s extraction from Russia as "misguided" and "simply false" — but the news network seems to be shrugging off criticism of its "scoop" by everyone from the CIA itself to The New York Times and at least one of Sciutto's CNN colleagues.
Sciutto, a former Obama administration official who is now the liberal network’s chief national correspondent, claimed on Monday that the CIA had pulled a high-level spy out of Russia because President Trump had "repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy."
CIA Director for Public Affairs Brittany Bramell blasted CNN’s report.
"You know CNN has gone off the rails when the CIA feels compelled to issue a statement rebuking its reporting," Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson told Fox News.
“Sciutto blamed the spy’s extraction on Trump, when really the national security issues started under his old boss — President Barack Obama.
what i dislike is outing our people like that. the only reason to drop this article was because of trump.
yes, trump is a national security risk, but you still dont put our assets in harms way by reporting on this, atleast not right now.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
the CIA also claimed they werent trafficking drugs for the cartels......
until we found out they actually were.
there's times where it can be reasonably assumed they are telling the truth, but in most cases, you don't believe spies, even if they're on your team.
even when it comes to trump, CIA, FBI, any of those agencies need to be looked at with high skepticism, regardless of who is running the show.
there has been way too many situations they have been involved in to just take them at their word.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
its wrong as hell, but its not exclusive to trump. trump just has them doing it for the dumbest reasons imaginable.
atleast all the other presidents did it for good reasons: like the military industrial complex under the guise of national security lololol
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
The extraordinary CIA rebuke came as The New York Times published a bombshell piece late in the evening, which largely contradicted CNN's reporting. According to the Times, CIA officials "made the arduous decision in late 2016 to offer to extract the source from Russia" — weeks before Trump even took office.
again, you can readily believe a spy agency trying to cover for one of their spies all you want, i won't.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
the CIA also claimed they werent trafficking drugs for the cartels......
until we found out they actually were.
there's times where it can be reasonably assumed they are telling the truth, but in most cases, you don't believe spies, even if they're on your team.
even when it comes to trump, CIA, FBI, any of those agencies need to be looked at with high skepticism, regardless of who is running the show.
there has been way too many situations they have been involved in to just take them at their word.
Agreed. But I don't see the end game to lie about that. The story was written. Whats the point of even commenting, even if its true - why even comment?
because under this administration, every agency feels the need to respond to everything.
look at the sharpie fiasco. got one of trumps top officials threatening staffers to not contradict what the president says.
you're see what the leadership style is from the very top. respond to any and everything.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
the entirety of our intelligence community plus our congress all agreed that the russians meddled in our election. we have proof that they did.
i never said a word about trump not trusting the CIA specifically. nice reach though.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
