Epstein Secrets

ent had been privatized to outside contractors. This outsourcing had deep roots tracing back to World War II. Ed Booz and Jim Allen, the founders of Booz Allen Hamilton, obtained contracts to help manage ship construction from the U.S. Navy. After the war ended, they sought contracts for their firm in clas- sified wo

intelligence coups through the eyes, and mind-set, of their KGB handler might provide some historical context for the Snowden defection. So I invited Cherkashin to lunch at Gusto, a quiet Italian restaurant, located near the Chekhov Theater in Moscow. Cherkashin, a tall thin man with silver hair, showed up p

ontext for the Snowden defection. So I invited Cherkashin to lunch at Gusto, a quiet Italian restaurant, located near the Chekhov Theater in Moscow. Cherkashin, a tall thin man with silver hair, showed up promptly at 1:00 p.m., wearing an elegant gray suit and dark tie. He walked with a spry step. Because he

Snowden has compromised more capability than any spy in U.S. history.” McConnell had no obvious reason to exaggerate the @ loss because his company, Booz Allen Hamilton, was partly respon- @ sible for the damage. It hired Snowden, as will be recalled, even after its vetters had detected an untruthful statement in his

cknowledges: Bamford, “Edward Snowden.” 154 “absence of evidence”: Carl Sagan, Cosmos (New York: Random House, 1980), 49. 154 “The greatest trick”: Cherkashin, interview with author. The quotation from The Usual Suspects was adopted by the movie from Charles Baudelaire’s observation “La plus belle des rus

th author. Cuarter 25 Through the Looking Glass 254 “There's definitely a deep state”: Vanden Heuvel and Cohen, “Snowden Speaks.” 255 according to Cherkashin: Cherkashin, interview with author. 258 Pelton had left the NSA: George E. Curry, “Ex-intelligence Expert Guilty of Espionage,” Chicago Tribune, Jun

out how he widened his access. She cut to the core of the matter by asking him a crucial question. “Why he had switched jobs from Dell SecureWorks to Booz Allen Hamilton in March 2013? His answer provided her with a real scoop He replied that, “My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machine

then cited the signature line from the movie Zhe Usual Suspects “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.” Cherkashin thinly smiled and said “CIA denial [of moles] certainly helped.” HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020275 124 In view of such past successes of the Russian intellig

mous spy delivered 27 computer discs containing hundreds of secret documents revealing the sources and methods of American intelligence. According to Cherkashin, it was the largest haul of top secrets documents ever obtained by the KGB (although it was only a small fraction of the number of top secret NSA, De

SS Pueblo: LBJ Considered Nuclear Weapons,” National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 453, January 23, 2014 “Booz Allen, like all...,-— Booz Allen Hamilton issued a history of its evolution in 2004.,\ “Helping Clients Envision the Future,” PDF file, 2004 https://www.boozallen.com/content/dam/boozallen/do

201 “Tt was the information in his head that we wanted.” Cherkashin said that as KGB rarely got access to any NSA officer, it was worth the risk. So he was given $5,000 in cash and a plane ticket to Vienna, where he w

the NSA would have received its full attention after he contacted Russian officials in Hong Kong. While the tactics of the SVR may have changed since Cherkashin retired, its objectives remained the same. And the NSA remained its principal target. Nor is there any reason to doubt that it still measures success