Epstein Secrets

cryptanalysts led by the brilliant mathematician Alan Turing succeeded in build- ing a rudimentary comp

ely a deep state. Trust me, I’ve been there. —EDWARD SNOWDEN, Moscow, 2014 Wa WAITING to hear back from Kucherena’s office, I arranged to meet with Victor Cherkashin, who had been one of the most successful KGB spy handlers in the Cold War. Cher- kashin, born in 1932, had served in the KGB’s espionage branch from

Greenwald.” Rolling Stone, Dec. 4, 2013. Risen, James. “Snowden Says He Took No Secret Files to Russia.” New York Times, Oct. 17, 2013. Rusbridger, Alan, and Ewen MacAskill. “I, Spy: Edward Snowden in Exile.” Guardian, July 18, 2014. Sandvik, Runa A. “That One Time I Threw a CryptoParty with Edward S

owden.” “Tf I were providing information”: Transcript of interview with Snowden in Moscow, Rusbridger and MacAskill, “I, Spy.” Pelton, for example: Victor Cherkashin, interview with author. “This debriefing could not”: Intelligence source who requested anonymity, interview with author. Mike Rogers, the chairman:

_020260 109 clear in a lengthily interview with Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian. He told h

the CIA’s sophisticated lie detector tests. Both Hanssen and Ames eluded intensive FBI and CIA investigations that lasted over a decade. According to Victor Cherkashin, their KGB case officer, who I interviewed in Moscow in 2015, the KGB was able to hide their existence from investigators for such a long period part

Spy: Edward Snowden in Exile,” Ewen MacAskill and Alan Rusbridger, The Guardian, July 18, 2014. http://w

have many notable cases...” For the cases of Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames, see Appendix A 16. “The greatest trick the...”—Author’s interview with Victor Cherkashin. The quote from Zhe Usual Suspects was adopted by the movie from Charles Baudelaire’s observation, “La plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous per