Epstein Secrets

ut Russia like it’s the worst place on earth. Russia’s great. —EDWARD SNOWDEN, Moscow, 2015 EFORE FLYING TO Moscow, I arranged to have dinner with Oliver Stone at an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side of New York. I had greatly respected Stone’s ability as a film director after watching him work on Wa

E FLYING TO Moscow, I arranged to have dinner with Oliver Stone at an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side of New York. I had greatly respected Stone’s ability as a film director after watching him work on Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, a film in which I had a cameo role. I had also debated Stone

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

tate Department explicitly told: Ibid. 175 “I had spent ten years”: Hill, “How ACLU Attorney Ben Wizner Became Snowden’s Lawyer.” 176 Inthe case of Stone’s movie: Irina Alexsander, “Edward Snowden’s Long, Strange Journey to Hollywood,” New York Times Magazine, Sept. 4, 2016. 176 “I went the first six

w with author. 248 $1 million: Mike Fleming Jr, “Oliver Stone Buys Edward Snowden Russian Lawyer's ‘Novel’ Abo

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

ugh he was acting without compensation from Snowden, later received the stunning sum of one million dollars from Open Road Films, the distributor for Oliver Stone’s “Snowden” movie, for the rights to his not completed novel called “Time of the Octopus,” a story based on his story of Snowden’s stay at the airport.

ng to Moscow, I arranged to have dinner with Oliver Stone at Parma, an Italian restaurant on the upper east side of New York. I had greatly respected Stone ability as a film director after watching him work in Wall Street IT: Money Never Sleeps, a film in which I had a cameo role. I also had debated Ston

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

st of these clients were reputed to be part of Putin’s inner circle. To break the ice, I asked him about Oliver Stone. I knew he had a small role in Oliver Stone’s forthcoming movie “Snowden.” in which he plays Snowden’s lawyer in Moscow. “T was impressed by how few takes he needed to shoot my scene,” he answer

ived one call back from Kucherena’s assistant, Valentina Vladimirovna Kvirvova. She wanted to know how I knew Oliver Stone. He told her of my part in Stone’s movie Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps. That was the last he had heard from her. Meanwhile a Moscow based journalist told me that she had waited 1

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

09 @ 9/29/16 5:51 Pa | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019597 110 | HOW AMERICA LOST ITS SECRETS tary, the hero of the 2016 Hollywood movie Snowden (directed by Oliver Stone), and a consultant to the 2015 season of the televi- sion series Homeland. He would be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. He would attract

pst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.z.indd 177 @ 9/30/16 11:09 AM | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019665 178 | HOW AMERICA LOST ITS SECRETS interviews. In the case of Stone’s movie Snowden, Wizner asked for the right to veto any shots featuring Snowden in the film. In it, he would tell handpicked journalists that he had

then cited the signature line from the movie The 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.” In view of such past successes of the Russian intelligence services, it cannot be