Epstein Secrets

the NSA’s deputy director, Richard Ledgett, in 2016, @ the vanishings included a group planning attacks in Europe and the @ United States. Admiral Rogers, the new NSA director, was asked about the dam- age done by Snowden. He was blunt and direct. Asked in February 2015 whether or not the disclosures b

den, Michael V. Playing to the Edge. New York: Penguin, 2016. Jastrow, Joseph. Fact and Fable in Psychology. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1900. Kahn, David. The Codebreakers. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967. Lucas, Edward. The Snowden Operation. Seattle: Amazon Digital Services, 2015. Morell, Michael

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

bama did not want the head of the NSA resigning in the midst of the Snowden crisis, he asked him to stay on for another six months. He then appointed Rogers to be his replacement. Meanwhile, it had become undeni- ably clear to the review committee appointed by President Obama in 2013 that the NSA’s own de

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

chael Rogers had to confront flagging morale that, according to former director Michael Hayden, was near-paralyzing the intelligence service. Admiral Rogers recognized that as a direct result of the Snowden breach “the nation has lost capabilities against adversaries right now who are attempting to active

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

gton Post on June 6", the NSA “saw one after another target go dark,” according to a senior executive involved in that surveillance. In 2014, Admiral Rogers, the new NSA director, was even blunter. Asked whether or not the disclosures by Snowden had reduced the NSA’s ability to pursue terrorist, he answer

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