Assets

Netflix is showing a TV drama about the CIA employee, Aldrich Ames, who spied for the Soviet Union and later for Russia, who revealed the identities of Russians who provided information to the CIA.

Ames was disloyal. He greatly harmed the US. It is clear from the drama that Russia continued to spy on the US long after the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

I thought the drama was well done and did a good job of revealing the techniques of espionage and counter espionage.

It is by now quite clear that Russia's effort to insure the election of Donald J. Trump as president and prevent the election of Hillary Clinton was a successful espionage effort. It incorporated skills developed in Russia over the centiries by Russian despotic regimes.

I don't claim to be an expert on Russia, though I speak the language pretty well and have studied Russian History, Government and military affairs since about 1957.

Are there any genuine experts on Russia?

Yes. One such expert is Christopher Steele. If I wanted to know what was going on, I would consult him.

Our own most noted home-grown expert on Russia was the late George Frost Kennan, who not long before his death advised against expanding NATO to the east.

He may have been wrong about that, but we should at least have listened.

Back to "Assets."

Over the past several years, it appears that Russia recruited many assets, including many in the Trump campaign.

To understand the dynamics, we need to resurrect some terms from World War II: "fifth column," for example, and "Quisling."