Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America by Rebekah Koffler

Author:Rebekah Koffler [Koffler, Rebekah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: political science, World, Russian & Former Soviet Union, Intelligence & Espionage, International Relations, General
ISBN: 9781684510221
Google: 5Pa7DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2021-07-27T23:34:16.498928+00:00

Duping the Enemy into Doing Your Will

“Politicians from foreign lands blame Russia for interfering in elections and referendums of all kinds across the word. In reality, things are even more serious—Russia has interfered with their minds, and they don’t know what to do with their new consciousness.”

—Vladislav Surkov, Putin’s Goebbels

Aktivnyye meropriyatiya, or “active measures,” are perhaps the most misunderstood technique in Putin’s playbook and Russia’s statecraft. A uniquely Russian—and before that, Soviet—intelligence tradecraft, active measures are designed to unbalance, subvert, discredit, or neutralize the adversary in order to advance the Kremlin’s strategic goals and disrupt the opponent’s.5 Typically offensive in nature, these counterintelligence operations incorporate deception (maskirovka), disinformation (dezinformatsiya), forgeries (fal’shivka), blackmail via compromising information (kompromat), provocation (provokatsiya), intimidation, and even assassinations.6 To conduct active measures, Russia uses, both in the United States and globally, specially trained intelligence operatives, front companies or organizations under the Russian government’s control, and so-called “agents of influence.”7 Agents of influence can be Russian citizens who covertly work for the intelligence services, posing as diplomats, trade representatives, consultants, academics, journalists, and even religious leaders. They establish contacts with Americans in relevant professional fields to gain assistance in advancing Russian government–directed policy goals on specific issues. U.S. citizens can unwittingly become involved in Russian influence operations, serving as agents of influence who are unaware that their professional or business contact is working for Russian intelligence. The term for such American agents of influence is “useful idiots” or “fellow travelers.”

A “trusted contact” is another type of agent of influence used by the Russians to dupe Americans into doing Moscow’s bidding. Manipulated by Russian intelligence operatives on the basis of their professional interests, political views, or business goals, these Americans unknowingly further the agenda of the Russian government. Russian intelligence aggressively pursues such contacts within the U.S. government, business community, and think tank circles to influence the U.S. leadership’s decision-making in the direction the Russian government desires and to predispose American elites favorably toward Russia. Unwitting agents of influence are not recruited by Russian intelligence and are not tasked with specific orders. They are targeted by Moscow because of their ideology, which aligns with Russia’s, rather than because of their ability to steal American secrets.

While they are not compensated for their “assistance” in the same way that recruited spies get paid for providing U.S. secrets to the Russian state, the Russians ensure that trusted contacts, fellow travelers, and useful idiots receive some sort of reward for themselves or their families in order to keep the relationship going. Regardless, Russians believe that the value a well-placed agent of influence can bring through his or her position in the U.S. government or other areas, justifies the resources invested in the cultivation of such assets.

One of the most highly-placed agents of influence who was of remarkable value to the Soviets during World War II was Harry Hopkins, a trusted confidant and wartime advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.8 Hopkins had tremendous influence on FDR, who brought him to all the major wartime conferences, including the one at Yalta with Stalin and Churchill.

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