New in SpyWeek: Putin Murder Plots Reach U.S. as He Escalates European Terror

Testing, Testing: As of Friday night the Trump administration still had nothing to say about Vladimir Putin’s escalation of so-called hybrid war attacks on European states, which included a recent drone strike on a Ukrainian train headed for Poland that came close to killing former U.K. PM Boris Johnson and former CIA Director David Petraeus. They weren’t Putin’s targets, said former CIA executive Glenn Corn, who was accompanying Petraeus. The attack was “intended to send a strong message: We don’t want you coming to Ukraine. This is our sphere of influence. This is a warning.” The strike was preceded only days earlier by Russian drones threatening aircraft carrying Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, including during flights over Moldova, a constant target of Russian subversion. (Washington Post, TimesNow) Meanwhile, it was learned by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle that a Cuban exile living in Russia “lured multiple people into carrying out sabotage for Russia in at least four EU countries.” DW also reported this week that a 57-year-old Berlin businesswoman who “chaired a lobbying association, giving her extensive contacts in military and political circles,” was arrested in January on charges of spying for Russia. Target USA: The Justice Department announced charges Tuesday against five suspected Russian intelligence operatives for allegedly plotting attacks against the Kremlin’s perceived enemies around the world, including the murder-for-hire of “a prominent Russian dissident in Washington, D.C.” The “global assassination network,” which was mainly targeting civilian and military targets allies of Ukraine in Europe, was aimed at causing “destruction and mayhem around the world.” (NPR) (NBC) Wedding Bills: “Who is Umar Kremlev, who paid for part of Donald Trump Jr’s wedding?” Puck’s excellent Russia hand Julia Ioffe took a deep dive this week on Kremlev, who Don Jr. and his socialite bride Bettina Anderson called just “a dear friend” after the financial arrangement was outed by ProPublica on Monday. “Turns out, he’s the business front of Vladimir Putin’s chief body guard, one of the most powerful men in Russia,” Ioffe wrote. “That’s about as close as it gets.” But she’s got much, much more. Russian PsyWar: The Institute for the Study of War is releasing a new version of its interactive map displaying the pillars of Russia’s cognitive warfare infrastructure. “Russia uses cognitive warfare to shape the decisions and will of its opponents,” it said. Lamest Ducks: Members of Congress who participated in an Aug. 31 war game positing 2028 Russian attacks on EU-friendly Moldova and NATO member Romania as the Ukraine war dragged on concluded that “the American public wouldn’t support strong action,” reported veteran Washington Post foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius: “And without U.S. leadership, Europe would be fragmented and disorganized.” It’s 1940 all over again. Don’t miss this week’s chilling SpyTalk podcast with terrorism and insurgency expert Bruce Hoffman, on the metastasizing new faces—and weapons—of Islamist militants and more. FBI and the Kremlin: FBI Former FBI Special Agent Jonathan Buma, who in July 2023 alleged in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee that former NYC mayor and disgraced Trump sycophant Rudy Giuliani had been used in a 2020 Russian disinformation operation aimed to discredit Joe Biden and boost Donald Trump, goes on trial Oct. 6 on charges of leaking government secrets, including the identity of a confidential human source. Buma also claimed that in August 2022 an FBI supervisor had told him to stop investigating Giuliani and to cut off contact with any sources who reported on corruption by Trump associates, according to an 2023 account by Mattathias Schwartz at Business Insider. One of Buma’s alleged sources was right wing activist and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. E.U. Spy Shop? European Union President Ursula von der Leyen announced she was setting up a discreet new intelligence shop for members to swap information. It’s a non-starter, many analysts said, not only because the E.U. already has something like that in its Intelligence and Situation Centre (Intcen). Europe’s spy chiefs just aren’t inclined to sit around a table sharing their most secret ops with everybody. (FT) Near Catastrophe with China: A U.S. intelligence report that relied on artificial intelligence might well have touched off a military confrontation with Beijing last spring when it erroneously reported a “Chinese ship in the Middle East was transporting components of a nuclear weapons program,” CNN reported. U.S. military units “swung into action with plans to intercept the vessel,” four sources familiar with the episode told CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis and Zachary Cohen in an exclusive report. “According to two of the sources, armed members of the U.S. military were preparing to board the ship. Military planes were in the air, one of those sources and another source familiar with the incident said.” Thankfully, a human intervened, pulling the false report, which “almost started a war.” I'm sure Bettina's banker father has nothing to do with that marriage. That AI story is terrifying. Forget AI running wild this is the real danger. It sounds like we have another unsung hero in the mould of Colonel Petrov. Trouble is, there are too many incentives for senior officers in the military (and their counterparts in business) for them to resist being seduced by the AI hype. There might be hope if the people who decide to buy AI were aware they faced consequences for introducing error-prone software. Sadly, that is not how bureaucracies work.