DAR AL HARB - U.S.A./RUSSIA: NEO-SOVIETS SPYING ALMOST AT "COLD-WAR" LEVELS

Russia is posing ‘Cold War-scale intel threat’

WASHINGTON: Russian efforts to obtain secrets on US political and military decision-making have reached levels not seen since the Cold War, the top US counterintelligence official said yesterday.

Joel Brenner, the Bush administration’s National Counterintelligence Executive, said a new intensive assault by Moscow is intent on gaining insights into “the upper echelon of US decision-making” rather than stealing secrets about sensitive US technology.

“The Russians are back to Cold War levels in their efforts against the US,” he said in a speech to the American Bar Association.

Brenner, whose job is to oversee counterintelligence strategy and policy for US intelligence czar Mike McConnell, did not provide details about suspected Russian intelligence operations in the US. Sensitive counterintelligence activities are classified.

But he said Moscow appears less interested in US commercial and military technology than other countries including China, which US officials have described as the greatest counterintelligence threat facing the US.


Pertinent Links:

1) Russia is posing ‘Cold War-scale intel threat’