Clandestine Fuckery

Revoking Ukraine's security clearance

Secret state security services these days are walking a tightrope. Any miscalculation, could result in a hilarious failure, such as the recent botched attempt to liquidate Alexey Navalny, or a bloody mess, like the Battle of Kassam.

OPSEC fuck ups in the United States and former Soviet states in recent years have been manifold. They demonstrate nothing is more corrosive than official anonymity and TOP SECRET security clearances. Not leaving digital clues has become harder, further complicating the enterprise of carrying out clandestine fuckery without without getting caught.

Julian Assange and Eduard Snowden a decade ago warned about Big Brother wanting to monitor our phone calls and track our movements. The information age has instead allowed anyone with a computer and a decent Internet connection to keep track of would-be guardians of the state. Shadowing inept operatives has never been easier or more entertaining.

Which brings us to Ukraine’s state security services and their year-long operation against Russian agents and Wagner PMC (Private Military Company). The plan was to force an emergency landing of the contractor's plane from Minsk in July 2020 as it flew through Ukrainian airspace. The mercenaries - several of whom had fought in eastern Ukraine - would have been arrested. Russian President Putin said the stunt was the brainchild of a joint U.S.-Ukrainian intelligence operation. The President’s Office of Ukraine denies any such operation existed.

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All this is apropos of a dead link to what Ukraine’s ex-SBU chief was mumbling about a couple of years ago.

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(to be continued)