Influence Operations

AG Merrick Garland, couretesy DOJ 

If there has been a constant since before Soviet times, Russia has always sought to influence politics inside Western countries. The Justice Department unsealed an indictment and an affidavit. In isolation, they are in Washington another day. In combination, they are proof that the Russians have updated their game from the era of Operation Infektion when they used an Indian paper to insert disinformation about AIDS.

During that operation, they inserted fake stories into global media. One of my favorites is that the United States developed AIDS to target African Americans. Given the history of things like the Tuskegee experiment, it used that distrust as a wedge. And if you are old enough, you know it was partially successful, even in the United States. But it was wildly successful in Africa.

It’s still in the water in Africa, by the way. It resurfaces every so often as to why governments distrust us.

I will use screencaps from both the indictment and the affidavit for this piece. Both reveal a lot about how Russia is using those old ways. I am also going to say it. The charges on this indictment are violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and money laundering. Both could lead to prison if you don’t want to bother with the whole thing. Mind you, it’s only 34 pages long. Here is a link to it. Since some people are now cooperating, I expect a superseding indictment soon.

The second piece is an affidavit that led to the seizure of fake websites. It was part of a malign information operation. The old KGB used Department A to create these fakes. Now, they use technology. The release of both on the same day points to a counterintelligence effort. It’s not like Russia ever stopped.

So, let’s start with the indictment. This is on Tenet Media, a conservative company based in Tennessee that allegedly took direction from RT personnel to spread divisive messages in the United States. They used six influences, but three are particularly concerning. Two have already claimed they were deceived on Social media, particularly Twitter. It’s possible they were deceived. This will be left to a jury if it goes to court. Some people may decide to flip, so you never know.

However, deception won’t be an entire defense since they took a lot of money. RT has claimed they still have control of disinformation operations in the United States. The two named subjects are both Russian citizens. These are Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva. However, the rest of the indictment does not mention anybody else by name. Tim Pool and Benny Johnson have claimed they were deceived. So, at this point, we know they are involved.

The indictment states that the goal of this operation is to deceive Americans and continue to divide the country. It’s active measures. I recommend reading the full document; it’s an eye-opener if you've never dealt with this subject. This is how RT works.

And let’s be brutally honest: good propaganda is not cheap. These are the amounts of money we are talking about per the indictment. It’s a large amount of money.

We know that the goal was to create conditions to reduce support for Ukraine, if not outright end. This is a natural goal of the Russian Federation. It’s not new. During the Soviet period, we had breaches and penetrations of our societies with people who were friendly to Soviet Russia. They even called these people useful idiots.

The worst of these penetrations occurred during the Second World War when the executive branch was penetrated to the top leadership of the State Department.

As I was reading the indictment, I noticed a trail of communications on Discord. One particular video was interesting. Remember Tucker Carlson’s visit to a Russian supermarket in Moscow? To be brutal, it felt like a visit to a Matryoshka store during the Soviet Union. It was carefully curated propaganda.

Well, even the fine folks at Tenet Media had issues, but in the end, they platformed it. See, here is the screencap. No, the DOJ did not write the name. But we all know who they are talking about.

Carlson will also deny any knowledge of this. I mean, it’s the thing to do. Or perhaps he is smarter and is starting to lawyer up. However, the fact that we all know what that paragraph refers to should be of concern to him.

The Affidavit.

The other half of the story has gotten less coverage, partly because it is not an indictment and partly because it is technically dense and long. The US, in short, wants to remove certain malicious websites from circulation. For that, they need warrants to seize them.

This is not limited to the United States. Germany and France were also targeted. This screen cap where they planned to make a fake of a US soldier raping a German woman is on brand.

It also includes how to bypass sanctions. Remember the ghost fleet Russia is using to transport oil? It’s likely part of this.

What also caught my attention was the creation of websites that imitate actual papers. This was done in Europe and the United States. This example deals with the Washington Post.

This takes me back to Operation Infektion. It’s the same methods, just updated to the computer age. Influence operations have been Russia's tool since the Tsars' time. They have not stopped; they just changed.

These two documents point to a mature operation filled with useful idiots. No, this is not an insult. This is how Russians refer to people who willingly work for them. And to be brutally honest, you don’t need to be paid. But I guess it doesn’t hurt. That they do understand about Americans at this point. Money is an excellent incentive.

While this isn’t an indictment but a lengthy affidavit, this usually precedes more legal action. It is also a good look into how this material was used to target Westerners; whether it was Germans (Bild Newspaper) or American Jews (The Forward), it was calculated to split Western societies.

American Jews were targeted after October 7 in an intelligent, unrelenting social media campaign, primarily on Twitter but also on META properties such as Facebook and Instagram. These were done with accounts of those who passed themselves as Israelis, which included legends. I am positive I have interacted with two of these accounts, and early on, the legends sounded “right.” That is, until you do a basic Google search…then they collapse. Plus, after 10/7, we all craved unity. Since these two accounts have given me vibes of not being entirely authentic, perhaps reading into Russian information operations gave me pause.

It was not just American Jews, by the way. They also attempted to split Mexican Americans, who were first generation, from the rest of society. This is why that part of the operation also used Spanish-speaking social media operators, running a campaign titled Mexico no perdona, Mexico does not forgive.

My take on that one is that people who went through the process of immigration tend to be more conservative. They also sometimes blame people who crossed the border by other means. So, there is a campaign to get these people to vote for Donald Trump, never mind they will be targets of deportation.

With American Jews, it’s to get them to vote for Trump or stay home in certain states that can change the result of the election. As I said, I suspect a couple of accounts are at the heart of this effort with American Jews.

Why is Russia doing this again? They want to weaken the United States and get us out of Europe. Trump's victory would go a long way toward those strategic goals. Will they stop after 2024? Nope. They have been at this since at least the Obama administration. If we are honest, they never stopped.

One of the affidavit's concerns is getting warrants to seize those websites. It’s called cybersquatting. Removing them from circulation will go a long way toward stopping what looks like authentic news coverage. Most people going to the fake Forward of Washington Post site would not be the wiser about it. If Russia is good at something, it is the production of fakes.

I know this was not released because there was an election. The Department of Justice works at its own pace, sometimes maddeningly slow. But this is how Russians take advantage of our love for freedom of speech. It’s both a strength and a weakness.