Exclusive: US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017
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By Jim Sciutto, Chief National Security Correspondent

Updated 0201 GMT (1001 HKT) September 10, 2019

US quietly removed top spy from Russia in 2017

A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of
the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump
and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and
could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy.

The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017
meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and
then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence,
concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel.

The disclosure to the Russians by the President, though not about the
Russian spy specifically, prompted intelligence officials to renew
earlier discussions about the potential risk of exposure, according to
the source directly involved in the matter.

At the time, then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo told other senior Trump administration officials that too much information was coming out
regarding the covert source, known as an asset. An extraction, or "exfiltration" as such an operation is referred to by intelligence
officials, is an extraordinary remedy when US intelligence believes an
asset is in immediate danger.

The source was considered the highest level source for the US inside the Kremlin, high up in the national security infrastructure, according to
the source familiar with the matter and a former senior intelligence
official.

According to CNN's sources, the spy had access to Putin and could even
provide images of documents on the Russian leader's desk.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/09/politics/russia-us-spy-extracted/index.html

"Russian media named him as Oleg Smolenkov, who worked for a key aide to President Vladimir Putin."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49651576

TB

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