The recent revelation via the intelligence community briefing of the HPSCI (House Permanent Subcommittee on Intelligence) that Russia’s intelligence apparatus was engaged in active measures to disrupt the United States election process of 2020 should have surprised no one. Yet it is serving to disrupt our nation as a whole.

The intelligence services of Russia, and the Soviet Union before it, have had as one of their primary operational directives to sow discord, discontent, foment chaos and denigrate western norms. Based on the level of harmful discourse taking place across social media and mainstream media, it would appear that the folks sitting in Yasenevo at the SVR Headquarters (Russian external intelligence service) are smiling large.

Now is not the time to tear our nation apart, rather we as a people must unite as one nation, indivisible.

To that end, I call on the Intelligence Community to invite the Democratic National Committee, the Republican National Committee, the current candidates for President of the United States and those candidates who are seeking election as Senator or Representative to a counterintelligence briefing as soon as possible.

Right now, there is an obvious knowledge gap on understanding how the Russian active measures operate. It is important that all candidates and their parties have the same level of information, as knowledge is power.

Of equal import is the need to bring the many social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, etc.) up to speed on how their platforms are being used by the Russian intelligence cadre who comprise their active measure practitioners.

While we as citizens may have different ideas on how our country should evolve best, we should never allow those to divide and irreparably harm our nation, especially when it is Russia who is prodding, poking and drawing our blood.

Thank you for your time,
Christopher Burgess

4 prior pieces I have written on this topic:

Déjà Vu All Over Again – Russian Active Measures – December 2017

The image below is from a former KGB officer who had as one of his primary duties the conduct of active measures and destabilization efforts. His name was Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov, aka Tomas Schuman and he lived undercover as a journalist for Novosti. You can see, that save for the fact the internet did not exist when this chart was made, the Russians are following this model with precision.

Hacking Politics – Political Security in an Election Year – June 2016

In late 2015 the FBI provided briefings to the DNC concerning the Russian targeting of their infrastructure. The FBI also briefed the various candidates from both parties. The klaxon was ringing loud and clear, the Russians were attempting to interfere in the election and influence the electorate.

Russia Imprisoning Sources Associated With U.S. Election Meddling – April 2019

In late-2016 three Russians were arrested and taken to the infamous Lubyanka (FSB Headquarters), interrogated and then remanded to Lefortovo Prison in Moscow. Their crime, treasonous behavior. These individuals: Dmitry Dokuchayev (FSB officer), Sergei Mikhailov (FSB Supervisor) and Ruslan Stoyanov (Kaspersky Labs senior manager) were all believed to have shared information with the U.S. about Russian election interference.

The Pantyhose Full of Secrets – How to Circumvent a Bag Inspection and Steal Classified Information – October 2017 

The secrets which were stuffed into the pantyhose and secreted out of an National Security Agency (NSA) contractor’s facility, contained the briefing on the manner in which the NSA was countering the Russian election interference. Reality Winner took the document home, and then mailed it to The Intercept, who published it. Though the publication calls the revelation an act of a whistle blower who revealed Russian interference, it wasn’t. What was actually revealed was the U.S. efforts to penetrate and neutralize this interference. Thus with one terribly misguided action, the NSA’s offensive operations focused on protecting the nation’s election process were neutralized.

 To access my chronology of authored pieces: Burgess Articles