Another Russian Dossier, aka What Moscow Has Always Done

In the book “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy,” John Le Carré’s chief character, retired British intelligence officer George Smiley, is reminded of the danger of old spies staying too long in the game. To avoid that trap, Smiley vows to leave the secret world behind by retiring to the country where he might develop some appropriate eccentricities while devoting himself full-time to the art of forgetting.

For my part, I am not very good at forgetting and my eccentricities are limited to writing for The Cipher Brief and teaching intelligence-related courses. However, my many years as an intelligence officer notwithstanding, putting together course material has brought to the fore information that is new to me. For instance, I have come across an interesting file – perhaps we might even call it a ‘dossier’ – documenting collusion between the leadership in Moscow and a prominent American political figure involved in a heated campaign for his party’s presidential nomination.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

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