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The Last 48 Hours Have Been Good for Putin

Posted: February 1st, 2018

By Steven L. Hall

Steven L. Hall retired from the Central Intelligence Agency in 2015 after 30 years of running and managing intelligence operations in Eurasia and Latin America.  Mr. Hall served as a member of the Senior Intelligence Service, the small cadre of officers who are the senior-most leaders of the CIA's Clandestine Service.  Most of Mr. Hall's career was spent abroad, overseeing intelligence operations in the countries of the former Soviet Union and the former Warsaw Pact.

Just ahead of President Donald Trump’s delivery of the State of the Union, the State Department released a list of “influential Russians,” including several politicians and oligarchs, who could face sanctions in the future for their proximity to the Kremlin.

The list was later determined to be pulled from Forbes’ list of the World’s Billionaires—and not the result of careful research concerning each person’s relationship with the Kremlin—but nonetheless, Russian President Vladimir Putin called its release a “hostile act.”

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