Recruiting for Mother Russia

Last week, a former Army Green Beret captain was indicted, accused of providing national defense information to Russia in what appeared to be a spying operation that began in 1996.  Prosecutors say Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins was recruited by members of Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU).  Debbins went on to serve as an officer in the US Army Special Forces, was a Russian cyber analyst, and an Area Studies and Hybrid Warfare instructor for US European Command (EUCOM). According to the indictment, Debbins told the GRU that he considered himself a loyal son of Russia and thought that the United States “was too dominant in the world and needed to be cut down to size.”

If Debbins is convicted, it could suggest a return of ideological spying, something former CIA Deputy Director of Counterintelligence Mark Kelton recently wrote about in a Cipher Brief exclusive.