1/27/23 James Bamford on the Many Failures of American Counterintelligence

Scott interviews James Bamford about some of the stories he collected for his new book about the collapse of America’s counterintelligence apparatus. They start with Russiagate and talk about how, while the government and media were screeching about imaginary Trump-Russia collusion, the UAE had two spies in the Clinton Campaign. They also talk about how the NSA lost half a billion classified documents containing methods later used for the WannaCry ransomware attacks of 2017, the former FBI counterintelligence agent who is now facing charges for working with the Russians, a group of former CIA and FBI guys who were accidentally hired to help a Russian coup attempt, the lack of accountability for the intelligence failures of Iraq War II, the framing of Maria Butina and the mole in the FBI who spent two decades transferring documents to the Chinese government in the most blatant fashion imaginable. 

Discussed on the show:

• “The American intelligence community has no accountability — so how can it keep us safe?” (New York Post)
• Spyfail by James Bamford
• The Interview (IMDb)
• “How an Oligarch May Have Recruited the F.B.I. Agent Who Investigated Him” (New York Times)
• A Pretext for War by James Bamford
• “How China planted an FBI mole who was discovered only after gutting the CIA's vast spy network” (Business Insider)
• “These Shady UAE Donors Gave Millions to Clinton and Trump While the Feds Dozed” (Daily Beast)

James Bamford is a journalist, professor, documentary filmmaker, and the author of Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America's Counterintelligence, Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency and A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies. Find him on Twitter @WashAuthor.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

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