Do you ever read spy novels? Ian Fleming? Robert Ludlum? Tom Clancy? John le Carré? Anybody? Bueller?
I’ve read a lot of that stuff and one of the odd things about fiction is that if you find a fact mentioned in enough different fictional sources, it’s probably true. So, reading all those books taught me that in the world of espionage, it’s all about the spycraft, about misdirection, and about nothing ever seeming what it is or being what it seems.
So, Michael Flynn, Sergei Kislyak and Jared Kushner walk into a bar. Sadly this is no joke, as discussed in Salon. The joke is that Jared Kushner has never wasted his valuable time on spy fiction. Unlike Jared, any armchair spymaster like me would have known that Russia would never, even for the most juicy espionage coup, risk the sovereign immunity of its number one spy base, i.e. its Washington embassy, or even a consulate. They wouldn’t risk such a loss because the chess playing Russians know there is always tomorrow and forever plan multiple moves ahead.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Ambassador Kislyak actually laughed out loud when Jared voiced the idea of occasionally dropping by the Russian embassy to stay in touch with Russian handlers. Per Salon article:
Kislyak was “taken aback by the suggestion of allowing an American to use Russian communications gear at its embassy or consulate — a proposal that would have carried security risks for Moscow as well as the Trump team,” according to the Post.
At this point, the dialogue begins to write itself. “Oh my goodness, nyet, I mean, no, no, my dear boy! That is just not how it is done?” the Ambassador continued, chuckling. Then Sergei began to explain the fundamentals of spycraft. Brush Passes. Dead drops. Ciphers. Codes. Cut-outs. Dezinformatsiya. “This is how these things must be conducted, my boy,” crooned the Ambassador, as General Flynn nodded in agreement.
Oh, you thought that maybe after Ambassador Kislyak was “taken aback” he reacted by going on to reject out of hand the very idea that Russia would want a totally secret backchannel into the White House via which Putin could obtain secrets, obtain access and plant dezinformatsiya. Perhaps you think Ambassador Kislyak had Jared given the bum’s rush for the effrontery to suggest that Russia would ever be party to backhanded dealings against America. Perhaps you never read a spy novel, either.
The rest of us, if we take time to reflect on it, will realize that Russia is not known to have ever turned away a well placed naif “walk-in” willing to betray America. So, it is safe to speculate that after Jared’s notoriously stupid overture to Sergei Kislyak, methods have been found to keep the appropriate parties adequately in touch using appropriate means. We can probably assume that Sergei and his troops snipped Jared out of the loop ASAP, with the appropriate blinds, paroles, throwaways and dead drops.
Soon, the story from the White House will be that, sure, Jared had that stupid and embarrassing conversation with the Russian guy, but everybody laughed it off, like the reports show. So, that was the end of it. Nothing to see here. That is when we will know for sure that there is Russian mole in the White House. That’s when we will know for sure that Robert Mueller is conducting a mole hunt.