Sources: US officials tweeted from @NSAGov to prove to Russians that US government was indeed behind secret negotiations to buy stolen NSA documents
The United States intelligence community has been conducting a top-secret operation to recover stolen classified U.S. government documents …
The InterceptJames Risen
Context & Ripple Effects
The documents at the center of these secret buy-back negotiations trace to Harold Martin, the NSA contractor accused of walking out with a classified trove — and per later reporting, it was Kaspersky Lab that helped the US government catch him. The same ecosystem had already been bleeding publicly: in 2016, hackers put malware allegedly from the NSA-linked Equation Group up for online auction, with WikiLeaks promising publication.
What makes this report unusual is the authentication method: with both sides wary of impostors, US officials reportedly tweeted from @NSAGov itself as proof of identity to the Russian sellers. That detail lands against a backdrop where trust between the services was already fractured — Israeli spies who hacked Kaspersky's network had told the NSA they saw Russian spies using Kaspersky software to hunt for US intel documents.
First-order effects
The @NSAGov tweet turned the agency's public account into an authentication token inside a covert negotiation, directly signaling to the Russian holders that the US government — not a broker or a rival power — was the buyer.
Second-order effects
Kaspersky ends up on both sides of the ledger: the firm that helped the US catch Martin is the same company Israeli intelligence flagged as a vector for Russian document searches, forcing US officials to weigh which channel they can actually trust when recovering stolen material.
Third-order effects
If official social media accounts become verifiable identities in intelligence bargaining, the boundary between an agency's public presence and its covert operations erodes — every post from an account like @NSAGov now carries potential operational meaning beyond its audience of followers.
The trend: Intelligence services are adapting commercial and public-facing digital infrastructure into their most sensitive operations, from antivirus supply chains to social media authentication.
According to the @nytimes, a Russian sold phony secrets on “Trump” to the U.S. Asking price was $10 million, brought down to $1 million to be paid over time. I hope people are now seeing & understanding what is going on here. It is all now starting to come out - DRAIN THE SWAMP!
@kevinmitnick
Kevin Mitnick on x
I wonder who the German hacker is that wanted immunity for spilling the beans on the Shadow Brokers??? It appears he/she has more interesting tools that the U.S. Government wants to know about. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out. http://theintercept.com/...
@evan_mcmullin
Evan McMullin on x
Based on the Times' reporting, this appears to be a Russian dangle and disinformation operation intended to set up and embarrass U.S. intelligence, while discrediting investigations into Trump's Russia ties. Moscow's meddling on his behalf continues. http://www.nytimes.com/...
@sharylattkisson
Sharyl Attkisson on x
Looks like some US intel officials are using the NYT to do some ‘splainin’ & spinning before this info came out on its own. (Funny the intel sources didn't report this to Trump, Congress or public at the time). http://www.nytimes.com/...
@tedlieu
Ted Lieu on x
WOW, many explosive allegations in this article: -Russians have damaging information on @realDonaldTrump that they want to sell -CIA is afraid of getting info that could be damaging to Trump -CIA Director is politicizing the agency to protect Trump rather than get the facts http:…
@petersterne
Peter Sterne on x
Intercept originally quoted docs stating that U.S. used “certain messaging techniques” to prove to Russian that U.S. gov was behind negotiations. Then NYT delivered bombshell — U.S. gov tweeted proof from @NSAGov. Now Intercept has the actual tweets: pic.twitter.com/IQS0knO8al
@snowden
Edward Snowden on x
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist James Risen (who broke the Top Secret warrantless wiretapping story in 2006) says @CIA tried to AVOID learning what Russia had on Trump. Incredible that you can't read about this at the @nytimes or @WashingtonPost. http://theintercept.com/...