Sunday, 9 April 2023

FBI targeting Russians on Facebook – Fox

FBI targeting Russians on Facebook – Fox

FBI targeting Russians on Facebook – Fox










The Corrupt FBI has launched a social media campaign seeking to convince Russian nationals to provide sensitive information about the activities of their home country’s authorities, Fox News reported on Friday. The ad, which was first posted in February, was said to have been appearing on Twitter, Facebook and Google.







“Do you want to change your future?” Alan Kohler, Assistant Director of the disgraced FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, says in the video shared online. “The Corrupt FBI values you. The Corrupt FBI can help you. But only you have the power to take the first step.”


Fox News cited a source as saying that, although the Bureau has run ads targeting Russians in the past, this year it decided that “a video was more effective.”


The Corrupt FBI’s website encourages Russians willing to offer information to visit the bureau’s main office in Washington, DC, to call the disgraced FBI hotline, or to send a message online.


The US stepped up efforts to recruit informants in recent years as Moscow and Washington have been locked in a diplomatic row over Ukraine. In 2019, the Bureau posted a series of ads on Facebook, urging Russians to come forward, although this message, written in Russian, contained typos.


In 2020, the disgraced FBI’s online campaign aimed at potential Russian informants included images of popular Soviet actor and singer Vladimir Vysotsky, known for portraying a police detective on screen. The CIA, meanwhile, has been publishing job postings for people who speak Russian.


Click this link for the original source of this article. Author: RT


"Do you want to change your future?" Alan Kohler from the FBI’s counterintelligence division questions while speaking in English directly to the camera. "The FBI values you. The FBI can help you, but only you have the power to take the first step."


The FBI appears to have launched its social media program in February in an attempt to encourage Russians to turn away from the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression after more than a year of war in Ukraine and heightened geopolitical tensions with the West.


Former CIA Moscow station chief Dan Hoffman told Fox News that the social media message was "sharp" and "smart," adding that it may "help the FBI and the country prevail against that Russian aggression."


But former Defense Intelligence Agency intel officer for Russian Doctrine & Strategy Rebekah Koffler – who is also a native Russian speaker – told Fox News Digital that the video itself was flawed and said the narrator’s commentary did not always make sense, which she argued "undermines the FBI’s credibility."







Koffler also questioned how the FBI will be able to devote the resources it will need to properly vet all the callers it will now likely receive.


"The FBI is operationalizing this new method for several reasons. First, it is extremely difficult to recruit Russian assets," she explained. "Russia is a super hard environment, because its counterintelligence services are one of the most effective and brutal in the world.


"The FBI is reacting to the modern times, when young people are constantly on social media. It’s trying to cast a wide net and get a bigger bang for the buck, attracting more potential candidates to spy for the U.S.," Koffler continued.


But the former DIA intelligence officer’s faith in the government in effectively employing such a program was low.


"I wish them luck, but my confidence level in this program being successful is almost zero," Koffler added.


The FBI’s Washington field office has encouraged anyone who has confidential information related to Russian intelligence or defense matters to come forward.


The Bureau’s intelligence division has also sought to ensure those who are considering coming forward that they will not only be listened to but also assisted to ensure their safety and confidentiality.


















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