This woman is a former sub-cabinet political appointee in the Obama Administration's DoD where she dealt with Russian policy matters. At some point in the recent past she was de-briefed (cut off) from access to the various kinds of compartmented information she had been given as a requirement of her job. When that occurred she signed some papers in which she accepted the responsibility to protect the secrecy of that information.
She has recently been on a number of MSNBC shows freely telling people of the extent and success of present and ongoing US SIGINT (COMINT) operations against Russia. She stated on global TV last night and this morning that the US has "very good intelligence on Russia," and that the US successfully intercepts Russian diplomatic communications to include the encrypted telephone communications of Russian diplomats to include the ambassador to the US.
She has stated freely on TV that she and a group of associates from the Obama Administration went to congressional staffers who did not have access to these COMINT products and urged them to seek to gain access to them. This is in basic contradiction to the elementary principle in government security that access to particular products should be dictated from above based on necessity rather than sought from below. In fact an expressed desire to gain greater access is usually something that arouses suspicion about an individual.
It is likely that her disclosure has damaged NSA and FBI success in the COMINT operations that she has compromised to the Russians. pl
Trump really needs to make an example of some people pour encourager les autres. Very disappointed I haven't heard more about the FBI investigation in to the Clintons.
Posted by: LondonBob | 02 March 2017 at 10:18 AM
The Wikipedia entry looks accurate to me!
Posted by: William R. Cumming | 02 March 2017 at 10:23 AM
"She stated on global TV last night and this morning that the US has "very good intelligence on Russia," and that the US successfully intercepts Russian diplomatic communications to include the encrypted telephone communications of Russian diplomats to include the ambassador to the US."
Given past history, I reckon that the Russians understand this and act accordingly. Is US intelligence on Russia any good? What is made public and the public pronouncements of people with access to it suggests not.
Vox has an interview with her:
http://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/2/16/14630856/evelyn-farkas-trump-russia-flynn
Glenn Greenwald mentions her in passing:
https://theintercept.com/2017/02/28/the-new-yorkers-big-cover-story-reveals-five-uncomfortable-truths-about-u-s-and-russia/
Posted by: Ghostship | 02 March 2017 at 10:59 AM
Agreed -- she breached the classified information non-disclosure agreement (SF-312). The fact that we collect COMINT is not news; but the means, specific targets, degree of success and content thereof is classified -- at least it used to be.
Posted by: Ken Halliwell | 02 March 2017 at 11:07 AM
She's only a felon if she is charged and convicted of a felony. To get there, we'd have to see the specific charges. I'm sure an overzealous prosecutor could gin up something if that's desired. Does this have anything to do with yesterday's NYT story on "Obama Administration Rushed to Preserve Intelligence of Russian Election Hacking?"
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 02 March 2017 at 11:32 AM
This explains the Establishment going after Sessions, they sure don't want any Trump appointee doing an investigation.
Posted by: Fred | 02 March 2017 at 11:34 AM
Her Dad fled Hungary in '56. There appears to be a coterie of these women with a serious historical ax to grind, and they do it through their careerism in journalism, national security ect..
Posted by: JMH | 02 March 2017 at 11:50 AM
TTG
"Overzealous?" It appears that you have not seen her admissions on television. She has confessed on TV to disclosing compartmented SIGINT and material that should be labeled HVCCO. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 02 March 2017 at 12:15 PM
>US successfully intercepts Russian diplomatic communications to include the encrypted telephone communications of Russian diplomats to include the ambassador to the US.
Intercepting communications per se might be useful from a traffic analysis point of view. Decrypting them and reading the contents would be a Really Big Deal, the disclosure of which would be extremely regrettable. Even if the means of decryption were just stolen key or operator error, it would be a shame to motivate the Russians to find and fix it. If (and I doubt this) it's actually a successful cryptographic attack on a high-level system, that would be of major, widespread and enduring importance and would motivate a lot of rethinking in the crypto world.
Posted by: Allen Thomson | 02 March 2017 at 12:50 PM
JMH,
Foggy Bottom seems a private club for Central/Eastern European emigres/descendants. That can explain the bulk of Russophobia which is baseline and institutional. Hopefully the budget cuts are directed to resolve this and we get diplomats who bat for America first.
The Commerce Dept. having a higher budget can ensure peace and stability. Anyone remember the 50+ peace seeking diplomats who egged Obama to go on the warpath? I am still very greatful that he did not take the bait even enduring the insults.
Now that we know regime change can happen anywhere, even in DC, it is bad policy to let diplomats with history in a region to shape policy for that region. A fifth generation Iowan or Tennessean is likely to be more even keeled and effective than a diplomat with specialized knowledge nursing some historical grievance. People whose raison d'etre is to destroy country X or country Y do not make the best diplomats.
Now this is outright speculation. Who else benefits from this Russophobia? The Chinese for whom globalisation has not only created trade surpluses and advanced technology, but more vitally all the jobs which have allowed stability. It makes a good investment for them, and they get the added bonus of keeping Russia and her natural resources in their orbit.
The Russian card is the only one now in play to cripple the Trump administration and halt this phase of de-globalisation. I suspect Madam Secretary and The Americans will have the best ratings next season.
Posted by: asx | 02 March 2017 at 01:03 PM
pl,
You're right. I don't see anything broadcast over cable or fiber. If I can't get it at the far reaches of the digital TV signal from the DC area, I don't see it. There's plenty available to keep me entertained. And I'm perfectly content with the situation.
From what you and others have said here, Farkas has done the near equivalent of giving away the Ultra secrets. We should definitely see a prosecution if that's the case.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 02 March 2017 at 01:54 PM
Farkas was Victoria Nuland's "twin" at the Defense Department. She came into DOD in 2010, and from 2012-2015 she was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia. She was hardline backer of the Maidan coup, and pressed afterwards for the Ukraine Armed Forces to get US military supplies, including anti-tank weapons. Hungarian background, fanatically anti-Russia, she quit the Obama Administration over Obama's softness on Russia after Crimea. She was one of those bureaucratic neocon fanatics who were all over the Obama Administration at powerful second-tier positions. She is now on a jihad against Trump over the mere prospect of improving relations with Russia, and Col. Lang is right that she should be investigated for possible leaks damaging to US national security.
Posted by: Harper | 02 March 2017 at 02:00 PM
I thought Greenwald skewered her.
Posted by: MRW | 02 March 2017 at 02:31 PM
TTG
I am going to change the title. you are right. she has not been charged or tried. I watched the DoJ and CIA behind them try and convict Jeffrey Sterling with 12 counts of espionage, misuse of classified information and associated crimes. there was not a shred of material evidence that the government could produce against him. he was convicted entirely on circumstantial evidence and only received a shortened sentence because a deal was reached to avoid testimony in mitigation. So much for American justice... This woman has confessed with pride on TV. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 02 March 2017 at 02:51 PM
Farkas is part of a campaign Obama ordered up after Trump was elected.
Read this NYT piece and disregard the "well intended" fluff:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/us/politics/obama-trump-russia-election-hacking.html?_r=0
/quote/
In the Obama administration’s last days, some White House officials scrambled to spread information about Russian efforts to undermine the presidential election — and about possible contacts between associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump and Russians — across the government. Former American officials say they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn’t duplicated in future American or European elections, and to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators.
/endquote/
The intend was to sabotage the "detente with Russia" policies Trump had announced and for which he was elected into office. Potential blackmail information was collected, skewed analysis cooked up and lowered in classification to distribute it widely and to have it leaked. The facts behind it were classified higher than necessary to prevent distribution and leakage and debunking of the slandered analysis.
This was a systematic effort not unlike those of J.E. Hoover. Farkas is obviously a piece of that campaign.
The campaign was successful. Flynn got fired and now a Russia hawk gets installed in the NSC. Session is next of simply doing his job as Senator and incoming administration official.
What do the Democrats expect will happen to them when Trump uses these instruments?
Posted by: b | 02 March 2017 at 04:03 PM
She's a Democrat.
Who would prosecute her?
The "career" (Democrats) people in the Justice Dept.?
Snowden let loose a dam and the head of security at NSA didn't lose his job.
"Secrets" and "security" have become bad joke punchlines in the government.
More swamp that needs draining.
Posted by: TV | 02 March 2017 at 04:33 PM
b
I agree. As Harper wrote a while back there is a campaign underway to unseat a constitutionally elected president. There is a distinction to be made between the larger "campaign" in which evidently the IC seniors (whoever they are) elicited the British "dossier," which was probably over-classified as you say, and on the other hand this woman's deliberate disclosure on the MSM of information so highly and rightfully classified and compartmented that I would not have had it when I was in the "bidness." I had access to 50 compartments above Top Secret when I retired from government. She obviously is carrying a cross that excuses her from her oath concerning US COMINT successes against other countries whether friendd or foe. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 02 March 2017 at 04:40 PM
In Europe, they are now using the same tactics against Le Pen as those that the ruling party in Singapore has practiced to silence the undesirables.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/european-parliament-lifts-marine-le-pens-immunity-for-tweeting-gruesome-images-of-violence/2017/03/02/99bb9c9a-ff5e-11e6-9b78-824ccab94435_story.html?utm_term=.6b4f5ec3efd0
Evidently, Freedom of Expression no longer exists in Europe - excepting insulting Islam and the Prophet.
Posted by: Babak Makkinejad | 02 March 2017 at 05:03 PM
I am reminded of a younger version of Hot-Lips...
Posted by: Babak Makkinejad | 02 March 2017 at 05:09 PM
Colonel,
Evelyn Farkas, Victoria Nuland and Chrystia Freeland are members of an influential cadre of the credentialed globalists who are the first and second generation offspring of Eastern Europeans who still carry a hardwired ethnic hatred of Russians. They have managed to restart the Cold War 2.0. Add in the pressure from the intelligence community, military contractors and corporate media and it appears that Donald Trump has been neutered. If he stops talking about trade deals, it is all over. If that is the case, there are two options; restart the Anti-War Movement and do a clean sweep of Congress or kiss your ass goodbye.
Posted by: VietnamVet | 02 March 2017 at 05:25 PM
He owes nothing to anyone and he could have discarded the Syrian and Ukrainian polices of the United States by now.
Yet he has chosen to continue those policies in the hope of getting a better deal - Heaven only knows when.
In my opinion, he has lost the opportunity of a reset with Russia and picked a quarrel with Iran for nothing.
He already has failed on both and I do not think he can right himself in regards to the Iran and Russia; they were his to lose and he has accomplished that all by himself.
May be he can do better domestically but Fortune, like women, smiles on bold men and not men who are going to wait until 2018 to do something.
Posted by: Babak Makkinejad | 02 March 2017 at 06:06 PM
OK but it's better than lobbing H-bombs into mother Russia and remaking Top Gun over Syria.
Posted by: JMH | 02 March 2017 at 07:04 PM
Sheez louize.
Posted by: J | 02 March 2017 at 07:54 PM
I agree, IMO is now all uphill climb on foreign policy for him, he thought since he has both houses of congress, and he can mobilize his supporters it would be easy to implement policy, he/we didn't know, more than having the congress or street support, he needs to have the support of IC and its media arm WP.
They did him in, relatively in short period, successfully. They got his pro detente NSA, and now they neutered his AG so they can go after him in their own seating.
Posted by: kooshy | 02 March 2017 at 11:49 PM
If he were doing nothing, I cannot understand why people like Dr Farkas would be spouting off in the media. It may be hubris, crowing over "victory", of course, in which case the President has ample powers to deploy in making examples. The "noise " from offstage could be evidence that changes are already being ordered and implemented and that yesterday's divas have been well and truly "written out" of future participation in the management of state affairs. "Twist a pig's ear and listen to it squeal" is a line I recall from a Coen Brothers movie "Miller's Crossing ". The squealing phase has a bit to go yet, probably.
Posted by: Cortes | 03 March 2017 at 01:15 AM