Central Intelligence Agency Behind Guccifer & Russiagate - a Plausible Scenario
(2020-08-15 at 12:33:42 )

Central Intelligence Agency Behind Guccifer & Russiagate - a Plausible Scenario

William Binney is the former technical director of the United States National Security Agency who worked at the agency for 30 years. He is a respected independent critic of how American intelligence services abuse their powers to illegally spy on private communications of United States citizens and around the globe. Given his expert inside knowledge, it is worth paying attention to what Mr. Binney says.

In a media interview this week, he dismissed the so-called Russiagate scandal as a "fabrication" orchestrated by the American Central Intelligence Agency. Many other observers have come to the same conclusion about allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 United States elections with the objective of helping Donald Trump get elected.

But what is particularly valuable about Mr. Binneys judgment is that he cites technical analysis disproving the Russiagate narrative. That narrative remains dominant among United States intelligence officials, politicians and pundits, especially those affiliated with the Democrat party, as well as large sections of Western media.

The premise of the narrative is the allegation that a Russian state-backed cyber operation hacked into the database and emails of the Democrat party back in 2016. The information perceived as damaging to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was subsequently disseminated to the Wikileaks whistleblower site and other United States media outlets.

A mysterious cyber persona known as "Guccifer 2.0" claimed to be the alleged hacker. United States intelligence and news media have attributed Guccifer as a front for Russian cyber operations.

Notably, however, the Russian government has always categorically denied any involvement in alleged hacking or other interference in the 2016 United States election, or elections thereafter.

William Binney and other independent former United States intelligence experts say they can prove the Russiagate narrative is bogus. The proof relies on their forensic analysis of the data released by Guccifer. The analysis of timestamps demonstrates that the download of voluminous data could not have been physically possible based on known standard internet speeds. These independent experts conclude that the data from the Democrat party could not have been hacked, as Guccifer and Russiagaters claim. It could only have been obtained by a leak from inside the party, perhaps by a disgruntled staffer who downloaded the information on to a disc. That is the only feasible way such a huge amount of data could have been released. That means the "Russian hacker" claims are baseless.

Wikileaks, whose founder Julian Assange is currently imprisoned in Britain pending an extradition trial to the United States to face espionage charges, has consistently maintained that their source of files was not a hacker, nor did they collude with Russian intelligence.

As a matter of principle, Wikileaks does not disclose the identity of its sources, but the organization has indicated it was an insider leak which provided the information on senior Democrat party corruption.

William Binney says forensic analysis of the files released by Guccifer shows that the mystery hacker deliberately inserted digital "fingerprints" in order to give the impression that the files came from Russian sources. It is known from information later disclosed by former NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden that the CIA has a secretive program - Vault 7 - which is dedicated to false incrimination of cyber attacks to other actors. It seems that the purpose of Guccifer was to create the perception of a connection between Wikileaks and Russian intelligence in order to beef up the Russiagate narrative.

"So that suggested [to] us all the evidence was pointing back to the Central Intelligence Agency as the originator [of] Guccifer 2.0. And that Guccifer 2.0 was inside CIA.. I am pointing to that group as the group that was probably the originator of Guccifer 2.0 and also this fabrication of the entire story of Russiagate," concludes Mr. Binney in his interview with Sputnik news outlet.

This is not the first time that the Russiagate yarn has been debunked.

But it is crucially important to make Mr. Binneys expert views more widely appreciated especially as the United States presidential election looms on November 3.

As that date approaches, United States intelligence and media seem to be intensifying claims about Russian interference and cyber operations.

Such wild and unsubstantiated "reports" always refer to the alleged 2016 "hack" of the Democrat party by "Guccifer 2.0" as if it were indisputable evidence of Russian interference and the "original sin" of supposed Kremlin malign activity. The unsubstantiated 2016 "hack" is continually cited as the "precedent" and "provenance" of more recent "reports" that purport to claim Russian interference.

Given the torrent of Russiagate derivatives expected in this United States election cycle, which is damaging United States-Russia bilateral relations and recklessly winding up geopolitical tensions, it is thus of paramount importance to listen to the conclusions of honorable experts like William Binney.

The American public are being played by their own intelligence agencies and corporate media with covert agendas that are deeply anti-democratic.

Reprinted here from the "Strategic Culture Foundation" provides a platform for exclusive analysis, research and policy comment on Eurasian and global affairs. We are covering political, economic, social and security issues worldwide. Since 2005 our journal has published thousands of analytical briefs and commentaries with the unique perspective of independent contributors. SCF works to broaden and diversify expert discussion by focusing on hidden aspects of international politics and unconventional thinking. Benefiting from the expanding power of the Internet, we work to spread reliable information, critical thought and progressive ideas.