Some of the Russian diplomats expelled by the Obama administration in 2016 played a role in an operation that breached FBI communications, according to a bombshell report.
American officials learned the Russians had the ability to decrypt some types of communications and had tracked devices used by elite FBI surveillance teams, Yahoo News reported Monday.
The compromises included the encrypted radio systems used by the FBI to track the movements of Russian spies in the U.S., as well as a backup communications systems, in what a former top intelligence official described as a “stunning” breakthrough.
The Russians used covert “listening posts” located in their diplomatic and government-controlled facilities to intercept, record, and decrypt the FBI radio communications. Some of the posts where the eavesdropping took place were staffed by the wives of Russian intelligence officers, a former top intelligence official said.
The Obama administration shuttered two Russian government compounds in Maryland and New York in 2016 that were said to play a role in the operation. At the time, the administration said the closures were in response to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
They were “basically being used as signals intelligence facilities,” said one former senior national security official.
The spies would also use “mobile listening posts,” in which they would carry gear and walk near the FBI surveillance teams or use vans full of listening equipment in an effort to intercept the FBI communications.
Former officials said the FBI used lightweight radios that allowed surveillance teams to move quickly and discreetly while following their targets, but the technology was outdated, leaving the communications vulnerable. The teams eventually switched to using backup communications systems, using their cellphones, but communications using that method were also intercepted. It’s unclear if the Russians were able to decipher the communications in real time. After the discovery, the FBI purchased different models of encrypted radios.
The compromises allowed Russian spies to potentially ditch their FBI surveillance and communicate with human sources, check on their spy devices and collect intelligence on those who were surveilling them, former officials said.
The Russians were able to breach the communications systems not long after Obama administration’s decision in 2010 to arrest a group of Russian spies living in the U.S. under deep nonofficial cover, but U.S. counterintelligence officials were unable to agree how they did it. Some feared that the Russians had a mole within the U.S. government.
One former official said the damage of the breach was limited because the Russians “were reticent to take steps” that could reveal what they had done. Regardless, the FBI feared some of its assets had been blown and cut off contact with some of its Russian sources.
