Monday, February 13, 2017

Hoping this is fake news

Have you ever read a story and thought to yourself, "I sure hope this is fake news"?

I had that reaction when I read this story ("The Spy Revolt Against Trump Begins") in the Observer. Here's the quote that freaked me out...

What’s going on was explained lucidly by a senior Pentagon intelligence official, who stated that “since January 20, we’ve assumed that the Kremlin has ears inside the SITROOM,” meaning the White House Situation Room, the 5,500 square-foot conference room in the West Wing where the president and his top staffers get intelligence briefings. “There’s not much the Russians don’t know at this point,” the official added in wry frustration.

I checked out the source to see if it's legit. The Observer is a legit British newspaper, but let's keep in mind that the British newspapers have a less than stellar record. The writer of this piece is a conservative National Security expert named John Schindler, who was forced out of the Naval War College after he apparently sent a few penis pictures.

So, if you want to disbelieve this, there is reason to question it a bit. On the other hand, Schindler is an actual former spy himself, so he does have legitimate contacts.

For the moment, I'm filing this one under "wait for more reporting on the subject".