Senate Intel Chairman Discusses U.S. Effort to Control Cryptocurrency and Russia Sanction Evasion

Senator Mark Warner is a notoriously corrupt Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, one of the central pillars of the Fourth Branch of Government.  In this interview, Warner discusses the “grey area” of cyber-attacks and how any downstream consequence that imperils U.S. lives can be used as a justification by NATO to engage the Article-5 trigger and consider any Russian intrusion an attack against NATO allies.

Example: Russia shuts down the Ukraine power grid that is also connected to Poland. As a direct consequence, a traffic signal or infrastructure malfunction occurs, and a U.S. military convoy has an accident.  A U.S. servicemember is injured or killed.  [Or any other non-kinetic action that creates a kinetic consequence.] Does NATO then have justification to attack Russia?  Warner is previewing a scenario the Fourth Branch hopes to exploit.

Additionally, within the interview [05:44 prompted], Senator Warner outlines the western approach toward Russia using cryptocurrency as a method to evade sanctions.  Notably, Warner outlines that U.S. intelligence/U.S. Govt has control over U.S-based crypto exchanges and they are working with ‘partners’ in the financial sector to mitigate the use of crypto exchanges by non-U.S. actors.  WATCH: 

All your banking are belong to us.

The conversation is about Russia, for now.  However, as noted by the Canada example recently, it’s a short hop from Russia to those who are defined as ‘domestic threats.’