Today is a good time to remind everyone that CNN represents the public relations arm of the U.S State Department.
Two overlays: first, most non-U.S. government entities regard CNN as the state run media for the U.S. State Department, because it is. Second, the U.S. State Dept is the umbrella organization for most global CIA operations. In essence, the intel community reports that surface from CNN are from the State Dept/CIA.
In this latest example, the unnamed U.S. intelligence officials are once again promoting the proactive narrative that Russian FSB services are responsible for manipulating smaller networks of U.S. social media accounts, resulting in a disinformation program that flows upwards into mainstream media.
I find it interesting that the State Dept/CIA would push this narrative immediately following the suspicious reports of Yevgeny Prigozhin killed in a plane crash.
Washington, CNN – Russian intelligence is operating a systematic program to launder pro-Kremlin propaganda through private relationships between Russian operatives and unwitting US and western targets, according to newly declassified US intelligence.
US intelligence agencies believe that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) is attempting to influence public policy and public opinion in the West by directing Russian civilians to build relationships with influential US and Western individuals and then disseminate narratives that support Kremlin objectives, obscuring the FSB’s role through layers of ostensibly independent actors.
“These influence operations are designed to be deliberately small scale, the overall goal being US [and] Western persons presenting these ideas, seemingly organic,” a US official authorized to discuss the material told CNN. “The co-optee influence operations are built primarily on personal relationships … they build trust with them and then they can leverage that to covertly push the FSB’s agenda.” (read more)
Of course, none of the article citations bear any fruit when reviewed. However, that’s really not the point of the publication. The point of CNN pushing the narrative is to support a domestic narrative engineering operation that will later surface.
