Coristine also briefly worked in 2022 at Path Network, a network monitoring firm known for hiring reformed blackhat hackers. Someone using a Telegram handle tied to Coristine also solicited a cyberattack-for-hire service later that year. [...]
Tesla.Sexy LLC controls dozens of web domains, including at least two Russian-registered domains. [...]
A longtime former US intelligence analyst, who requested anonymity to speak on sensitive topics, agrees. “There's little chance that he could have passed a background check for privileged access to government systems,” they allege.
DOGE Now Has Access to the Top US Cybersecurity Agency
DOGE technologists Edward Coristine—the 19-year-old known online as “Big Balls”—and Kyle Schutt are now listed as staff at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency [CISA].
Coristine—briefly an intern for Musk’s brain-computer interface company Neuralink, as WIRED has reported—has been working his way through numerous federal agencies and departments as a DOGE operative since January. He has been tracked at the General Services Administration (GSA), the Office of Personnel Management, the State Department, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. At State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Technology, he potentially had access to systems containing sensitive information about diplomats and many sources around the world who provide the US government with intelligence and expertise.
As the journalist Marisa Kabas was first to report, he has now moved to CISA, a division of DHS. He is listed in the staff directory as a senior adviser.
[...]
This [data and networks at CISA] includes information about software vulnerabilities, breaches, and network risk assessments conducted for local and state election offices. Since 2018, CISA has helped state and local election offices around the country assess vulnerabilities in their networks and help secure them. CISA also works with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency to notify victims of breaches and process information about software vulnerabilities before the information becomes public. [...]
“Who's that good for?”
C.I.A. Plans Largest Mass Firing in Nearly 50 Years
The possible purge of officers working on recruiting and diversity comes as the agency moves to comply with the spirit of an executive order banning efforts to diversify the federal work force.
Former officials said that the national security exception the White House put in place on downsizing the federal government should have prevented the firings. Mr. Carroll said Mr. Trump’s executive order required only that the agency end diversity programs, not that the people carrying out the initiatives be fired.
[...]
“More than any other organization in the U.S. government, the C.I.A. has a requirement for diversity,” Mr. Carroll said. “We need to have people who can mix in overseas.”
CIA sends White House unclassified email with names of agency new hires
The CIA has sent the White House an unclassified email listing all new hires that have been with the agency for two years or less in an effort to comply with an executive order to downsize the federal workforce, according to three sources familiar with the matter – a deeply unorthodox move that could potentially expose the identities of those officers to foreign government hackers.
The list – which includes everything from new analysts to trainees preparing to operate under cover [...]
The New York Times first reported the email.
Top Democrats assailed the move on Wednesday, calling it a risk to national security.
“Those details are secret for a reason — because protecting the identities of CIA employees is critical to their safety and mission, a mission that helps keep Americans safe every day,” House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes of Connecticut said. “I am also deeply concerned by the backdrop of this request, which appears to be an interest in firing provisional employees en masse.”
“Who's that good for?”
How Trump's security clearances order could make the US vulnerable
The plan to give temporary clearances without background checks, seen by some as are on the “deep state,” opens the door to breaches and espionage, experts say.
[Washington Post pay wall]
Maddow:
“ … that does not seem like good news for the United States. But then again, it’s good news for someone.”
Russia Welcomes USAID Cuts, Calls Agency ‘Machine for Interfering’
www.theMoscowTimes.com
Russia on Thursday welcomed the new U.S. administration's decision to shutter USAID as an independent agency, calling the humanitarian body a "machine for interfering" in global affairs.
[...]
"The only thing we take a certain satisfaction from is that everything we said turned out to be true," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a weekly briefing, referring to Moscow's longstanding criticism of the agency.
Russia expelled USAID in 2012 for "meddling" in its politics. It had long accused the agency and others of setting the ground for pro-democracy uprisings in ex-Soviet states.
How the USAID collapse helps Putin
Since Moscow began to systematically demolish Ukraine’s energy system with missiles and drones around October 2022, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has played a critical role in supporting Kyiv to rebuild its grid. It has committed at least $800 million to procure and deliver transformers, power cables, gas generators, and other hardware, nearly matching the $1 billion raised by Europe’s Ukrainian energy support fund. That work is now in jeopardy after US President Donald Trump abruptly froze aid payments, put thousands of USAID employees globally on leave, and is considering shutting the agency altogether.
State Department terminates U.S. support of Ukraine energy grid restoration
The USAID initiative had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in helping Ukraine's energy grid recover from attacks from Russia.
The two officials warned that USAID withdrawing from Ukraine would leave its energy grid vulnerable in the heart of the winter as it endures assaults from further Russian missiles.
Maddow:
“Russia’s best idea for how to prosecute that war — is to cause Ukrainian civilians to freeze to death, by bombing their electric grid in February.
… which Trump has just cut off vital repair support for that gird through USAID ...
which is good news for someone, right?”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin: U.S. Should Remain in NATO Only if It Is In Our Best Interest
Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin told NBC's "Meet The Press" that he agrees with the Trump administration that the U.S. should only remain part of the NATO Alliance as long as it is in our national interest:
If the U.S. did drop out of NATO:
“Whom would that most benefit? For who would that be really, really good news?”
Trump says he wants Russia back in the G7
President Trump said Thursday he would like to see Russia reinstated in the Group of Seven (G7) major economies and suggested various actors other than Moscow were to blame for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Trump fielded questions in the Oval Office on his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the situation in Ukraine as his administration pushes for negotiations to end the war there.
He pointed the finger at former President Biden and at Russia’s 2014 ouster from the Group of Eight (G8) as factors that may have led to the conflict.
Trump-Putin summit preparations are underway, Russia says
Preparations are underway for a face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Saturday. It marked a clear departure from Western efforts to isolate Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
[...]
After the meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told The Associated Press the two sides agreed broadly to pursue three goals: to restore staffing at their respective embassies; to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks; and to explore closer relations and economic cooperation.
[...]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country would not accept any outcome from the talks since Kyiv didn’t take part, and he postponed his own trip to Saudi Arabia scheduled for last Wednesday. European allies have also expressed concerns that they are being sidelined.
Trump Envoy Can’t Name a Single Concession Russia Will Make in Peace Deal
In an interview on State of the Union on Sunday, Tapper grilled Steve Witkoff, the Middle East envoy who claimed that he had developed a “friendship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week after meeting in Moscow, on the different demands Trump had made on Ukraine’s president versus those made on Russia.
“President Trump has been putting a lot of pressure on Ukrainian President Zelensky, as you just noted, and laying out the concessions Ukraine will have to make to end the war,” Tapper pointed out. “What concessions will Russia have?”
But Witkoff answered in vague terms.
[...]
He also said Trump’s strengths lied mainly in his personable skills rather than in getting stuck debating complex details.
“He brings people together. He gets them to understand that the pathway to peace is concessions and consensus building. And I think you’re going to see a very successful result here.”
[...]
— —
Maddow closes out that stunning recap of recent Trump concessions to Russia and Putin, with this series of chilling questions ...
Just do a thought experiment:
Imagine if the Putin government could somehow exert control, or influence over the government of the United States.
What do you think the Putin government would have the U.S. government DO, if he could control it?
What kind of headlines would you expect to see, about the operations of our government, under that kind of scenario?
And what would you expect the news out of the Oval Office and the White House to look like, on a day like today?
Very good questions. Bravo.
All concerned citizens should start asking them.
Who is Trump in actual fact working for — the best interests of America, the once-leader of the free world?
Or is Trump really more concerned about the best interests (and secret demands) put to him, by the strongman dictator, Vladimir Putin?
[… during their not-so public, not-so infrequent, personal calls? ]
Inquiring minds should want to know.
— —
Trump has a Tell when he Lies …
