March 30, 2018


News and Views


I WONDER WHEN AND HOW THE NATO COUNTRIES WILL START TO TALK TO RUSSIA AGAIN? AUSTRIA HAS VOLUNTEERED TO HELP. I HOPE THAT’S GOING TO BE ENOUGH.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/europe/yulia-skripal-health-improves-russian-spy-intl/index.html
Yulia Skripal's health 'improving rapidly' after nerve agent attack
Laura Smith Spark-Profile-ImagePeter Wilkinson-Profile-Image
By Laura Smith-Spark and Peter Wilkinson, CNN
Updated 11:11 PM ET, Thu March 29, 2018

Photograph -- Yulia Skripal, 33, and her father were found slumped on a bench near a shopping center in Salisbury.

London (CNN)The health of the daughter of a former Russian double agent poisoned in a nerve agent attack in the UK is "improving rapidly," according to the hospital treating her.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, 33, were poisoned on March 4 after being exposed to what the British government says was a military-grade nerve agent. They had been hospitalized in a critical condition since the attack.

These are all the countries that are expelling Russian diplomats

"I'm pleased to be able to report an improvement in the condition of Yulia Skripal. She has responded well to treatment but continues to receive expert clinical care 24 hours a day," Dr. Christine Blanshard, Medical Director for Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement.

Sergei Skripal, 66, remains in a critical but stable condition but Yulia is "improving rapidly," the statement said.

The Skripals were found slumped on a bench in an outdoor shopping complex in Salisbury, England. They had no visible injuries, according to police.

The update on Yulia's condition comes a day after police said they believed the Skripals first came into contact with the nerve agent at Sergei Skripal's home in Salisbury.

Front door pinpointed

Police have identified the highest concentration of the nerve agent to date as being on the property's front door, London's Metropolitan Police said.

"Traces of the nerve agent have been found at some of the other scenes detectives have been working at over the past few weeks, but at lower concentrations to that found at the home address," the police statement said.

Police believe the Skripals first came into contact with the nerve agent at Sergei Skripal's home in Salisbury, pictured on March 6.

Detectives plan to focus their investigation around Sergei Skripal's Salisbury home for the coming weeks and possibly months, the statement said. Yulia was visiting her father at the time they were poisoned.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday again demanded the UK give Russian diplomats access to Yulia as he announced that the country will shut down the US consulate in St Petersburg and expel 60 US diplomats.

The tit-for-tat move came after more than 20 countries, including Canada and 18 EU member states, joined the United States in expelling more than 100 Russian diplomats over the nerve agent attack.

The UK has expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the attack, which it blames on Moscow. Russia denies it was involved and has suggested the UK could be behind it.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May called the worldwide backlash the "the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history."

Russian Foreign Minister spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Moscow that Britain is breaking the international law by refusing to provide information on the case.

"We are witnessing obvious prevention of access for Russian representatives to Russian victims," she said.

Russia: 'Absurd position'

Russia again denied any involvement in the poisoning on Thursday. Zakharova accused the UK government of seeking to "bring about a totally absurd situation."

How Vladimir Putin's arrogance handed Theresa May a diplomatic coup

Zakharova said the countries which had ordered expulsions had been subject to intense pressure to show "solidarity" with Britain despite there being no evidence implicating Russia.

Zakharova also repeated a Russian complaint that its requests for information in the Skripal case have been ignored. "London is not giving us information and they cannot prove their innocence," she said.

UK officials believe the Skripals were exposed to a Soviet-era nerve agent known as Novichok.

But Zakharova said nerve agents have been produced in countries outside of Russia and pointed towards the United Kingdom, United States and the Czech Republic as countries which have invested in this type of research.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Russia welcomed reports that Austria -- which has not ordered the expulsion of Russian diplomats -- had offered to mediate between Russia and the United Kingdom in the Skripal case.

"In the situation with the UK any role, any voice that will spur the British vis-a-vis to, let's say, adequacy in this matter, is in demand, of course," Peskov said, when asked about Austria's reported offer to mediate.

Thomas Schnoll, spokesman for Austria Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, told CNN that Austria condemned the Skripal poisoning but wanted to keep channels of communication with Russia open. "We see Austria as a bridge builder between the West and the East," he said.

CNN's Zahra Ullah, Carol Jordan, Darya Tarasova and Lorenzo D'Agostino contributed to this report.




THE CURRENT CONDITION OF THE TWO RUSSIANS

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43588450
Russian spy: Yulia Skripal 'conscious and talking'
29 March 2018

Photograph -- Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33 were poisoned by a nerve agent called Novichok

Yulia Skripal, the daughter of ex-spy Sergei Skripal, is improving rapidly and no longer in a critical condition, says the hospital treating her.

She and her father were admitted nearly four weeks ago after being exposed to a nerve agent in Salisbury.

The BBC understands from separate sources that Ms Skripal is conscious and talking.

However Mr Skripal remains in a critical but stable condition, Salisbury District Hospital said.

Doctors said Ms Skripal, "has responded well to treatment but continues to receive expert clinical care 24 hours a day".

Were people properly protected in the incident aftermath?

"I want to take this opportunity to once again thank the staff of Salisbury District Hospital for delivering such high quality care to these patients over the last few weeks," said Dr Christine Blanshard, Medical Director for Salisbury District Hospital.

"I am very proud both of our front-line staff and all those who support them."

BBC correspondent Duncan Kennedy says a corner appears to have been turned for Yulia Skripal, who is now in a stable condition.

However there is no news on what the long-term damage might be, he adds.

Meanwhile the police have placed cordons round a children's play area at Montgomery Gardens near Mr Skripal's home.

"Officers will be searching it as a precautionary measure," said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon.

The Skripals were admitted to hospital on 4 March after being found collapsed on a bench at the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury.

Russian spy: What we know so far
Nato slashes Russia staff after poisoning
Spy's front door focus of poisoning probe

Police have been treating the case as attempted murder.

On Wednesday, police said the Skripals first came into contact with the nerve agent at the former Russian spy's home in Salisbury.

Image copyrightEPA
Image caption -- Police stand outside the house believed to be the home of Sergei Skripal

Forensic tests show the highest concentration was found on the front door.

The nerve agent was found at other locations in the town but in lower concentrations, the Metropolitan Police said.

A police officer who fell seriously ill after responding to the attack - Det Sgt Nick Bailey - was treated in hospital but was discharged on 22 March.

Russian spy: What are Novichok agents?
What the diplomat expulsions tell us
What next for Russia’s spy networks?

DS Bailey, who is believed to have visited Mr Skripal's house after the incident has spoken of his ordeal, saying: "Normal life for me will probably never be the same."

The British government has accused the Russian state of involvement in the attack - a claim Moscow has denied.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the chemical used had been identified as being part of a group of nerve agents developed by Russia known as Novichok.

Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning

In response to the incident, Mrs May announced a series of sanctions including the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats.

As a counter-measure the Kremlin said it would expel an equal number of British diplomats from Russia and close down the country's British Council.

Then - in what is believed to be the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history - more than 20 governments expelled diplomats in their countries, including the US, which removed 60.

In reply, Russia will expel 60 US diplomats and the US consulate general in St Petersburg is to be closed.


**************************************************************


TEARING UP THE VA SYSTEM AND BUILDING A REPLACEMENT MIGHT BE AS DIFFICULT AS SWITCHING FROM SOCIAL SECURITY TO SOME OTHER WAY TO SUPPORT PEOPLE IN THEIR ELDER YEARS. PRIVATIZING WOULD MEAN NO MORE PRICE CONTROLS AND PROBABLY FEWER DOCTORS WHO ARE WILLING TO SEE PATIENTS ON THE GOVERNMENT INSURANCE FOR THE MILITARY, TRICARE. THE VA IS ESTABLISHED, IT AND SEEMS TO SUIT SOME OF THESE PEOPLE IN THE ARTICLE WELL ENOUGH.

THERE HAVE BEEN PROBLEMS IN THE NEWS JUST IN THE LAST FEW YEARS. THE WORST THING I SAW WAS ON TV NEWS MAYBE TEN YEARS AGO OF A VA HOSPITAL WITH A ROACH AND MOLD PROBLEM. THERE ARE ISSUES WITH LONG WAITS FOR SERVICE, I THINK. ONE THING THAT I FEAR MOST ABOUT REPUBLICANS IN GENERAL, NOT JUST TRUMP, IS THAT IN ORDER TO “SHRINK” THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THEY ARE QUITE WILLING TO DESTROY STRUCTURES THAT ARE BADLY NEEDED BY THOSE WHO AREN’T EVEN MIDDLE CLASS, MUCH LESS WEALTHY. I FEAR THEIR WHOLESALE DESTRUCTION OF WHAT IS, WHILE NOT PERFECT, STILL EFFECTIVE ENOUGH.

http://www.wcax.com/content/news/Sanders-warns-against-privatization-of-Veterans-Affairs-478300083.html
Sanders against privatizing Veterans Affairs; local vets split on idea
By Dom Amato | Posted: Thu 12:00 PM, Mar 29, 2018 | Updated: Thu 5:57 PM, Mar 29, 2018

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. (WCAX) Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is warning against the privatization of Veterans Affairs. But veterans we spoke to in our region are divided on whether the government should be less involved in their health care.

President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday that he was firing Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin and nominating his White House physician to head the VA. With that announcement came reports the Trump administration could seek to privatize the VA.

Sanders sits on the Veterans' Affairs Committee and is against privatizing.

"I think that is a disastrous idea," said Sanders, I-Vermont.

Sanders spoke with veterans Thursday in White River Junction about the possibility of their health care being privatized.

"Strength of the VA has been its ability to provide holistic integrated care, covering all of the needs of Vermont vets or vets throughout the country. And to the degree we dismember the VA, we send people over here or over there, you lose the ability of the VA to provide that cost-effective holistic care," Sanders said.

Privatizing care could mean veterans might have to find their own health care providers.

"I'm not objected to it at all," Craig Lavigne said.

Lavigne served as a part of the Air Force during the Vietnam War and is the Quartermaster at the Winooski VFW. He says it's difficult for some veterans to get to the VA hospital in White River Junction.

"There's a lot more specialists in the private field," he said.

Still, Lavigne is satisfied with his care at the VA. He takes advantage of a program for vets who can't make it south. He's able to do rehab for his neck in Winooski.

"It's very difficult to drive all the way down to White River Junction or one of the other facilities and back and have it not turn into an entire day process," said Jennifer Simpson, a physical therapist at Timberlane in Winooski.

Simpson has a family member in the military and worries how much more will have to be done by vets to receive the care they need.

"As soon as somebody is making money and it's not structured there's always the question of who really benefits," Simpson said.

"I wouldn't want to go from doctor to doctor when everybody is at the hospital here. If one doctor recognizes a problem I have, I get an appointment that day and might even see someone that day," David Brothers said.

Brothers served in the Marine Corps in the U.S. and Vietnam and is concerned his benefits could change. He says the thought of private businesses profiting off veterans' health care is disturbing.

"It's just too bad if it does get privatized, you're going to see a lot of people in deep trouble," Brothers said.

Lavigne says the VA Hospital in White River Junction has done a lot for him but believes it's understaffed and employees are overworked.

"Not privatize the whole system but help the system," Lavigne said.

Along with the VA hospital in White River Junction, there are VA clinics in Burlington, Bennington, Brattleboro, Newport and Rutland.



THIS ARTICLE IS TOO LONG FOR ME TO READ ALL THE WAY THROUGH, AND NOT TERRIBLY EXCITING; AND IT’ CREATIVE WRITING RATHER THAN INFORMATIONAL NEWS, BUT IT DOES HAVE SOME HOPEFUL POINTS IN IT. IT SEEMS THAT LOTS OF VETERANS, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, ARE RUNNING FOR OFFICE NOW.

ABOUT 51% OF THEM ARE DEMOCRATS, THE ARTICLE SAYS. I THINK IN TIMES PAST MORE VETERANS WOULD BE REPUBLICANS, DUE TO THE GUNG HO SPIRIT THAT IS DRILLED INTO THEM. IT INCLUDES PERSONAL STORIES AND VIEWPOINTS, AND SPEAKS OF AN INFLUX OF NEW FACES, MOST OF WHOM SEEM TO WANT GOVERNMENT TO GET THINGS DONE RATHER THAN PLAY HEAD GAMES ON EACH OTHER AND ON THE PUBLIC. SOMETHING LIKE THAT COULD BE A GOOD THING. IT’S LIKE FRESH AIR. IT MAY BE CHILLY, AND IT MAY GIVE ME HAY FEVER, BUT IT’S DEFINITELY REFRESHING.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/28/midterms-veterans-millennial-democrats-gop-districts-217714
How Veterans Are Powering the Democrats’ 2018 Hopes
From Staten Island to San Diego suburbs, millennials with military résumés are making GOP districts competitive.
By MICHAEL KRUSE March 28, 2018

Photograph -- Sarah Blesener for Politico Magazine

NEW YORK—“Ma’am,” said the soldier in suit slacks and a collar-popped pea coat, “my name is Max Rose, and I’m running for Congress as a Democrat.”

The woman behind the glass front door in the semi-suburban neighborhood on Staten Island in this state’s Republican-leaning 11th Congressional District looked him over. She asked what he was “all about.”

“Sure, sure—here’s a little information,” he said, showing her his “walk card.” On one side was a picture of Rose smiling while sitting at a table wearing a tie. “A Healthcare Expert with Solutions,” it said. “An Economic Champion.” On the other, though, was an image of him in his military fatigues, a long, black M4 carbine assault rifle hanging off his shoulder. This side had different language: “Combat Infantry Captain in the U.S. Army,” “the courage to lead.” This was the side Rose presented to her first.

The door opened a little.

“I’m the first post-9/11 combat veteran to run for office in New York City history,” Rose said.

The door opened a little more.

“I’m a Staten Islander,” he continued. “I deployed to Afghanistan about five years ago. I was an infantry platoon leader.” He said he was a Purple Heart recipient. Bronze Star, too. “And now we’re fighting this fight,” Rose said.

The door opened all the way.

Photograph -- Max Rose campaigns around Staten Island, his home borough. |Sarah Blesener for Politico Magazine

Rose, a 5-foot-6 power pack with an upbeat, shoulders-back gait, is near the forefront of a surge of a certain sort of candidate in the 2018 election cycle. Veterans who are Democrats are vying for Congress in numbers not seen in decades. With Honor, a “cross-partisan” organization that aims to “help elect principled next-generation veterans in order to solve our biggest problems and fix a Congress that is dysfunctional,” counts approximately 300 veterans who have run for Congress during this cycle—roughly half of whom chose to serve after, and in many cases because of, September 11, 2001. Although specific numbers are hard to come by, the spike is stark—“a substantial increase,” With Honor co-founder and CEO Rye Barcott told me, “from any prior cycle” in modern memory. While the perception might exist that most veterans lean Republican, some 51 percent of the veterans who are or have been 2018 candidates, based on With Honor’s tally, are actually Democrats. And some are proving to be competitive in places once considered safe GOP districts. Witness Conor Lamb’s win in western Pennsylvania earlier this month. Polling suggests former Army Ranger Jason Crow could do the same in Colorado’s 6th District in the suburbs of Denver. Backed by members of Congress like Representative Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and organizations like VoteVets and New Politics, this roster of aspirants is a key to Democrats reclaiming control of the House of Representatives in November’s midterms, party strategists believe.

It is not a coincidence that this wave of veterans is hitting at a moment when a five-time draft-deferring president occupies the White House and toxic partisanship has ground Capitol Hill to a virtual halt. The candidates are presenting themselves both as a moral rebuke to what they see as Donald Trump’s self-promoting divisiveness and also as a practical solution to the failure of the nation’s highest legislative body to get anything done. In short, the reputation of the national institution with by far the highest approval rating, the military, is being offered as an antidote to the woes of a schismatic president and a Congress whose approval ratings have never been worse.

Top: Jason Crow; bottom: Seth Moulton. | AP; Getty
Top: Jason Crow; bottom: Seth Moulton. | AP; Getty

“They’re all people who served the country without worrying about who’s a Democrat and who’s a Republican—let’s just get the damn thing done,” longtime national Democratic strategist Joe Trippi said in an interview. “In this Washington, in this divisive, chaotic cycle, you have these people who’ve proven they can rise above party and actually accomplish a mission.”

And out on the campaign trail, many of them have versions of Max Rose’s experience with opening doors, I heard in conversations with a dozen of these kinds of candidates.

Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy pilot and federal prosecutor running in New Jersey’s Republican-leaning but open 11th District, sees it when she stops in at diners. It usually happens with older men. “I’ll go up and say, ‘Hi, my name’s Mikie Sherrill and I’m running for Congress,‘” she told me, and she’ll gauge mostly disinterest. “And I’ll say, ‘Yeah, you know, I was a Navy helicopter pilot and a federal prosecutor,’ and then I kind of start to walk away—and they go, ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute …’”

. . . . GO TO THE WEBSITE TO CONTINUE THIS STORY IF YOU WANT TO READ IT ALL.



I REALLY ENJOYED THIS STORY OF A PEEP INSIDE THE FOX NEWS WORLD.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/why-i-left-fox-news/2018/03/30/d1224648-32bb-11e8-8bdd-cdb33a5eef83_story.html
Outlook Perspective
Why I left Fox News
By Ralph Peters March 30, 2018 at 6:00 AM
Ralph Peters is a retired Army officer, a former enlisted man and a prize-winning author of historical fiction.

Image -- An ad for “Fox and Friends” outside the Fox News Channel studio in New York. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

You could measure the decline of Fox News by the drop in the quality of guests waiting in the green room. A year and a half ago, you might have heard George Will discussing policy with a senator while a former Cabinet member listened in. Today, you would meet a Republican commissar with a steakhouse waistline and an eager young woman wearing too little fabric and too much makeup, immersed in memorizing her talking points.

This wasn’t a case of the rats leaving a sinking ship. The best sailors were driven overboard by the rodents.

As I wrote in an internal Fox memo, leaked and widely disseminated, I declined to renew my contract as Fox News’s strategic analyst because of the network’s propagandizing for the Trump administration. Today’s Fox prime-time lineup preaches paranoia, attacking processes and institutions vital to our republic and challenging the rule of law.

Four decades ago, as a U.S. Army second lieutenant, I took an oath to “support and defend the Constitution.” In moral and ethical terms, that oath never expires. As Fox’s assault on our constitutional order intensified, spearheaded by its after-dinner demagogues, I had no choice but to leave.

My error was waiting so long to walk away. The chance to speak to millions of Americans is seductive, and, with the infinite human capacity for self-delusion, I rationalized that I could make a difference by remaining at Fox and speaking honestly.

I was wrong.

As early as the fall of 2016, and especially as doubts mounted about the new Trump administration’s national security vulnerabilities, I increasingly was blocked from speaking on the issues about which I could offer real expertise: Russian affairs and our intelligence community. I did not hide my views at Fox and, as word spread that I would not unswervingly support President Trump and, worse, that I believed an investigation into Russian interference was essential to our national security, I was excluded from segments that touched on Vladimir Putin’s possible influence on an American president, his campaign or his administration.

I was the one person on the Fox payroll who, trained in Russian studies and the Russian language, had been face to face with Russian intelligence officers in the Kremlin and in far-flung provinces. I have traveled widely in and written extensively about the region. Yet I could only rarely and briefly comment on the paramount security question of our time: whether Putin and his security services ensnared the man who would become our president. Trump’s behavior patterns and evident weaknesses (financial entanglements, lack of self-control and sense of sexual entitlement) would have made him an ideal blackmail target — and the Russian security apparatus plays a long game.

As indictments piled up, though, I could not even discuss the mechanics of how the Russians work on either Fox News or Fox Business. (Asked by a Washington Post editor for a comment, Fox’s public relations department sent this statement: “There is no truth to the notion that Ralph Peters was ‘blocked’ from appearing on the network to talk about the major headlines, including discussing Russia, North Korea and even gun control recently. In fact, he appeared across both networks multiple times in just the past three weeks.”)

All Americans, whatever their politics, should want to know, with certainty, whether a hostile power has our president and those close to him in thrall. This isn’t about party but about our security at the most profound level. Every so often, I could work in a comment on the air, but even the best-disposed hosts were wary of transgressing the party line.

Fox never tried to put words in my mouth, nor was I told explicitly that I was taboo on Trump-Putin matters. I simply was no longer called on for topics central to my expertise. I was relegated to Groundhog Day analysis of North Korea and the Middle East, or to Russia-related news that didn’t touch the administration. Listening to political hacks with no knowledge of things Russian tell the vast Fox audience that the special counsel’s investigation was a “witch hunt,” while I could not respond, became too much to bear. There is indeed a witch hunt, and it’s led by Fox against Robert Mueller.

The cascade of revelations about the Russia-related crimes of Trump associates was dismissed, adamantly, as “fake news” by prime-time hosts who themselves generate fake news blithely.

Then there was Fox’s assault on our intelligence community — in which I had served, from the dirty-boots tactical level to strategic work in the Pentagon (with forays that stretched from Russia through Pakistan to Burma and Bolivia and elsewhere). Opportunities to explain how the system actually works, how stringent the safeguards are and that intelligence personnel are responsible public servants — sometimes heroes — dried up after an on-air confrontation shortly before Trump’s inauguration with a popular (and populist) host, Lou Dobbs.

Dobbs has no experience with the intelligence system. Yet he ranted about its reputed assaults on our privacy and other alleged misdeeds (if you want to know who spies on you, it’s the FGA — Facebook, Google and Amazon — not the NSA). When I insisted that the men and women who work in our intelligence agencies are patriots who keep us safe, the host reddened and demanded, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the — you fill in the blank.” As I sought to explain that, no, the NSA isn’t listening to our pillow talk, Dobbs kept repeating, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the — fill in the blank.”

Because I’d had a long, positive history with Dobbs, I refrained from replying: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the talk-show host.”

I became a disgruntled employee, limited to topics on which I agreed with the Trump administration, such as loosened targeting restrictions on terrorists and a tough line with North Korea. Over the past few months, it reached the point where I hated walking into the Fox studio. Friends and family encouraged me to leave, convinced that I embarrassed myself by remaining with the network (to be fair, I’m perfectly capable of embarrassing myself without assistance from Fox).

During my 10 years at Fox News and Fox Business, I did my best to be a forthright voice. I angered left and right. I criticized President Barack Obama fiercely (one infelicity resulted in a two-week suspension), but I also argued for sensible gun-control measures and environmental protections. I made mistakes, but they were honest mistakes. I took the opportunity to speak to millions of Americans seriously and — still that earnest young second lieutenant to some degree — could not imagine lying to them.

With my Soviet-studies background, the cult of Trump unnerves me. For our society’s health, no one, not even a president, can be above criticism — or the law.

I must stress that there are many honorable and talented professionals at the Fox channels, superb reporters, some gutsy hosts, and adept technicians and staff. But Trump idolaters and the merrily hypocritical prime-time hosts are destroying the network — no matter how profitable it may remain.

The day my memo leaked, a journalist asked me how I felt. Usually quick with a reply, I struggled, amid a cyclone of emotions, to think of the right words. After perhaps 30 seconds of silence, I said, “Free.”


Read more from Outlook and follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter.
Ralph Peters is a retired Army officer, a former enlisted man and a prize-winning author of historical fiction.


ANOTHER NORTHERN CITY HAS A DANGEROUSLY HIGH NUMBER OF LEAD POISONING CASES, THIS TIME IT’S MILWAUKEE. WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IS WHAT BUSINESSES ARE DUMPING THEIR INDUSTRIAL WASTE WATER INTO THE RIVERS.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/milwaukee-parents-concerned-lead-levels-after-troubling-report/
CBS NEWS March 30, 2018, 7:45 AM
Milwaukee's slow response to troubling lead level reports sparks outrage

Parents in Milwaukee say city leaders aren't doing enough to protect their kids from lead. While the national average for lead poisoning is about three percent, more than 11 percent of Milwaukee's children in 2016 suffered from it. Wisconsin health officials are reviewing Milwaukee's lead prevention program after several reports highlighted deficiencies in keeping lead away from kids.

Milwaukee's mayor said lead from paint is the city's primary concern, since lead-based paint is in at least 100,000 homes. Some residents are also worried about lead pipes, even though the water is treated to keep the lead out, reports CBS News' Adriana Diaz. One of those residents is Aminah Al-Mujaahid, who painstakingly prepares water for her family, filtering it pitcher by pitcher.

e10-diaz-wisconsin-lead-frame-1227.jpg
Nazir and Aminah Al-Mujaahid CBS NEWS

Last year her youngest son Shu'aib had a blood lead level of 11.4 – more than double what is considered lead poisoning. Lead can affect IQ, and Aminah and her husband Nazir believe it's stunted their five-year-old son's brain development.

"In my assessment he's operating more on a three, three-and-a-half-year-old level," he said. "I'll say 'hey what's your name' or 'how old are you'….He'll look at you, he'll look at you like he's trying to decipher and figure it out."

Milwaukee health officials say lead from paint poses the greatest risk to local families, but the Al-Mujaahid's believe it's in their water after recently learning they have lead service lines, which supply water to their home. The city says its water meets federal lead standards and it's treated to prevent lead from leaching from the pipes.

Improperly treated water in Flint, Michigan, caused widespread lead contamination there three years ago. Up to 10 million homes nationwide still have lead service lines, even though Congress banned lead plumbing supplies more than 30 years ago. About 74,000 are in Milwaukee, where the city has a program to split the cost of replacing lead pipes with homeowners but so far only one percent has been done.

"Any time they touch the water, it's alarming for me because I'm thinking about the exposure, their lives are important to us and….But it's difficult to see the city, not care," Aminah said.

e10-diaz-wisconsin-lead-frame-4459.jpg
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett CBS NEWS

The family says they tried to get a free water filter under the city's lead program, but when they went, none were left. That fits in with a recent review of the city's lead prevention program ordered by the mayor, which found insufficient staffing, under-funding, and claims of mismanagement.

The Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program doesn't have records of investigating about 100 addresses where kids blood lead levels reached 20 or higher. Health officials also don't know if 4,500 families received follow-up letters with children's lead test results.

"Well, a big part of this we don't know the answer to," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said. "I was told by my staff, that we did not have the documentation that established with certainty that all the kids had received this letter. That was enough for me to say, well then we're gonna send out another reminder."

Wisconsin congresswoman Gwen Moore wants the federal government to investigate and has raised concerns over the funding and effectiveness of Milwaukee's lead removal programs.

"The problem is devastating," Moore said. "It's really important to have this independent audit done by the Centers for Disease Control."

Mayor Barrett is not against the idea of an audit by the CDC.

"I welcome the CDC, I welcome the housing and urban development. I think that over a couple-year period we didn't do what we needed to do. I want to get back to the basic blocking and tackling," Barrett said.

Aminah says her family has had to pay the price for the city's dysfunction.

"We're supposed to protect our children but I can't do anything with people that don't wanna meet us halfway. We had to do our own research and do what we can in our house and buy what we need to clean our water."

Shu'aib's blood level is now down from an 11.4 to a five. His family said they're looking for a specialist to help with developmental delays, but there are long wait lists. The city's health department did offer to test the water supply, but so far the city has not followed up.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


THE RECENT CELL PHONE SHOOTING BY POLICE IS IN THE NEWS WITH HIS FUNERAL. AUTOPSY SAYS HE WAS SHOT IN THE BACK, AN ACT LONG CONSIDERED COWARDLY.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/03/30/stephon-clark-independent-autopsy-results-announced-friday/472507002/?csp=chromepush
Stephon Clark was shot eight times from behind, independent autopsy finds
Christal Hayes and Marco della Cava, USA TODAY Published 9:24 a.m. ET March 30, 2018 | Updated 2:21 p.m. ET March 30, 2018

VIDEO -- Sharpton gave the eulogy for Clark, 22, to the overflowing Bayside of South Sacramento Church as he held tightly to Stephon's distraught brother, Stevante, who frequently grabbed the microphone. USA TODAY

Photograph -- Demonstrators protest at the John M. Price District Attorney Center after the funeral of Stephon Clark.
(Photo: John Hefti, USA TODAY Sports) (Photo: John Hefti, USA TODAY Sports)

Stephon Clark was shot eight times from behind, according to an independent autopsy that was released Friday in amid growing tensions in Sacramento, Calif., and across the nation.

Clark's shooting death by two Sacramento police officers reignited the familiar anger and calls for justice after similar shootings of unarmed black men in the United States. The official coroner's report hasn't been released but officers, who falsely thought Clark was holding a gun, say 20 rounds were fired at him.

Clark was found only with a cell phone.

Dr. Bennet Omalu, who conducted the autopsy, said Clark was clearly shot from behind.

Six of the bullets hit the back of his body. He said the two others hit him in the side, adding all results pointed to Clark being shot from behind.

The first bullet hit him in the side, Omalu said, which caused his body to turn. His back was turned to officers when a barrage of six bullets hit him.

One hit his neck, the others hit his back and shoulder.

The last gunshot hit his thigh, Omalu said, explaining Clark was either shot while on the ground or as he was falling.
"He was shot from the back," said Omalu, who is known for his work on the affects concussions have on the brains of athletes.

The independent autopsy results were released during a Friday news conference, just one day after Clark's funeral. His family hired attorney Ben Crump, a high-profile civil rights lawyer who has also represented the families of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Michael Brown.

More: Police killings of black men in the U.S. and what happened to the officers

More: Sacramento hopes to set national example after Stephon Clark shooting

More: 'Not a local matter': Al Sharpton, at funeral for Stephon Clark, blasts White House, says death 'woke up the nation'

On Friday, Clark's funeral drew hundreds and spurred protests throughout the city. Since his death on March 18, mostly non-violent protests have stopped traffic, blocked access to two NBA basketball games and disrupted a local city council meeting.

Other Black Lives Matter protests, including one in New York, led to some arrests.

Activist Al Sharpton gave the eulogy for Clark, 22, and derided the White House for dismissing the killing as a "local matter."

"This is not a local matter," Sharpton shouted during his remarks. "They have been killing young black men all over the country, and we are here to say that we are going to stand with Stephon Clark and his family."

Clark’s death is far from the first police interaction turned tragic, as the local chapter of Black Lives Matter lists a dozen violent encounters last year alone.

Demonstrators protest in the streets of Sacramento.
Demonstrators protest in the streets of Sacramento. (Photo: JOHN HEFTI, USA TODAY Sports)

Some want police to face criminal charges and donned black shirts calling for justice, a common sentiment after similar high-profile cases, such as Michael Brown in Ferguson, Philando Castile in Saint Paul and Eric Garner on Staten Island.

There is hope, however, that Clark's death could bring the moment for change.

“It could be up to us to affect change, and we can do it because fundamentally we are a highly diverse, integrated community,” said Joany Titherington, president of the Oak Park Neighborhood Association, home to a large part of the city’s African-American population.

“We have black, brown and white people all living next to each other, so what this really is is a police training issue, where people shoot first and ask questions later,” she said. “It’s a systemic problem national politicians don’t seem to want to deal with, even though no town in America is immune to this.”

Many point to Sacramento's new police chief, Daniel Hahn – the first African-American to lead the department.

Lindsay Williams, a member of the local Black Lives Matter movement, thinks systemic changes in how police officers treat minorities will take time.

"There’s an amazing solidarity among our community that cuts across races and agendas," said Williams. "Now, I’m 27, so based on what I’ve lived through I really don’t expect changes. This country has not given me much to have faith in."

Williams then looked at the chanting crowd and smiled. “But,” she said, “these people do.”

Contributing: KXTV


POLICE OFFICER FIRED OVER FATAL SHOOTING – THOUGH THE BRASS KEPT HIM OFF DUTY WITH PAY FOR TWO YEARS -- NOT A PUNISHMENT.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/baton-rouge-officers-deadly-shooting-may-disciplined-163404539.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=6d5f98a9-30da-3e21-bf79-2d16fde5d3d4&.tsrc=notification-brknews
1 Baton Rouge officer fired, 1 suspended in deadly shooting
Associated Press
MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press • March 30, 2018

Video image -- 1 / 2
FILE - In this July 5, 2016 image made from video provided by Arthur Reed, Alton Sterling is restrained by two Baton Rouge police officers, one holding a gun, outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, La. Moments later, one of the officers shot and killed Sterling, a black man who had been selling CDs outside the store, while he was on the ground. The investigation of the deadly police shooting that inflamed racial tensions in Louisiana’s capital city has ended without criminal charges against two white officers who confronted Sterling. . Experts in police tactics think the bloodshed could have been avoided if the Baton Rouge officers had done more to defuse the encounter with Sterling. (Arthur Reed via AP, File

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana police chief said Friday he has fired the white officer who fatally shot a black man during a struggle outside a convenience store nearly two years ago, a killing that set off widespread protests.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul announced officer Blane Salamoni's firing less than a week after Louisiana's attorney general ruled out criminal charges in Alton Sterling's July 2016 shooting death.

Paul also suspended officer Howie Lake II, the other officer involved in the deadly confrontation, for three days. Lake helped wrestle Sterling to the ground but did not fire his weapon that night.

"My decision was not based on politics," Paul said during a news conference. "It was not based on emotions. It was based on the facts of the case."

Both officers had remained on paid administrative leave since the shooting.

Police also released body camera footage and other videos of the officers' deadly encounter with Sterling.

In the body camera footage of the encounter, an officer can be heard repeatedly using profanity as he shouts at Sterling and at one point threatens to shoot him in the head as Sterling asks what he did.

Salamoni shot Sterling six times during a struggle outside the Triple S Food Mart, where the 37-year-old black man was selling homemade CDs. Lake helped wrestle Sterling to the ground but didn't fire his weapon.

The officers recovered a loaded revolver from Sterling's pocket. As a convicted felon, Sterling could not legally carry a gun.

L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer representing two of Sterling's five children, said the newly released videos show officer Salamoni attacked Sterling without provocation "like a wild dog."

"The most obvious thing that stands out is Alton wasn't fighting back at all," Stewart said. "He's trying to defuse it the whole time."

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Tuesday that his office isn't charging either officer with state crimes. The Justice Department ruled out federal criminal charges last May.

Sterling's death inflamed racial tensions in the state's capital city and led to protests where nearly 200 people were arrested.

In June 2017, Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome called on Paul's predecessor, Carl Dabadie Jr., to fire Salamoni. Dabadie refused, saying it would be improper and premature because the shooting remained under investigation.

Paul said Tuesday that he and three deputy chiefs would preside over a disciplinary hearing — closed to the public — before imposing any punishment. He detailed the results of that hearing at a news conference.

Salamoni's attorney, John McLindon, had said Tuesday that he expected the officer to be fired. He called it "grossly unfair" that a disciplinary hearing was planned less than a week after the end of the criminal investigations. Lake's lawyer, Kyle Kershaw, said his client's actions complied with department procedures.

Salamoni had served as a Baton Rouge police officer for four years before the shooting; Lake was a three-year veteran of the force.

Two cellphone videos of the incident quickly spread on social media after the shooting. Paul said Tuesday that he will release other videos of the incident, including footage from the officers' body cameras and the store's surveillance camera, after he makes a disciplinary decision.



“... SHEETED IN COPPER, AND THAT CREWS FOUND ROMAN NUMERALS CARVED ON ITS WOODEN RIBS.” OF COURSE, WHO KNOWS HOW MANY COUNTRIES SINCE ROMAN TIMES HAVE USED ROMAN NUMERALS – LATIN WAS THE LANGUAGE OF SCHOLARSHIP AND GOVERNMENT FOR OVER A THOUSAND YEARS. THE MOST INTERESTING QUESTION, THOUGH, IS WHAT WAS THE SHIP’S POINT OF ORIGIN AND HOW OLD DOES SCIENTIFIC TESTING OF WOOD INDICATE IT TO BE? IT IS, OF COURSE, PROBABLY SPANISH, AND THE CHURCH USED LATIN UP UNTIL RECENTLY. RESEARCHERS HAVE ESTIMATED IT’S AGE AS BEING “AS FAR BACK AS THE 1700S.” STILL, IT’S A WONDERFUL FIND.

“WJAX-TV REPORTS IT'S UP TO THE STATE TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO WITH THE WRECKAGE.” IF THEY DON’T PUT IT IN A FLORIDA MUSEUM, I WILL BE VERY UNHAPPY.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ponte-vedra-beach-centuries-old-shipwreck-washes-ashore-florida/
CBS/AP March 30, 2018, 8:45 AM
"Holy grail of shipwrecks": Centuries-old sailing ship found on Florida beach

VIDEO -- News video

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- A 48-foot section of an old sailing ship has washed ashore on a Florida beach, thrilling researchers who are rushing to study it before it's reclaimed by the sea. The Florida Times-Union reports the well-preserved section of a wooden ship's hull washed ashore overnight Tuesday on Florida's northeastern coast.

According to CBS News affiliate WJAX-TV, Julie Turner and her 8-year-old son found the wreckage on Ponte Vedra Beach Wednesday morning. At first, Turner thought it was a piece of a pier or fence, but then, she realized it was a centuries-old ship that had washed ashore.

"We walked and checked it out and immediately knew it was a historical piece of [sic] artifact," she told WJAX-TV.

Researchers with the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum have been documenting the artifact and say it could date back as far as the 1700s. Marc Anthony, who owns Spanish Main Antiques, told WJAX-TV it's extremely rare for wreckage to wash ashore.

"To actually see this survive and come ashore. This is very, very rare. This is the holy grail of shipwrecks," Anthony said.

Museum historian Brendan Burke told the newspaper that evidence suggests the vessel was once sheeted in copper, and that crews found Roman numerals carved on its wooden ribs.

Researchers rushed to photograph and measure the wreckage. The photos will be used to create a 3-D model.

WJAX-TV reports it's up to the state to decide what to do with the wreckage.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


NOW THIS IS AN ODD STORY. PARANOIA, SUBTERFUGE OR MAYBE JUST A CAUTIOUS MOVE TO PREVENT INTERFERENCE. THE REAL PROBLEM IS THAT SO MANY OF US DON’T TRUST TRUMP MUCH MORE THAN WE DO THE RUSSIANS, AND WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT HIS INTERACTIONS ARE ABOUT WITH RUSSIA, IN PARTICULAR.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-tells-aides-not-talk-publicly-about-russia-policy-moves-n861256
Trump tells aides not to talk publicly about Russia policy moves
But Trump, irked by Putin's nuclear buildup, told him last week: "If you want to have an arms race we can do that, but I'll win."
by Carol E. Lee, Courtney Kube and Kristen Welker / Mar.29.2018 / 5:15 PM ET

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's national security advisers spent months trying to convince him to sign off on a plan to supply new U.S. weapons to Ukraine to aid in the country's fight against Russian-backed separatists, according to multiple senior administration officials.

Yet when the president finally authorized the major policy shift, he told his aides not to publicly tout his decision, officials said. Doing so, Trump argued, might agitate Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the officials.

"He doesn't want us to bring it up," one White House official said. "It is not something he wants to talk about."

The White House declined to comment.

Officials said the increasingly puzzling divide between Trump's policy decisions and public posture on Russia stems from his continued hope for warmer relations with Putin and stubborn refusal to be seen as appeasing the media or critics who question his silence or kind words for the Russian leader.

Trump makes White House aides tiptoe around Russia, Putin policy
04:28

Critics have suggested that Trump's soft approach to Putin has nefarious roots that are somehow entwined with Russia's interference in the 2016 election and the federal investigation into whether the president's campaign colluded in that effort, something the president has repeatedly denied.

Behind the scenes, however, Trump has recently taken a sharper tone on Putin, administration officials said, but the shift seems more a reaction to the Russian leader challenging the president's strength than a new belief that he's an adversary. Putin's claim earlier this month that Russia has new nuclear-capable weapons that could hit the U.S., a threat he underscored with video simulating an attack, "really got under the president's skin," one official said.

So much so that after hearing Putin’s speech, Trump called the leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. to say the Russian leader sounded dangerous, so the four of them needed to stick together, according to a White House official familiar with the calls.

Is the threat real after Putin's big nuclear missile reveal?
03:51

Two officials said Trump told Putin during a phone call last week after Putin's re-election: "If you want to have an arms race we can do that, but I'll win." Trump added that he hoped that Putin’s comments were just election rhetoric and bragged that he’d just secured a $700 billion defense budget, the largest the U.S. has ever had, he said, according to one of the officials.

Afterward the president gave no hint of tensions when he told reporters that the two leaders had "a very good call" and that he plans to meet with Putin soon to discuss curtailing an arms race.

Within days, the split between Trump's Russia policy and public rhetoric was again on display.

The White House announced Monday that the U.S. would expel 60 Russian diplomats — the largest number since the Cold War — in response to Moscow's alleged nerve-agent attack in the U.K. on a former spy. It was the brashest U.S. brushback of Russia since Trump took office, yet the president didn't comment on it. And he insisted the White House's message include the idea that he "still wants to work with Russia."

Trump was similarly silent Thursday after Russia announced it would expel U.S. diplomats and close the American consulate in St. Petersburg in response to U.S. moves earlier this week.

"If you want to have an arms race we can do that, but I'll win."

A now familiar back-and-forth also played out behind the scenes over Trump's decision two weeks ago to levy new sanctions against Russia in response to Moscow's 2016 election meddling and costly worldwide cyberattack last year.

One official involved in the discussions said Trump pushed back on the sanctions proposals by saying Russia's meddling didn't affect the election, but began to relent after Putin's boast about nuclear weapons.

Since approving the sanctions, officials said Trump has given White House officials conflicting messages on whether they should showcase the move publicly. In some instances, Trump says he's fine with it, while at other times he's directed aides not to talk about it, they said.

The president's aides have begun to choose their battles or shape their advice to his approach. While the phrase "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" was written on Trump's briefing materials for his call with Putin last week — as first reported by The Washington Post — the president's senior advisers also chose not to orally brief him on the talking point because they didn't think it would make a difference, officials said.

"He'd say what he wants anyway," one official said.

Trump tweets about 'coming Arms Race,' says Russia 'can help'
04:47
Trump did congratulate Putin, to the dismay — though not surprise — of some of his top national security advisers. Aides said it's unclear if a meeting with Putin will happen because Trump suggests a meeting during nearly all of his calls with foreign leaders as a routine pleasantry.

An argument the president's national security advisers have found to be successful in trying to persuade Trump to adopt aggressive Russia policies is that Putin responds to strength and the way to achieve better relations is to be tougher on him, officials said.

One official described it as a way to "motivate" Trump on Russia.

"He digs in his heels," the official said. "He thinks a better relationship with Russia is good for the U.S., and he really believes he can deliver it."

Moreover, the official said, Trump wants a better U.S. relationship with Russia to prove he can accomplish it.

One official said Trump believes a stable U.S. relationship with Russia is important if the U.S. is going to find resolutions to other crisis, such as the conflict in Syria.

Rex Tillerson, Trump's outgoing secretary of state, led the effort to convince Trump to approve the new arms for Ukraine, officials said. The plan, which Russia opposed, included the sale of U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missiles that Kiev has for years requested from Washington. President Barack Obama had repeatedly refused to approve Ukraine's request out of concern it would escalate U.S. tensions with Russia.

Tillerson scheduled a meeting with the president to discuss the plan shortly after the national security team approved it last summer, and he raised the issue with Trump in their regular meetings over the next few months, officials said.

As the policy sat on his desk awaiting his signature, the president expressed concern that it would escalate tensions with Russia and lead to a broader conflict, officials said. They said he also saw Ukraine as a problem for Europe and questioned why he should have to do something about it. And he insisted Ukraine purchase the arms from the U.S., not receive them for free, officials said, before signing off on the policy in December.


"Tillerson just wore him down," a White House official said.

President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin talk during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in Danang, Vietnam on November 11, 2017. Jorge Silva / AFP - Getty Images
But Trump's ambivalence didn't end, officials said. In one instance afterward, Trump complained to his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, that his decision could really escalate the situation in Ukraine to a war. McMaster, who was recently ousted, responded by telling the president there already is a war there, to which Trump shot back that the U.S. is not in it, an official said.

Last week, as the president's national security team finalized options for a response to the Russian nerve agent attack in the U.K., Trump voiced a now-familiar complaint. He said he wasn't going to take dramatic steps against Russia unless they were met with equal responses from America's European allies, aides said. His edict helped corral a response that included expulsions of more than 100 Russian diplomats in more than two dozen countries.

Trump was presented with three options last Friday during a meeting with his national security team, officials said. He chose the middle option, persuaded most by the idea that if Russia changed its behavior he wouldn't have needed the most strident measures and if it doesn't he has additional actions he can take, officials said.



THE THEORY HERE IS THAT THE EMPTYING OF THE SEATTLE RUSSIAN CONSULATE IS PERHAPS A STRATEGIC MOVE RATHER THAN JUST DIPLOMATIC DANCING. IT’S AN INTERESTING STORY, AND VERY LIKELY TRUE.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/29/what-really-went-on-at-russias-seattle-consulate-217761
What Really Went on at Russia’s Seattle Consulate?
The closure of the facility could limit military and tech-industry espionage—and leaves Russia with no diplomatic presence on the West Coast.
By ZACH DORFMAN March 29, 2018

Among the 27 countries that have retaliated for what is believed to be a Kremlin-ordered chemical-weapon attack on an ex-Russian intelligence officer and his daughter in Britain earlier this month, the United States took by far the most dramatic steps: ousting 60 diplomats in total, including 15 suspected intelligence operatives based at Russia’s United Nations Mission alone—the most significant action of its type since the Reagan administration. (The move prompted Russia, on Thursday, to announce the expulsion of 60 U.S. diplomats and the closure of the U.S. consulate in Saint Petersburg.) But it was the Trump administration’s announcement of the shuttering of Russia’s consulate in Seattle that turned heads. Why Seattle? What was going on there? Would the closure matter?

While Seattle is an important city for Russian intelligence collection efforts domestically, its consulate’s profile has generally been quieter than San Francisco’s or New York’s, according to two former U.S. intelligence officials who asked to remain anonymous but have knowledge of Russian activities in these areas. But the closure of the consulate is noteworthy nonetheless: Along with the administration’s shuttering of the San Francisco consulate in 2017, Russia will now lack a diplomatic facility west of Houston, or any diplomatic presence on the West Coast for the first time since 1971. Russian intelligence officers—at least those under diplomatic cover—will no longer operate in easy proximity to America’s two great tech capitals. Indeed, at least in Seattle, suspected Russia spies have already been caught attempting to infiltrate local tech companies.

“Certainly, there were enough issues that were important to the Russians in Seattle—the naval bases, Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon,” says John Sipher, a former CIA officer who worked closely with the FBI on counterespionage issues. “There was always nervousness within the national security agencies that the sheer number of ethnic Russians in these industries was something the Russians could take advantage of. I don’t know if closing Seattle was a strategic choice; nonetheless, the concentration of high-tech and military resources makes it a sensible target.”

After the closure of the Russian consulate in San Francisco, former senior U.S. intel officials told me that facility had, for decades, functioned as the primary hub for Russian intelligence-gathering in the Western United States. It featured key classified communications systems, and was a crucial collection center in Russia’s long-running effort to map out America’s fiber-optic cable network.

One of the two anonymous former intelligence officials I spoke with called Seattle a top-five U.S. city for Russian counterintelligence work, but a “smaller operation” than San Francisco. Seattle did not have the same type of communications facilities as San Francisco, the two former officials said. In fact, Russian diplomats used to regularly drive a van with protected diplomatic information from San Francisco to Seattle, said a second official, though the frequency of those trips decreased over time, when U.S. officials suspected the Russians had begun to move their communications to encrypted channels online.

Still, the Seattle area has some rich espionage targets. Firms like Boeing and Microsoft have long been of interest to Russian operatives, the former intel officials said. So have the many military bases in the area, including, pre-eminently, Naval Base Kitsap, located just across the Puget Sound from Seattle and home to eight nuclear-armed submarines. Administration officials have openly cited the Seattle consulate’s proximity to Boeing, and sensitive military bases, as reasons for its closure.

Because there is a seven-hour float from Kitsap to these nuclear-armed submarines’ dive point, the two former officials said, there are numerous opportunities to track the subs’ movements—a longstanding concern for U.S. intelligence and military officials. Knowing when a submarine is headed out to sea or how many submarines are running patrols at a given time, and potentially identifying new technologies on these vessels, are all valuable pieces of intelligence, these officials said. Moreover, U.S. intel officials have worried that in a worst-case-scenario—actual armed hostilities between the two countries—information gleaned from Russian operatives in the Pacific Northwest could be used to identify “choke points.” For instance, they might know the ideal places to fire a rocket-propelled grenade at a fishing boat in a narrow channel, which could prevent military vessels from deploying.

In the past, suspected intel operatives based at Russia’s Seattle consulate were observed engaging in the same sorts of behavior as their counterparts in San Francisco, the two former intel officials said, including tracking down potential fiber-optic nodes (as part of Russia’s long-term effort to map where data were being transferred), or Cold War-era intelligence-collection sites, in Northwestern forests. U.S. officials also believed Russian operatives were traveling to remote beaches in the area in order to “signal,” or cryptically transmit and receive data, with interlocutors offshore. (There was a specific beach in Oregon these individuals would favor, the two former officials said.)

More recently, however, these activities appeared to die down, these individuals said, an event one of the former intel officials attributes to Edward Snowden’s 2013 disclosures, which some in the intelligence community believe led Russia to overhaul its strategies for domestic intelligence-gathering. Generally, this person said, Seattle seemed like a “proving ground” for junior Russian intelligence officers, a place to send less-experienced operatives to acclimate them to the United States. After Snowden, U.S. intel officials started seeing more “travelers” in the Seattle area—suspected intelligence operatives working under both diplomatic and nonofficial cover—flying in remotely to meet with individuals, the two former officials said.

The biggest Russia-related concern in Seattle was “cyber-related activities,” which were separate from the consulate, the two former officials said—including those of the local Kaspersky Labs affiliate. In July 2017, U.S. officials banned Moscow-based Kaspersky, which produces anti-virus software, from being used on any government computers, over fears about the company’s connections to Russian intelligence. U.S. counterintelligence officials were concerned that Kaspersky was being used as a tool for Russian covert communications, the two former officials said, and were also examining whether individuals affiliated with Kaspersky were actual engaging in cyber-espionage domestically. “As a private company, Kaspersky Lab does not have inappropriate ties to any government, including Russia, and the company has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyber espionage efforts,” a spokesperson for Kaspersky said. “The U.S. government actions against Kaspersky Lab lack sufficient basis, are unconstitutional, have been taken without any evidence of wrongdoing by the company, and rely upon subjective, non-technical public sources, such as uncorroborated and often anonymously sourced media reports, related claims, and rumors, which is why the company has challenged the validity of these actions in federal court.“

“Was Kaspersky looking at Microsoft or Boeing as opportunities to exploit? Was it just business development? Or were they actually engaged in trying to penetrate these enterprises?” asked one of the former officials. “The suspicions on Kaspersky have pretty much been borne out … when you look at the recent U.S. government decision, and what has been publicly reported on what the Israelis have been able to find out.” In 2017 the New York Times reported that Israeli intelligence had hacked into a Russian espionage operation, observing Russian operatives using back doors in Kaspersky software to scan for, and purloin, U.S. intelligence documents.

Russia’s interest in Microsoft is also well-documented. In 2010, U.S. officials deported Alexey Karetnikov, a 23-year-old Russian national, from the Seattle area, where he had been working at Microsoft as a software tester. U.S. officials believed he was actually a Russian intelligence officer, and linked him to the ring of 10 “illegals”—Russian deep-cover operatives who had been living in the United States—that U.S. officials had arrested and deported earlier that year. Two of those undercover operatives, Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills (whose real names are Mikhail Kutsik and Natalia Pereverzeva), had lived in Seattle for years, even starting a family there. In Seattle, Kutsik worked at a telecommunications firm, and both operatives took finance classes at the University of Washington. In a 2017 article in Seattle Met Magazine, Kutsik and Pereverzeva’s former investments professor said he believed the Russians were interested in his class because many of his students went on to work for Amazon, Boeing or Microsoft. Kutsik, Pereverzeva and Karetnikov were not known to have been coordinating their activities with the Seattle consulate, one of the former officials said.

Even as Russian espionage continues to migrate outside consular facilities—to travelers, and individuals working locally under nonofficial cover—it is “no coincidence” that both shuttered diplomatic outposts were on the West Coast, said one of the former officials. No matter when—or if—these two consulates are reopened, Russian interest in the West Coast is likely to continue far into the foreseeable future.

Zach Dorfman is senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.