fighting is going on. certainly it is not an area where isis is. so, again, i think it is a good start. i think we just call me a little skeptical. we re going to be focusing primarily on the trump-putin interaction. the geometry of this meeting is more complex. it s not the g20. it s not the president going into this leader as a leader of the unified west. what happens tomorrow in the final communique may be as interesting whether there is unanimity on climate and trade. we see the e.u. and japan having a trade agreement. there may be as much division between the u.s. and allies as we saw between u.s. and russia. that will be an important piece to watch, almost pro forma hand holding that you usually get at the end of these meetings. jeremy, ron, john, rebecca, sounds like a bend. russia steps up espionage efforts. we are learning how moscow spies are slipping into the country.
success in interfering in the 2016 election. you served in government. you dealt with national security threats for some time. if the president of the united states will not acknowledge the perpetrator and the seriousness of this, what is your confidence that this administration is going to fight this increased russian espionage? little confidence at all. clearly they are turning their back on this. the russians have always had an espionage effort here. that is not new. they feel emboldened by their success. some of this is retaliation. they are still angry that we kicked out diplomats and shut down spying compounds and some of it is the unpredictability of trump. it is buyers remorse. they are not sure which way he is going. to matt s excellent point, we have two elections coming up and this administration may not be on the winning side of russia s espionage efforts and
people. during the cold war, the soviet diplomats were limited to 25-mile radius out of d.c. and new york. and if they wanted to travel outside they had to actually ask for permission. guess what? there was just not in those days, was not enough personnel on the fbi side to watch them all because they were actually engaged in operations with me such as the drop operations. so, if somebody wants to slip out and do stuff in the country, they can, otherwise he would probably have to increase surveillance personnel ten fold. and i m not really surprised at the news that the russians have increased their espionage efforts. i ve heard the same thing from my friends and colleagues, ex-colleagues in the intelligence community, you know. i know some folks who are retired and some still active.
but things like this trump/russia thing, they don t happen in american politics and so they are foreign to us and everything about it is unexpected. but things like this do happen in russian espionage efforts. this is foreign to us as politics. this is not foreign to john brennan as a lifelong observer as russian espionage efforts. ask the people who understand how the russians work. ask how russian foreign intelligence operations how russian active measures against foreign enemies, how those things work and to them it sort of makes sense when they look at it through russian eyes. so hearing about how the russians approach an op like this, how they approach americans, how they try to persuade americans to ultimately betray our country, that is helpful for figuring out what the russians might have been hoping for and trying for here, even though he would don t know
every day, this remarkable news, we are all stumped by the trump/russia story because as americans we all know american politics. we know that the range of things that can happen in american politics, or at least we thought we did. but things like this trump/russia thing, they don t happen in american politics and so they are foreign to us and everything about it is unexpected. but things like this do happen in russian espionage efforts. this is foreign to us as politics. this is not foreign to john brennan as a lifelong observer as russian espionage efforts. ask the people who understand how the russians work. ask how russian foreign intelligence operations how russian active measures against foreign enemies, how those things work and to them it sort of makes sense when they look at it through russian eyes. so hearing about how the russians approach an op like