Ex-CIA officer explains why Trump associates were such easy marks for Russia

[meow2u3]

A former CIA officer says Trump’s inner circle would have been easy targets for Russian intelligence — even if it’s still an open question whether they took the bait.

The former U.S. intelligence agent and author — who writes under the pen name Alex Finley — published an explanation of how spies identify and manipulate their often unwitting targets in an article for Politico Magazine.

“Generally, an intelligence officer looks for a person’s vulnerabilities and explores ways to exploit them” Finley wrote. “It usually comes down to four things … the CIA has encompassed in an acronym, MICE: Money, Ideology, Coercion, Ego. Want to get someone to betray his country? Figure out which of these four motivators drives the person and exploit the hell out of it.”

Finley said Russian security services would have been “derelict” if they didn’t at least examine the possibility of turning someone close to Trump — and he said the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Trump’s son, son-in-law and campaign chairman and agents of the Russian government was clear evidence of those efforts.

The former CIA officer listed all the ways the president’s and his associates could have been vulnerable to Russian spies.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/ex-cia-officer-explains-why-trump-associates-were-such-easy-marks-for-russia/

1) Bold type is mine.

[Me.]

1. Interesting Read

[lagomorph777]

2. "still an open question whether they took the bait" ???

Remember "I love it!" ?

[BadgerMom]

4. Thank you.

I read that line and wondered who equivocated about whether they took the bait. Circumstantial evidence abounds.

[PatSeg]

3. The Trumpites are amateurs

And the Russians are pros. It must have been so easy to compromise these fools.

[irisblue]

5. I would add this thought

Dumber then a m-fing bag of hammers & rocks.

[Merlot]

6. trumpft has had connections with russia LONG before the election

The meeting at trumpft tower was not the first time. trumpft has wanted property in moscow, had the papgents, and stayed in the hotel (that of the alleged P incident). Years ago when other banks stopped making deals with trumpft, the russian bank stepped up.

This former CIA officer is diluting the question, making it sound like the turmpfts were "dupes" of those clever ruskies. It's part of the re-writting of history.