[194931] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Russian diplomats lingering near fiber optic cables
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Gordon Cook)
Sun Jun 11 14:59:34 2017
X-Original-To: nanog@nanog.org
From: Gordon Cook <cook@cookreport.com>
In-Reply-To: <3E988FA7-709A-4767-955D-536673B15F0E@cookreport.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 14:59:30 -0400
To: Sean Donelan <sean@donelan.com>
Cc: "nanog@nanog.org list" <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
I have just scanned this whole thread - it is the most amazing analysis =
of technical details I have e ver seen
national security also
sean I am taking this in the sense of what the hell could these russian =
diplomats be doing?
I have been a nanog reader since this list began in the spring of =
1995 i believe
remember i am parsing comments from the russian side as well
=20
i met aleksei soldatov at the kurchatov institute for the first time in =
april 1992. about 3 days earlier i met the demos guys who told =
soldatov suggested to soldatov that he should met me at kurchatov=20=
I followed the development of the russian internet very closely between =
April 1992 and 1999 not much after that.
meanwhile i am
well aware of international fiber optic cables geographic issues of same =
=E2=80=94 see telegeography for example, His coordinates etc
interception of cable via submarine etc
see the US Sub named Jimmy carter
I visited Russia for the first time in 1964 =20
my dissertation completed in 1972
dis on site work for the Phd in Russia for 2 months summer of 1970
including pushkinskii Dom
Thanks to steve Goldstein of NSF I received an invite to attend the =
second Nato sponsored conference on the future e of the russian =
internet met larry land weber there at Golitsyno - the conf was sept =
30 to Oct 2 1994=20
The point? I have long experience with my Cook Report on Internet =
Protocol in April 1992 issue #1
and an even lon\ger experience with russian history language and =
culture=20
I am also well aware this message will be readable by a ver large =
number of people both here and abroad.
even visited the westin bldg In i think 1994.
take a bow Sean!!
:-)
> On Jun 11, 2017, at 11:38 AM, Gordon Cook <cook@cookreport.com> wrote:
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> Hi Sean
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> You and I first met when i was at OIA about 1992 LOONG TIME ago
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> Always thought of you as brilliant collector of info as well as =
analyst there of=20
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> this question of yours is absolutely brilliant
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> look at the responses (more) than 45!!!
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>> On Jun 1, 2017, at 2:02 PM, Sean Donelan <sean@donelan.com> wrote:
>>=20
>>=20
>> There must be a perfectly logical explanation.... Yes, people in the =
industry know where the choke points are. But the choke points aren't =
always the most obvious places. Its kinda a weird for diplomats to show =
up there.
>>=20
>> On the other hand, I've been a fiber optic tourist. I've visited =
many critical choke points in the USA and other countries, and even took =
selfies :-)
>>=20
>>=20
>> =
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/russia-spies-espionage-trump-2390=
03
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>> In the throes of the 2016 campaign, the FBI found itself with an =
escalating problem: Russian diplomats, whose travel was supposed to be =
tracked by the State Department, were going missing.
>>=20
>> The diplomats, widely assumed to be intelligence operatives, would =
eventually turn up in odd places, often in middle-of-nowhere USA. One =
was found on a beach, nowhere near where he was supposed to be. In one =
particularly bizarre case, relayed by a U.S. intelligence official, =
another turned up wandering around in the middle of the desert. =
Interestingly, both seemed to be lingering where underground fiber-optic =
cables tend to run.
>>=20
>> According to another U.S. intelligence official, =E2=80=9CThey find =
these guys driving around in circles in Kansas. It=E2=80=99s a pretty =
aggressive effort.=E2=80=9D
>>=20
>> It=E2=80=99s a trend that has led intelligence officials to conclude =
that the Kremlin is waging a quiet effort to map the United States=E2=80=99=
telecommunications infrastructure, perhaps preparing for an opportunity =
to disrupt it.
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