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Sir Richard Dearlove & UK Intelligence Ties

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Stefan Halper played a role in the establishment of the Trump-Russia Investigation.

But let’s be clear.

Halper wasn’t “inside” the Trump Campaign. Halper used intentionally manufactured meetings and contacts with Papadopoulos and Page to create perceived associations with Russia.

Ultimately, this appears to be a coordinated effort between British and U.S. Intelligence. Halper was just one of many pieces. Joseph Mifsud was likely a similar piece.

In my opinion, it’s Sir Richard Dearlove who should be receiving the closest look.

Dearlove – the former Head of MI6 – appears to be the one constant in the overseas connections. As far as I can tell, he knows every single player.

It was Dearlove who advised Christopher Steele and his partner Chris Burrows to work with a top British government official to pass along information to the FBI:

In the early fall, he [Steele] and Burrows turned to Dearlove, their former MI6 boss, for advice…They asked for his guidance about how to handle their obligations to their client and the public, Dearlove recalled.

Dearlove said their situation reminded him of a predicament he had faced years earlier, when he was chief of station for British intelligence in Washington and alerted U.S. authorities to British information that a vice presidential hopeful had once been in communication with the Kremlin.

He said he advised Steele and Burrows to work discreetly with a top British government official to pass along information to the FBI.

Dearlove described Steele as the go-to person on Russia:

Dearlove knows Stefan Halper through their mutual association at the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar – which appears to be a strange story unto itself:

A group of intelligence experts, including a former head of MI6, has cut ties with fellow academics at Cambridge university, in a varsity spy scare harking back to the heyday of Soviet espionage at the heart of the British establishment.

Sir Richard Dearlove, the ex-chief of the Secret Intelligence Service and former master of Pembroke college, Stefan Halper, a senior foreign policy adviser at the White House to presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, and Peter Martland, a leading espionage historian, have resigned as conveners of the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar – an academic forum for former practitioners and current researchers of western spycraft – because of concerns over what they fear could be a Kremlin-backed operation to compromise the group.

Mr Halper said he had stepped down due to “unacceptable Russian influence on the group”.

The CSI, which also holds regular briefings and discussions, counts Sir Iain Lobban and Sir David Omand, both former heads of the electronic surveillance agency GCHQ, as members of its advisory board.

Dearlove also knows Sir Iain Lobban.

Sir Iain Lobban, a former head of GCHQ, is an Advisory Board Member at Hakluyt. Hakluyt is British strategic intelligence and advisory firm. It was founded by former MI6 members and retains close ties to UK Intelligence services.

Hakluyt’s founders are Christopher James and Mike Reynolds.

James was formerly in charge of MI6’s business relations. Reynolds was the former station head of MI6 in Germany.

James and Reynolds are both reportedly close with Dearlove. Reynolds is described as a “close, personal friend” of Dearlove.

Another member of Hakluyt is Jonathan Clarke, who is the U.S. Representative – Director U.S. Operations for Hakluyt.

Stefan Halper, has connections to Hakluyt through Clarke, with whom he has co-authored two books. You can find a June 2004 video of the pair discussing their first book here.

Alexander Downer, the Australian Diplomat who arranged his meeting with Papadopoulos, was on the Advisory Board of Hakluyt (the private UK intelligence firm) from 2008-2014. He reportedly still maintains contact with Hakluyt officials.

The Papadopoulos/Downer meeting has been portrayed as a chance encounter in a bar. That does not appear to be the case.

Papadopoulos was introduced to Downer through a chain of two intermediaries. An Israeli embassy official in London named Christian Cantor introduced Papadopoulos to Erika Thompson. Thompson was a counselor to Downer and served in Australia’s London embassy.

Another Hakluyt Board Member is former U.S. Ambassador to the UK, Louis Susman (bio here). Susman received his Ambassadorship through fundraising abilities & Chicago connections with Obama.

See, Dearlove Connections – UK Intel Firm Hakluyt, Alexander Downer, Stefan Halper & Papadopoulos for more details on Hakluyt.

Dearlove was a speaker at the July 2016 Cambridge symposium that Stefan Halper invited Carter Page to attend.

Page attended the symposium just four days after his July 2016 Moscow trip. Page met with Halper during the London visit. Page’s Moscow trip would figure prominently in the Steele Dossier…

Sir Andrew Wood was the former British Ambassador to Russia.

Steele had briefed Wood on the Dossier. Wood later briefed McCain who would then dispatch David Kramer to meet with Steele in London during November 2016. Wood may also have worked on behalf of Fusion and/or Orbis:

Steele sought out Wood, the former British ambassador to Moscow. The two had become friendly after leaving government service. A court filing would later call him an Orbis associate, but Wood said he had no financial relationship with Steele or his company.

Over several hours in Wood’s living room in a stylish London neighborhood, Steele outlined his findings and the two men dissected the credibility of Steele’s information, including whether his sources could be leading him astray on purpose, Wood recalled.

Dearlove and Wood are both members of the group Briefings for Brexit. I’m sure they’ve known each other for years.

Here is a video of the only UK televised interview Dearlove has done. He makes some interesting comments:

Trump is President. And that is a large element of unpredictability. Trump is only going to be there, probably, for another three years. We need to think more broadly.

He’s done some unpredictable things, but I don’t think you should necessarily judge the Intelligence relationship in terms of Trump’s tweets.

Regarding the Steele Dossier and Christopher Steele:

I won’t confirm or deny that I knew Christopher. I think there is probably some credibility to the content. I wouldn’t put it any more forcibly than that.

Steele has known members of the FBI’s Eurasian Joint Organized Crime Squad for some years:

The FBI’s Eurasian Joint Organized Crime Squad was a particularly gung-ho team with whom Steele had done some heady things in the past.

When he began mulling whom to turn to, Steele thought about his tough-minded friends on the [FBI] Eurasian squad. And fortuitously, he discovered, as his scheme took on a solid operational commitment, that one of the agents was now assigned to the bureau office in Rome. By early August, a copy of his first two memos were shared with the F.B.I.’s man in Rome.

Steele had been friendly with this FBI team for some time – and had worked with them.

Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has known Christopher Steele since 2014 through Jonathan Winer. Nuland approved the FBI meeting between FBI Agent Michael Gaeta and Steele.

Nuland said she and the State Department received the talking points of the Dossier in mid-July 2016 – either directly from Steel or via an intermediary – and they passed the information to the FBI.

The implication is that Nuland received the talking points before FBI leadership.

Devin Nunes recently confirmed that no Official Intelligence passed through Five Eyes to the United States.

We have access to these finished intelligence products [Nunes is part of the Gang of Eight] and we’ve never seen one. We thought maybe there was one that went through a different channel – that was kept from Congress.

That is not what happened. There was no Five Eyes Intelligence Product – as it’s been reported.

That’s a major problem because we have to have trust with our partners, with our allies. We have to make sure our Agencies talk and work out problems. We have to make sure that they don’t spy on either American citizens or that we’re not spying on British citizens.

Overseas Intelligence either didn’t get passed along to the U.S. government as had been reported – or it came outside of official channels.

Note Nunes’ choice of words at the end.

He shifts from stating there was no Five Eyes Intelligence Product – no Official Intelligence – to noting we need to be able to trust our intelligence partners. And specifically mentions the British.

We know that both Papadopoulos and Page were targeted for meetings to create perceived associations with Russia.

  • Late February or early March 2016 – Papadopoulos lands a prestigious sounding job that immediately pads his resume.
  • Early March 2016 – Papadopoulos learns he will become a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign.
  • March 14, 2016 – Papadopoulos first meets Mifsud in Italy – approximately one week after officially joining the Trump team.
  • March 24, 2016 – Papadopoulos, Mifsud, Olga Polonskaya and unknown fourth party met in a London cafe.
  • April 18, 2016 – Mifsud introduced Papadopoulos to Ivan Timofeev, an official at a state-sponsored think tank called Russian International Affairs Council.
  • April 26, 2016  – Mifsud claims to have met with high-level Russian government officials who have “dirt” on Clinton. Papadopoulos told the FBI that Mifsud said “the Russians had emails of Clinton” and “they have thousands of emails.”
  • May 4, 2016 – Papadopoulos gives his interview to the London Times. It is not well-received in London.
  • May 10, 2016 – Papadopoulos meets with Australian Diplomat Alexander Downer. It is Downer who seeks out the meeting.
  • May/June 2016 – Halper invites Carter Page to July 2016 Cambridge symposium regarding the upcoming election.
  • July 11, 2016 – Carter Page attends symposium with Halper just four days after his July 2016 Moscow trip.
  • July 31, 2016 – FBI opens Counterintelligence Investigation into Trump-Russia connections.
  • August 2-3, 2016 – Strzok travels to London to meet unknown party at Australian Embassy.
  • September 13, 2016 – Papadopoulos accepts a meeting with Stefan Halper. Halper, who has connections to CIA & UK Intelligence, asked Papadopoulos: “George, you know about hacking the emails from Russia, right?”

Per Chuck Ross:

That professor, Stefan Halper, contacted Trump advisers Carter Page, George Papadopoulos and Sam Clovis during the 2016 campaign.

Halper and Page stayed in regular contact for the next 14 months. Page also made multiple visits to Halper’s farm in Virginia. The pair also met in Washington, D.C. and maintained contact through email. Halper said that he had known then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort for years.

Contact between Halper and Page ended in September 2017, around the time a surveillance warrant that had been taken out against Page was set to expire.

Halper passed information to Mueller:

The source has also provided information for the Russia investigation both before and after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment on May 17, 2017.

We know that UK Intelligence was passed to CIA Director Brennan.

In the summer of 2016, Robert Hannigan, head of Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with then-CIA Head John Brennan regarding alleged communications between the Trump Campaign and Moscow.

That summer, GCHQ’s then head, Robert Hannigan, flew to the US to personally brief CIA chief John Brennan. The matter was deemed so important that it was handled at “director level”, face-to-face between the two agency chiefs.

The meeting between Hannigan and Brennan appears somewhat…unusual.

Hannigan’s U.S. counterpart was not CIA Director Brennan. Hannigan’s U.S. counterpart was NSA Director Mike Rogers.

Luke Harding of the Guardian originally reported the meeting in an April 13, 2017 article on Britain’s spy agencies early role in the Trump-Russia investigation:

GCHQ first became aware in late 2015 of suspicious “interactions” between figures connected to Trump and known or suspected Russian agents. This intelligence was passed to the US as part of a routine exchange of information

Over the next six months, until summer 2016, a number of western agencies shared further information on contacts between Trump’s inner circle and Russians.

We know Brennan would use the British and EU intelligence to launch an inter-agency investigation.

James Clapper, director of national intelligence, later confirmed the “sensitive” stream of intelligence from Europe. After a slow start, Brennan used the GCHQ information and other tip-offs to launch a major inter-agency investigation.

The BBC reported that Brennan’s involvement may have gone back to April 2016:

Last April [2016], the CIA director was shown intelligence that worried him. It was – allegedly – a tape recording of a conversation about money from the Kremlin going into the US presidential campaign.

It was passed to the US by an intelligence agency of one of the Baltic States. The CIA cannot act domestically against American citizens so a joint counter-intelligence taskforce was created.

The taskforce included six agencies or departments of government.

The FBI, Treasury, and DOJ handled the domestic inquiry. The CIA, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Security Agency handled foreign and intelligence aspects.

The NSA was part of Brennan’s task force yet Hannigan – who abruptly announced his retirement on January 23, 2017 – specifically met only with CIA Head Brennan.

British press speculated that Hannigan’s resignation was related to UK Intelligence sharing:

His sudden resignation – he informed staff just hours before making this decision public – prompted speculation that it might be related to British concerns over shared intelligence with the US in the wake of Donald Trump becoming president.

DNI James Clapper, confirmed EU involvement during Congressional testimony:

Feinstein: Over the spring of 2016, multiple European allies passed on additional information to the United States about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians. Is this accurate?

Clapper: Yes, it is, and it’s also quite sensitive. The specifics are quite sensitive.

Feinstein: What did the intelligence agencies do with the findings the Guardian wrote about?

Clapper: I’m not sure about the accuracy of that article. There was evidence of Russian activity. Mainly, in an information gathering or recon ordering mode, where they were investigating voter registration rolls and the like.

That activity started early, and so, we were monitoring this as it progressed.

CIA Director John Brennan was the conduit for intelligence flows from Europe.

There is going to be much more forthcoming regarding UK Intelligence ties.

The following is a listing of potential participants on the UK side:

Richard Dearlove – Former MI6 Head (1999-2004). Was Christopher Steele’s boss. Had known Steele and Burrows personally. Steel and Burrows would meet Dearlove in early Fall 2016. Dearlove advised Steele and Burrows to work discreetly with a top British government official to pass along information to the FBI. Has ties to Hakluyt and most others listed.

Robert Hannigan – Britain’s former GCHQ Head. Personally flew to DC to meet with CIA Director John Brennan. Hannigan’s U.S. Counterpart was NSA Rogers – not Brennan. Hannigan would abruptly retire days after President Trump’s Inauguration. More here.

Sir Andrew Wood – Former British Ambassador to Russia. Briefed John McCain on Steele Dossier. Has known Steele for years. May have worked on behalf of Fusion and/or Orbis.

Dr. Stefan Halper – Cambridge Fellow. Senior Policy Advisor to Presidents Nixon, Ford & Reagan. Halper met w/Papadopoulos on 9-13-16 and senior Trump Campaign official on 9-11-16. Invited Carter Page to 7-16-16 Cambridge symposium. Halper reportedly brought up subject of Russian hacking of Clinton emails. In November 2016, Halper stated that Clinton would be best for U.S.-UK relations.

Halper has a close association with former MI6 Head Richard Dearlove. Halper has connections to Hakluyt through Jonathan Clarke (co-authored two books). May know Alexander Downer as well.

Stefan Halper is the “FBI Source” identified by Nunes. More here and here.

Alexander Downer – Australia’s top diplomat in Britain. Met with George Papadopoulos in London. Papadopoulos stated “Russia had dirt on Hillary”. Months later Australia informed U.S. This would be used as excuse for FBI’s July 2016 Counterintelligence Investigation. Downer previously arranged one of the largest foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation – $25 million from the Australian government.

Downer sits on the Board of Chinese Telco Huawei. U.S. intelligence experts have deemed Huawei a security threat to the US and other nations. Downer has said that Huawei should not be considered a potential national security risk.

Downer was on the Advisory Board of Hakluyt (private UK intelligence firm) from 2008-2014. He reportedly still maintains contact with Hakluyt officials. Downer probably knows UK’s Dearlove. More on Downer here.

Christopher Steele Connections:

  • Christopher Steele – Orbis Partner – Writer of Steele Dossier. Former British intelligence officer with MI6 from 1987 until his retirement in 2009. Steele’s Dossier used by FBI to obtain FISA Warrant on Carter Page. Referred to DOJ by Grassley for potential violations of 18 USC 1001. This article contains numerous links to Steele.
  • Christopher Burrows – Orbis Partner. There is surprisingly little information available on Burrows.
  • Orbis Business Intelligence Limited, International Limited – Co-owned by Steele & Burrows
  • Walsingham Training Limited, Partners Limited – Sister company to Orbis – Co-owned by Steele & Burrows
  • Edward Baumgartner – Co-founded UK-based intelligence consultancy Edward Austin. Hired by Fusion to work w/Veselnitskaya on Prevezon and worked on Steele Dossier.
  • Richard Dearlove – Former MI6 Head (1999-2004). Was Christopher Steele’s boss at MI6. Had known Steele and Burrows personally. Steel and Burrows would meet Dearlove in early Fall 2016. Dearlove advised Steele and Burrows to work discreetly with a top British government official to pass along information to the FBI.
  • Sir Andrew Wood – Former British Ambassador to Russia. Briefed John McCain on Steele Dossier. Has known Steele for years. May have worked on behalf of Fusion and/or Orbis.
  • Hakluyt – British strategic intelligence and advisory firm (see below). Unknown if Steele & Hakluyt worked together. Hakluyt may have role in Papadopoulos meetings.
  • Sergei Millian – Believed to be Source D in a collection of memos Steele wrote between June and December of 2016. Approached Papadopoulos early in 2016. Appears to be publicity seeker more than true source. Trump Lawyer Cohen wrote Millian to say it had become clear “that you too are seeking media attention off of this false narrative of a Trump-Russia alliance”.
  • David Kramer – Served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State dealing with Russia during Bush administration. Currently Senior Director for Human Rights and Human Freedom at the McCain Institute. Kramer is a member of the Ukraine Today media organization’s International Supervisory Council. Used frequently by Washington Post to criticize President Trump. At the direction of John McCain, Kramer would fly to London in November 2016 to meet with Dossier author Christopher Steele.
  • Daniel Jones – Heads Penn Quarter Group. Ex-Feinstein Staffer. PQG funded by 7-10 Silicon Valley Billionaires – $50 million. PQG Hired Steele and Fusion post-election to continue opposition research into President Trump. Linked to lobbyist (Adam Waldman) for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska who was offering Warner access to former British spy and dossier author Christopher Steele (texts here). Notes Jones was speaking w/Senator Mark Warner.
  • Victoria Nuland – Former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. Gave green light to FBI Agent Gaeta’s meeting w/Steele in July 2016. Received copy of Steele Dossier in July 2016. May have seen Dossier prior to FBI Leadership. Gave Dossier to FBI, Kerry. Nuland had known Steel since 2014 through Jonathan Winer. Lied about bilateral talks with Iran.
  • Jonathan Winer – Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Law Enforcement and former Special Envoy for Libya. Received copy of Shadow Dossier from Blumenthal. Also received copy of Steele Dossier in September 2016. Has known Steele for some years.
  • Adam Waldman – DC lawyer, lobbyist and registered foreign agent for Oleg Deripaska and Sergey Lavrov. Waldman offered Senator Warner access to Dossier author Christopher Steele (texts here).
  • Journalists – from Yahoo News, Mother Jones, BBC News, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Washington Post. Possibly New York Times. See Print Journalists below.

Hakluyt (Parent Holding Company is Holdingham. Pelorus Research provides intel to Investment Managers):

  • British strategic intelligence and advisory firm.
  • Fitzroy MacLean – Founder (deceased).
  • Christopher James – Founder. Managing Director. Formerly in charge of MI6’s business relations.
  • Mike Reynolds – Founder. Director. Former station head of MI6 in Germany. Reportedly close friends w/former MI6 Head Richard Dearlove.
  • Lord Paul Deighton – Chairman. British Conservative Politician. Former Investment Banker.
  • Paul Schreier – Managing Director.
  • Keith Craig – Former CEO. Remains on Advisory Board.
  • Andy France – Hakluyt Cyber (role unclear). Former Darktrace CEO. Former Deputy Director for Cyber Defense Operations at GCHQ.
  • Jonathan Clarke – Director – U.S. Operations.
  • Jonathan Selib – Employed by Hakluyt – Made donations to Clinton Campaign.
  • Holly Evans – Employed by Hakluyt – Made donations to Clinton Campaign.
  • Andrew Exum – Employed by Hakluyt – Made donations to Clinton Campaign.
  • Sir Iain Lobban – Advisory Board Member. Former Director, GCHQ.
  • Ambassador Louis Susman – Advisory Board Member. Former U.S. Ambassador to UK.
  • Alexander Downer – Former Advisory Board Member. Australia’s top diplomat in Britain. Previously UN Envoy to Cyprus. Met with George Papadopoulos in London. Downer was an Advisory Board Member from 2008-2014. He reportedly still maintains contact with Hakluyt officials. More on Downer here.

Hakluyt’s Parent Holdco is Holdingham. Holdingham’s Advisory Board & Directors.

Hakluyt/Holdingham is a secretive firm. It is difficult to obtain much information. Hakluyt historically maintained ties w/Kissinger’s firm. Connected to MI6 through long-standing relationships. More here.

Hakluyt may have involvement in establishing meetings with George Papadopoulos and Carter Page.

Papadopoulos Related:

  • Josef Mifsud – London-based Maltese professor “whose academic credentials appear mysteriously thin.” Introduced Papadopoulos to the Russian ambassador in London and a woman he told the Trump aide was the niece of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Told Papadopoulos that the Kremlin had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. More on Mifsud here.
  • Sergei Millian – Believed to be Source D in a collection of memos Steele wrote between June and December of 2016. Approached Papadopoulos early in 2016. Appears to be publicity seeker more than true source. Trump Lawyer Cohen wrote Millian to say it had become clear “that you too are seeking media attention off of this false narrative of a Trump-Russia alliance”.
  • Olga Vinogradova – Woman who Josef Mifsud introduced to Papadopoulos.
  • Alexander Downer – See above.
  • Dr. Stefan Halper – See above.

UK Reporters

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