CIA Director Bill Burns traveled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his intelligence counterparts on Tuesday, according to a US official.
Burns, the official said, was safely in the US Embassy during Russian missile strikes across the country, including blasts that rocked the nation’s capital.
The CIA director’s trip to Kyiv came on the heels of a Monday meeting in Ankara, Turkey, with his Russian intelligence counterpart, Sergey Naryshkin – and it is the second known time in less than a month that he has visited Kyiv.
While there, the official said, Burns “discussed the US warning he delivered to the head of Russia’s SVR not to use nuclear weapons and reinforced the US commitment to provide support to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.”
The flurry of back-channel communications comes less than a week after Russia announced a withdrawal from a key Ukrainian city and a quiet debate has begun in Washington over whether or not to encourage Ukraine to pursue a diplomatic resolution to the war. It also comes as the US has grown increasingly concerned that Russia could turn to a nuclear weapon in its struggling attack.
Burns and other US officials have said publicly that they see no evidence that Moscow is actively preparing to take such a step, but officials familiar with the intelligence warn that the risk is perhaps the highest it has been since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
President Joe Biden has leaned heavily on Burns, an experienced diplomat with deep experience in Russia, as a quiet messenger in the ongoing conflict.
Burns was sent to Ankara on Monday to “communicate with Russia on managing risk, especially nuclear risk and risks to strategic stability,” a national security spokesman said. The spokesman emphasized that he did not conduct negotiations of any kind.
In Kyiv in October, he “reinforced the US commitment to provide support to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, including continued intelligence sharing,” a US official told CNN at the time.
Burns was sent to Moscow last November, before Russia invaded Ukraine, to warn the Kremlin of the consequences of an invasion. He has also been involved in discussions with Naryshkin about US citizens detained in Russia, including Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.
CIA Director Bill Burns is meeting with his Russian intelligence counterpart, Sergey Naryshkin, in Ankara Monday as part of an ongoing effort by the US to “communicate with Russia on managing risk” and to discuss the cases of “unjustly detained US citizens,” a National Security Council spokesperson tells CNN.
“We have been very open about the fact that we have channels to communicate with Russia on managing risk, especially nuclear risk and risks to strategic stability,” the spokesperson said. “As part of this effort, Bill Burns is in Ankara today to meet with his Russian intelligence counterpart.”
CNN has previously reported that national security adviser Jake Sullivan has also been in touch with his Russian counterparts to warn them of the consequences should Russia use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.
The spokesperson emphasized that Burns “is not conducting negotiations of any kind.”
“He is not discussing settlement of the war in Ukraine. He is conveying a message on the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons by Russia, and the risks of escalation to strategic stability. He will also raise the cases of unjustly detained US citizens.”
The spokesperson added that the US briefed Ukraine on the meeting in advance of Burns’ trip.
“We firmly stick to our fundamental principle: nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” the spokesperson said.
The Biden administration has dispatched Burns several times over the last year for talks with the Russians, using the veteran diplomat and former US ambassador to Russia as a key intermediary as US-Russia relations have continued to decline. Burns was sent to Moscow last November, before Russia invaded Ukraine, to warn the Kremlin of the consequences of an invasion. He has also been involved in discussions with Naryshkin about US citizens detained in Russia, including Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.
The discussions are also part of an ongoing effort by the US to keep the lines of communication open with Moscow amid thinly veiled threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia could use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.
“In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff,” Putin warned in a speech in September.
He later appeared to reverse himself, saying in October that “we see no need for” nuclear weapons in Ukraine. “There is no point in that, neither political, nor military.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu also spoke by phone late last month for the first time since May, as intelligence surfaced that Russian military officials had discussed how and under what conditions Russia would use a tactical nuclear weapon on the battlefield in Ukraine, CNN has previously reported.
Russian officials also last month began alleging that Ukraine is preparing to use a “dirty bomb”– an allegation the US worried was simply a pretext for Russia to use one itself, and that the International Atomic Energy Agency debunked after an investigation of Ukrainian sites.
The US has still not seen any signs that Putin has decided to take the drastic step of using a nuclear weapon, officials said.
Thandiwe Netwon and Chris Pine in All The Old KnivesPhoto: Prime Video
Chris Pine’s career as Jack Ryan came to an abrupt end after one movie, but much like George Lazenby and James Bond, that might just make him the perfect guy to play knock-offs of other iconic heroes. In All The Old Knives, Pine enters the film sporting perfect hair, an absurdly fashion-forward scarf and a dead-eyed stare, a look that’s more Derek Zoolander than Tom Clancy’s rugged, quick-thinking analyst. But director Janus Metz Pederson wastes little time on the spy world’s Blue Steel before tapping the less superficial qualities that Pine brought to Ryan and James Kirk, even if his role here feels more like a copycat of his better ones.
Most movies set in the “present” use their expected release date as the timeframe. This one’s explicitly set in 2020, its year of production, but it also includes frequent flashbacks to 2012, indicated by conspicuous pictures of Barack Obama on the walls of the CIA offices. In that 2012 “reality” a major Austrian plane hijacking ended with the deaths of everyone on board, and eight years later the case is reopened. Pine’s Henry Pelham is assigned by director Vick Wallinger (Laurence Fishburne) to figure out why it wasn’t solved the first time.
While there’s a possibility of a mole, the stronger likelihood is that Henry’s former coworker and lover Celia (Thandiwe Newton), or at least someone she knows, was the culprit. At a perfect golden-hour dinner meeting in Carmel, a conversation between the two, along with a series of flashbacks, starts to piece together what actually happened. Henry has stationed a hitman outside waiting to take Celia out if doesn’t like what he hears, but Celia, despite her retirement, is smart enough to come prepared with her own back-up.
It seems fitting that Amazon initially became a retail giant based on book sales, and as a studio now cranks out the cinematic equivalent of airport impulse-buy thrillers. A decade or more ago, an adaptation of Olen Steinhauser’s novel All The Old Knives might easily have competed with big-screen versions of John Grisham and Scott Turow bestsellers, but audiences no longer want to pay upwards of $20 per ticket for them—at least not in theaters. Streaming services stepped in to fill the gap, along with companies like Potboiler Productions, whose name couldn’t be more appropriate for developing films like this.
In addition to their intellectual tete-a-tete, Pine and Newton engage in a bedroom showdown as well, a welcome rejoinder to social media grousing about a lack of love scenes in contemporary movies. Then again, the movie is mostly set in 2020, so perhaps it’s included more as an act of nostalgia. Nevertheless, from its celebrity butt shots to Jonathan Pryce’s American accent, All The Old Knives is compelling moment by moment, but afterward viewers may have some lingering questions about what characters hoped to accomplish, or why they were involved at all. Pine and Newton command the audience’s attention, but as CIA analysts they both seem to miss details that would be important for their jobs—though to be fair, it’s easy to get distracted by their mutual hotness.
For better or worse, the film names both Islamic terrorists and (indirectly) Vladimir Putin as the world’s bad guys, and underscores the trouble that ensues when other world powers try to take sides. Nevertheless, All The Old Knives offers enough of a clearinghouse for well-known villains (here come the Chechens!) that it’s likely to feel more like a fun time waster than a measured referendum on geopolitics. Critics inclined to get angry that it takes the CIA mostly for granted might have a point, but this film is also unlikely to stir deeper cultural debate than what to watch on a Friday night after Mom and Dad have put the kids to bed and poured a few glasses of wine. Not to mention, it’s clearly told from the CIA’s point of view, regardless of which character the viewer sides with in the end.
While it’s unlikely that Pine has found himself a new franchise here, the actor’s ability to exude bravado and then to undercut it with vulnerability makes him the perfect casting choice for more not-Jack Ryan projects like this. Maybe he can do it in the next Expendables.
WASHINGTON—The CIA evacuated an intelligence officer serving in Serbia in recent weeks who suffered serious injuries consistent with the neurological attacks known as Havana Syndrome, according to current and former U.S. officials.
The incident in the Balkans, which hasn’t been previously reported, is the latest in what the officials describe as a steady expansion of attacks on American spies and diplomats posted overseas by unknown assailants using what government officials and scientists suspect is some sort of directed-energy source.
Still more suspected attacks have occurred overseas and in the U.S., the current and former officials said, along with recently reported ones in India and Vietnam.
“In the past 60 to 90 days, there have been a number of other reported cases” on U.S. soil and globally, said
Dr. James Giordano,
a Georgetown University professor of neurology who is advising the U.S. government on the issue. “They are seen as valid reports with verified health indicators.”
The continuing attacks, which may cause dizziness, memory loss and other health issues, have sparked frustration within the U.S. government and sapped morale at the State Department and Central Intelligence Agency, the current and former officials said. Some professional diplomats and spies have become reluctant to take overseas postings for themselves and their families, the officials said.
CIA Director William Burns has tripled the number of medical staff focused on Havana Syndrome, the agency says.
Photo:
jim lo scalzo/Shutterstock
“The lights are blinking red now. This is a crisis for VIP travel, officers overseas,” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a veteran CIA operations officer who retired from the CIA in 2019 due to persisting symptoms he suffered following a 2017 visit to Moscow and has been critical of the federal government’s response.
Overall, the Biden administration has made finding the source of the attacks a “top priority,” an administration official said. Spokespersons for the CIA and State Department also said the issue was a primary concern and declined to discuss the Serbian case or other specific incidents.
“We take each report we receive extremely seriously and are working to ensure that affected employees get the care and support they need,” the State Department spokesman said.
The CIA spokesperson said that the agency is doing all it can to protect its officers. CIA Director William Burns has made leadership changes in the agency’s Office of Medical Services and tripled the number of medical staff focused on the issue, the spokesperson said. This summer, he tapped a veteran of the agency’s decadelong hunt for
Osama bin Laden
to lead a task force searching for the cause of the incidents.
The CIA in recent weeks also recalled the chief of the agency’s station in Vienna, where a large number of attacks have taken place, over management issues, including the individual’s handling of personnel who believe they had been struck, a source familiar with the issue said. The Washington Post first reported the recall.
Some recent attacks have come close to the top echelons of the Biden administration. When Mr. Burns traveled to India earlier this month, a member of his team reported symptoms consistent with Havana Syndrome and received medical attention, a U.S. official said. The incident was first reported by CNN.
In August, Vice President Kamala Harris temporarily delayed her arrival in Vietnam after the State Department made her office aware of a “possible anomalous health incident”—the U.S. government’s formal name for Havana Syndrome—in Hanoi.
Vice President Kamala Harris visited in Hanoi, Vietnam, in August after a temporary delay due to concerns over Havana Syndrome.
The unexplained health incidents are known as Havana Syndrome because they first surfaced among U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers in Cuba in late 2016. The symptoms include dizziness, headache, fatigue, nausea, anxiety, cognitive difficulties and memory loss.
Since then, attacks have been reported in China, Colombia, Austria and Germany, along with those in Serbia, India and Vietnam. While about 200 U.S. government employees have been affected, officials caution that a precise count is difficult to determine because each case must be medically verified and some individuals’ symptoms end up having other explanations.
Five years after the first symptoms emerged, the U.S. government has yet to determine who is behind the attacks and what mechanism or mechanisms are being used.
“In terms of have we gotten closer? I think the answer is yes—but not close enough to make the analytic judgment that people are waiting for,” CIA Deputy Director
David Cohen
said earlier this month at the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit.
In December, a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said that the abrupt onset of symptoms was most consistent with “a directed radio frequency (RF) energy attack” rather than inadvertent or environmental exposure. But it also said that more research was needed.
Director of National Intelligence
Avril Haines
has convened a task force made up of intelligence officers and outside scientists to try to pinpoint the mechanism or device used in the attacks. Its report is due later this fall, although it is unclear what will be made public.
Georgetown’s Dr. Giordano said the culprit could be some form of ultrasonic or acoustic device; a rapidly-pulsed microwave; or a laser-based system. The intent of those using it is also unclear, he said. They could be employing an electronic surveillance system with unusual side effects, or “a discrete form of disruptive instrument,” Dr. Giordano said.
“That’s a nice way of saying this is a weapon,” he said.
Avril Haines, the director of National Intelligence, has convened a task force to try to pinpoint the method of attack that causes Havana Syndrome.
Photo:
Bill Clark/Zuma Press
Earlier this month, the House passed and sent Mr. Biden legislation to sign which authorizes the CIA and State Department to provide financial compensation to employees who suffer brain injuries while on assignment.
“For so long, we suffered the moral injury of a silent wound, where the [U.S. government] medical staff did not believe us. This all changes now, and it is a watershed moment for the victims,” Mr. Polymeropoulos said.
The bill, he said, offers both a statement by the U.S. government that the attacks are real and remuneration “for victims who have spent thousands of dollars out of pocket for healthcare.”
The Biden administration’s efforts in dealing with the attacks include ensuring “any affected individuals get the care they need,” the administration official said. “In certain cases, these incidents have upended the lives of U.S. personnel who have devoted their careers to serving our country.”
A thorny question, the officials and policy specialists said, is how Washington should react if it pins the blame on a foreign adversary. Some current and former officials say they suspect Russia is behind the attacks, although no public evidence of that has emerged and Moscow has denied the allegations.
Jason Killmeyer, a counterterrorism and foreign policy expert formerly with Deloitte Consulting LLP, said the U.S. should act now and not wait for attribution. He called for increasing defensive measures, making Havana Syndrome a bigger issue in its diplomacy and upping the pressure on adversary intelligence services to see how they react.
“We’re five years into this thing,” he said. “There’s no ‘smoking gun’ coming.”
Write to Warren P. Strobel at Warren.Strobel@wsj.com
