Intel gathering

US spy agencies divert resources from war on terror to focus on alleged Russian threat – officials

America’s extensive intelligence apparatus is diverting its resources from the war on terror to increase numerous spy agencies’ capabilities in gathering intelligence on Russia, a number of US officials told The Washington Post.

As Russia-US relations hit their lowest point in decades, Washington has been refocusing its spying activities on Russia on a scale unprecedented since the end of the Cold War. The Washington Post’s sources claim that recent directives from the White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) moved Russia higher up the intelligence priorities list.

Some ten percent of American intelligence resources are now dedicated to gathering information on Russia. US spy agencies continue to increase their personnel dealing with Russia by shifting the resources focus from terrorist threats and US war zones abroad.

Russia is now being targeted in a new light with increased numbers of clandestine CIA operatives and the beefing up of National Security Agency (NSA) cyberespionage capabilities, officials told the publication, admitting that Russia’s reemergence on the world stage had caught the US spy network by surprise. They said that US intelligence capabilities “continued to atrophy” against the alleged Russian threat.