My previous editorial warned of the dangers of U.S. government agencies using software products created by Kaspersky Labs. The Trump administration has gotten on the ball with the recent directive from U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke.
Her directive called for federal agencies to determine whether they are using any Kaspersky products over a 30 day period. All Kaspersky software would then have to be removed from computer systems within 90 days.
Underreported and discussed however, is the fact that former National Security Adviser Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s dissolved consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, took payments from the American subsidiary of Kaspersky Labs prior to revelations that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence regarding the nature of his conversations with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Sergey I. Kislyak, regarding sanctions.
While the controversy would lead to his resignation as National Security Advisor, the fact that the national security adviser position includes the responsibility of “coordinating the Administration’s foreign policy, intelligence and military efforts," obviously necessitates deeper investigation into the exact nature of his exchanges with Kaspersky as well as other Russian entities.
What was the nature of his exchanges with Kaspersky in light of the fact that under his short stint as national security adviser, some federal agencies had used their software?
Was Flynn looking to attempt to learn more regarding the potential intelligence reach of the Russian government via Kaspersky?
Was Kaspersky paying Flynn to perhaps extend their reach deeper, into the networks of our intelligence agencies?
Most of the reports regarding the Flynn/Kaspersky connection cite a speech given by Flynn at a cybersecurity conference in Washington D.C. in 2015 as the sole reason for payment. It is common knowledge that Kaspersky founder Eugene Kaspersky, studied cryptography at a KGB run school as well as the Russian Defense Ministry.
Mr. Kaspersky has also previously worked for the Russian military.
With the recent revelations regarding Michael Flynn attempting to hide a private-sector plan to build a slew of nuclear reactors across the Mideast, the justification for concern only grows. The plan called for the U.S. and Russia’s state run nuclear energy company to build a series of nuclear power plants across the Mideast. This potential disaster would have essentially given many Arab countries their own nuclear programs. It also called for the Arab countries to purchase military hardware from Russia under the agreement.
Whose best interest has Flynn been working towards? Perhaps finding the answer will be the one positive byproduct of an investigation that has been used largely up to this point by the mainstream media to unfairly disparage President Trump.
Julio Rivera is an entrepreneur, small business consultant and political activist. He contributes to RightWingNews.com and NewsNinja2012.com, and had previously covered boxing and baseball for the now defunct "The Urban News" in his native Paterson, N.J. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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