Suspected Russian operative Maria Butina’s actions indicate a sought-after weakness of the United States. With her communications with her supposed handler, Paul Erickson, and attempted infiltration of the National Rifle Association (NRA), it is clear that Russia is interested in conservative ideals. At the same time, she was a graduate student and employee of American University (AU), located in Washington D.C. AU is a top liberal university (as it correlates to political ideology). Her LinkedIn profile identified her as the Assistant to the Program Coordinator at the SIS (School of International Service) at AU from January 2017 – May 2017. In this position she would have had access to student profiles pursuing U.S. public service; the top employers for the SIS are listed as the U.S. State Department, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), World Bank, and other important international services.
The United States’ largest threat is the severing of the thread that ties our society together. 9/11 was an egregious event that will forever remain etched in the psyche of the U.S. citizen and every western civilization that has since become a target. In that dark hour, it was clear that extreme Islam was an enemy to the U.S. with far-reaching capability. Although we had a major crisis on our hands, Flight 77 did not destroy the Pentagon and the U.S. was able to rally against our enemy in the wake. For this reason, 9/11 was much different than the internal conflict that we now face. National security is composed of borders, key infrastructure, leadership, and people that uphold our ideology. One of the greatest threats right now is the separation of our society into factions that do not trust, understand, and support each other and the state. And, we have witnessed an increase in this issue in many forms recently.
Citizens of the U.S. no longer trust the system or each other. When the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement started happening, people took to the streets to show their resentment toward white America. The movement became so massive that it was able to shut down the Mall of America with more than 1,200 demonstrators in December 2015. Although the movement has a very real slogan, it focuses entirely on polarization. At the same time, fear with the Second Amendment has increased drastically with the shooting at the Pulse Nightclub, the various schools around the nation, the concert in Las Vegas, the shooting of Whip Steve Scalise, and more. In each of these cases, both sides of the aisle have stood against each other. Black lives do matter, so does security from the state; violence is bad, but the ability to defend is also good. We currently witness the liberal agenda force inclusion and the conservative side reject change. And those who stand to gain from the collapse of the U.S. have taken notice.
Outside influences are developing human sources in universities and delineating our current issues. We recently became aware of Maria Butina—an alleged undocumented Russian foreign agent. Much like Anna Chapman, Katrina Leung, and the Cambridge Five, Ms. Butina represents a long line of external espionage within the U.S., but with a different target. While attending one of the top-thirty liberal universities in the United States—American University as a graduate student—she would have had the ability to identify, recruit, and handle countless students who aim to work in U.S. Public Service as the Assistant to the Program Coordinator at the SIS (School of International Service) Undergraduate Honors Program, even without them knowing. As she was developing these contacts at one of the top liberal institutions in the U.S., she was also active in conservative parties, where she was eventually arrested trying to exchange sex for a position within the NRA.
Just as the grizzly bear preys upon the timid deer, so has Russia chosen to exploit the weakness within the U.S. Propaganda and psychological warfare are age-old tactics, the effects of which increase as more platforms of communication increase. We must not subscribe to dogmatic subcultures. No person, group, or party will always be right. Engraved on John Locke’s tomb in Christ Church Cathedral are the timeless words, “I know there is truth opposite to falsehood that it may be found if people will & is worth the seeking.” We must learn to question what we think we know, and seek to understand, just as any analyst does, before we allow outside influences to tear us apart.
