Maybe I re-visited too many World War Two movies and TV series around the 80th anniversary of D-Day last month, but one of the first things that came to mind while I read about Kim Jong Un’s new ams deal with Russia (following those laughably ornate parades with Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang) was: Can’t we throw a wrench in this supply train?
You know, arrange to blow up stuff—ships, rail lines, computer systems? Salt the shipments with bad weapons?
Probably, a half dozen former CIA officials, some of whom have been involved in past covert sabotage operations against adversary nations and forces, told me. But it’s not going to happen anytime soon, if ever, during a Biden administration that’s shown itself to be exceedingly cautious about riling Russia and a risk-averse CIA that’s likely to talk sabotage proposals to death.
In response to my question of how CIA might propose to sabotage the arms shipments, one former senior CIA manager simply sent me a video clip from Airplane, the one where a passenger named Ted Striker babbles on so much his seatmates commit suicide.