Michael Gaeta and FBI Counterintelligence -- Part 1

On July 5, 2016, Michael Gaeta flew from Rome, where he was an FBI official at the USA's Embassy, to London in order to meet with Christopher Steele. A short time after the meeting, on that same day, Gaeta flew back to Rome. According to the Horowitz report, Gaeta brought back one Dossier report -- Report 80 -- that he had obtained from Steele in London. A couple weeks later, on July 19, Steele sent another report -- Report 94 -- to Gaeta in Rome.

Here is a list of all the known Dossier reports that Steele wrote before September 19, 2016 (the date when the Crossfire Hurricane team officially received its first Dossier reports).

1) Report 80, dated June 20, 2016

2) Report 86, dated July 26, 2015 (twenty-fifteen)

3) Report 94, dated July 19, 2016

4) Report 95, undated, but apparently written in late-July 2016

5) Report 97, dated July 30, 2016

6) Report 100, dated August 5, 2016

7) Report 101, dated August 10, 2016

8) Report 102, dated August 10, 2016

9) Report 105, dated August 22, 2016

10) Report 111, dated September 14, 2016

11) Report 112, dated September 14, 2016

12) Report 113, dated September 14, 2016

Here is a list of 13 numbers between 80 and 94:

81

82

83

84

85

86 -- refers to a report that Steele wrote in 2015

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

I speculate that the 15 reports numbered 80 through 94 were structured as follows:

Report 80

Steele wrote this report (dated June 20, 2016) to introduce his Dossier, which will tell about Russian Intelligence operations that previously had happened during 2011-2015 and that now were continuing in 2016.

Reports 81 - 93

Steele previously had written these reports (dated 2011 through 2015) while he had been collecting information Russian Intelligence operations as they were happening during 2011-2015.

Report 94

Steele wrote this report (dated July 19, 2016) to tell about current Russian Intelligence operations as they are happening during 2016.

I speculate further that on July 5, 2016, Gaeta obtained 14 reports (not just one report) from Steele. Specifically, Gaeta obtained Reports 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 8,5, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92 and 93. When Gaeta returned to Rome, he informed his supervisor, the FBI's Legal Attaché (Legat) that his London source had given him one report. Gaeta showed the Legat Report 80, and Gaeta did the paperwork recording that he had received one new report.

Then, on July 19, 2016, Gaeta received Report 94 from Steele. Accordingly, Gaeta informed his supervisor, the Rome Legat, that he had received a second new report from his London source. Again, Gaeta did the paperwork recording that he had received a second new report.

As far as the Legat knew and as far as the paperwork recorded, Gaeta had received two new reports from Steele. In fact, though Gaeta had received 15 reports -- two of which Steele had written during June-July 2016, and 13 of which Steele had written during 2011-2015.

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Steele introduced his entire Dossier in his Report 80, which begins with this Summary (emphasis added)

Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting TRUMP for at least 5 years. Aim, endorsed by PUTIN, has been to encourage splits and divisions in western alliance.

So far TRUMP has declined various sweetener real estate business deals offered him in Russia in order to further Kremlin's cultivation of him. However he and his inner circle have accepted regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin, including on his Democratic and other political rivals.

Former top Russian intelligence officer claims FSB [Russian's Federal Security Service] has compromised TRUMP through his activities in Moscow sufficiently to be able to blackmail him. According to several knowledgeable sources, his conduct in Moscow has included perverted sexual acts which have been arranged/monitored by the FSB.

A dossier of compromising material on Hillary CLINTON has been collated by the Russian Intelligence Services over many years and mainly comprises bugged conversations she had on various visits to Russia and intercepted phone calls rather than any embarrassing conduct. The dossier is controlled by Kremlin spokesman, PESKOV, directly on PUTIN's orders. However it has not been distributed abroad, including to TRUMP. Russian intentions for its deployment still unclear.

Based on this Summary of the Steele Dossier, I speculate that Steele had written Reports 81-93 during the previous five years -- mid 2011 to mid-2016 -- and that Reports 81-93 provided information about the following Russian Intelligence activities during 2011-2015:

Offers of real-estate business deals to Trump

Collection of compromising information about Trump's activities in Moscow

Bugging of Hillary Clinton's conversations in Russia

Interception of Hillary Clinton's phone calls

One such report that Steele wrote during 2011-2015 has become available to the public. This is Report 86, which Steele had written on July 26, 2015 (fifteen). Report 86 tells how Russian Intelligence steals information from other countries' computers. Report 86 does not mention Trump or refer to Trump. Report 86 eventually was delivered to the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane Team on September 19, 2016.

As Steele implicitly promised to do in his Dossier's introductory Report 80, Steele indeed did provide to Gaeta much information about Russian Intelligence activities targeting Trump and Clinton. However, all that information was in Reports 81-93, which Gaeta did not show to the Rome Legat and which Gaeta did not record in his paperwork.

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Gaeta was routinely insubordinate to his supervisor, the Rome Legat. Based on the Horowitz report, I think that:

* Gaeta showed only two of his 15 Dossier reports to the Legat.

* Gaeta misinformed the Legat that sending the reports to Gaeta's former colleague at the New York Field Office (NYFO) was proper.

* Gaeta misled the Legat into thinking that Gaeta would send the reports officially to the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters.

In general, I think that Gaeta was not really working for the Legat. Gaeta's official subordination to the Legat was merely a cover. Gaeta actually was working for FBI Counterintelligence and was concealing that actual work from the Legat.

In fact, Gaeta did send immediately to FBI Counterintelligence all the Dossier reports that he received during July 2016. However, Gaeta also concocted a false story that he had to wait many weeks for advice and instructions about what he should do with the few Dossier reports that he supposedly received. In accordance with this false story, the reports very slowly were sent to the NYFO's Chief Division Counsel, which hid the reports without any administrative records of their arrivals and filing.

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Continued in Part 2