None of this makes any sense to me:
One of Sater’s early operations involved the pursuit in 1998 of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. The CIA had originally given the missiles to the mujahideen to oust the Soviets during their occupation of Afghanistan — but now the agency wanted to prevent them from falling into the hands of radicalized jihadists. Sater managed to find some, complete with their serial numbers.
Sater’s attorney, Robert Wolf, said he acted as his conduit to the CIA. As Wolf tells it, he called someone he had long known: David Kendall, Bill Clinton's lawyer, telling him that he had serial numbers for the Stinger missiles that the Clinton administration had been trying to obtain. Kendall, Wolf said, called back and said he had spoken with President Clinton and that Wolf should call Robert M. McNamara Jr., the CIA's general counsel. During the phone call with McNamara, Wolf read out the serial numbers for the Stinger missiles.
Needless to say, my own knowledge of how that stuff works comes from books. And yes, from movies. But my understanding is that spies in the field are managed by CIA or other intelligence agents. Not by their attorneys. They don't just run around--run around where?--looking for the serial numbers of Stinger missiles. How would you do that anyway, even if you had some clue what you were doing? And happened to be able to pass yourself off as an Arab rather than a Russian Jew?
But, intelligence sources told BuzzFeed News, CIA officials were skeptical. So Sater provided photographs of the missiles — with their serial numbers and a copy of a daily newspaper to prove the photo was current.
Oh PLEASE!! A newspaper?? Next to a bunch of Stinger missiles???
Maybe it's the wine, but I'm laughing really hard right now...
