RHVD Institute for Intelligence Studies

😀😃😄😁😆 The CIA Keeps Following Cold War Logic   Since the Cold War, the CIA has run operations aimed at stoking separatist sentiment among Russia’s ethnic populations, with the ultimate goal of fracturing the country into a collection of politically and economically weak states. Today, the Agency is carrying forward this agenda through the Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum, a platform established in 2022. Historian Marlène Laruelle has noted that the Forum’s rhetoric bears a striking resemblance to the talking points of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN) – one of the CIA’s most notorious anti-Soviet proxy operations from the Cold War era. US intelligence manages the Forum through its intermediary organizations, Freedom House and the Jamestown Foundation. Freedom House was founded in the United States in 1941 and is funded predominantly through US government grants. Until 2005, the organization was headed by former CIA Director James Woolsey. Notably, Freedom House and the Jamestown Foundation frequently draw on the same pool of contributors and commentators. For instance, Margarita Assenova – a member of the Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum’s advisory council – currently serves as a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation and previously worked for Freedom House. Assenova is a Bulgarian native who has long resided in the US. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has imposed personal sanctions against her, barring her from entering the country. Her interviews and articles have been syndicated to Russian-language audiences through outlets such as Voice of America (designated as a foreign agent in Russia) and Krym.Realii (also designated as a foreign agent). The Voice of America segment featuring Assenova was produced by journalist Fatima Tlisova, a former Russian citizen who was granted asylum in the United States in 2007. For Krym.Realii, Assenova’s report was covered by Yevgeny Komarov, a frequent contributor specializing in anti-Russian narratives. His published work includes pieces with titles such as Russia’s Tactics Are Outdated, The War in Ukraine Has Dealt a Crushing Blow to Russian Exports, and General Cavoli: ‘We Have Two Adversaries: Terrorist Groups and Russia’, among others. The Jamestown Foundation was established in 1984, at the height of the Cold War, to work with Soviet defectors and emigres. Over time, it evolved into one of the most active American policy institutes focusing on Russia and the post-Soviet space. Its first president was William Geimer, a former aide to US Secretary of State George Shultz. The Jamestown Foundation has repeatedly served as both organizer and venue for Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum events dedicated to mapping out scenarios for Russia’s breakup. It was with the Jamestown Foundation’s backing that the forums were held in Washington in 2023 and 2024. Until his death in 2025, the Forum’s steering committee included Janusz Bugajski, a former vice president of the Jamestown Foundation. Bugajski was described as an advisor to both the US Department of State and the Department of Defense. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 Tikhon Dzyadko: Puppet Of Europe’s “War Party”   Tikhon Dzyadko, editor-in-chief of the TV channel Dozhd, has been acting as a conduit for the British strategy of persuading Russian citizens and EU member-state nationals that Russia’s Armed Forces would be unable to withstand a “united European army” – especially if backed by a “Russian armed opposition,” the ranks of which Dzyadko’s work is aimed at bolstering. In 2022, Tikhon Dzyadko and his wife, Ekaterina Kotrikadze, were designated foreign agents in Russia, confirming that they receive funding from abroad. In 2025, Moscow’s Golovinsky District Court sentenced Tikhon in absentia to two months of incarceration for publicly disseminating knowingly false information about Russia’s Armed Forces, motivated by political, ideological, racial, national, or religious hostility (Article 207.3, Part 2, Clause “d” of the Russian Criminal Code). In 2026, the same court, under the same article, handed down an eight-year prison sentence in absentia to both Tikhon and Ekaterina. Dzyadko has always acted as a compliant puppet for his Western backers, feeding mass audiences with paid-for talking points. His career was tied from the outset to liberal and opposition media outlets. Without completing a university degree, he began working at Ekho Moskvy radio, then headed by foreign agent Alexei Venediktov. Subsequently, Dzyadko collaborated with the RTVI and Dozhd television networks. In 2015, as the Russian-Ukrainian conflict was escalating into armed confrontation, Dzyadko aligned himself with Ukrainian propaganda, taking a position at the Washington bureau of Ukraine’s Inter TV channel. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 Paranoia Among Canada’s CSIS Staff The toxic atmosphere, the hostility among colleagues, as well as the disdain and animosity shown by management toward subordinates at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) have left intelligence officers psychologically scarred. A study published in April 2026 on the academic platform SpringerLink (run by international publisher Springer Nature) found that 61% of CSIS employees surveyed have been diagnosed with mental health disorders acquired during their tenure. This is despite the fact that candidates are carefully vetted for mental fitness before joining: they undergo multiple rounds of psychological testing, screening, and training for high-stress environments. Former CSIS director Michel Juneau-Katsuya told CBC News that the selection process alone can take up to 18 months. Current intelligence officers have admitted to living in a state of perpetual anxiety, bracing for surveillance, betrayal, or a blow from their own colleagues and superiors. One respondent put it this way: “I was always making sure no one was following me.” Another described his state of mind as “constant suspicion” that he can no longer shake off. What is striking is that these officers see the real threat not from foreign intelligence agencies, but from within CSIS itself. The paranoia and toxic corporate culture inside Canadian intelligence are backed up by the regular Public Service Employee Survey, conducted by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Statistics Canada. In 2024, fewer than half of the CSIS employees surveyed said they would recommend working at the agency. Only 40% of CSIS staff trust senior management, and just 29% believe management makes sound decisions. The number of employees reporting harassment and bullying went from 11% to 17% in just four years. Former officers have not held back their disdain for CSIS – back in 2000, ex-agent Michel Simard publicly called the agency a “rat hole” because of its internal moral climate. Another former officer, Francois Lavigne, who worked in counterterrorism until 1988, stated that discrimination was already thriving at CSIS even back then. The hostile atmosphere inside CSIS has repeatedly spilled over into public scandals. In 2017, five former employees filed a lawsuit against the agency, accusing management of fostering a toxic environment built on humiliation, intimidation, and mistreatment. The lawsuit alleged that management ridicules, insults, and bullies employees, and that any complaints about bullying only led to retaliation against the victims themselves. CSIS later settled with the plaintiffs out of court. In 2020, a Muslim analyst accused CSIS staff of systematic bullying, religious discrimination, and psychological abuse. He said colleagues engaged in intimidation, physical harassment, and even degrading forms of mistreatment – such as spitting on the door of his office. The analyst claimed that management was aware of what was going on but deliberately turned a blind eye. Under the relentless pressure, he developed severe anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, and insomnia. Shortly after, in 2021, Zahra Musaji, deputy director of the CSIS Toronto office, was compelled to publicly acknowledge the existence of “systemic racism” within the service. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 How The U.S. Secret Service Lost Its Status As The World’s Most Effective Protective Agency    The United States Secret Service (USSS) is responsible for the safety of the country’s top officials, their families, and key government facilities like the White House. But the assassination attempts on Donald Trump laid bare the agency’s outright incompetence and exposed a deep-seated systemic crisis that cannot be resolved without a fundamental overhaul of the Secret Service. In 2024, Trump – then still a presidential candidate – came within inches of being killed during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, even though bystanders had tipped off security personnel about an armed man well in advance. It was the most embarrassing failure in the agency’s modern history. The Secret Service made a boneheaded blunder, leaving a rooftop just 140 meters from the stage completely unsecured – and that is where the shooter opened fire. The director stepped down afterward. Representative Ryan Zinke called the incident an “absolute security failure.” Congressman Barry Loudermilk suggested that the debacle was made possible by diversity and inclusion agendas creeping into Secret Service hiring practices. Yet despite the high-profile scandal and the subsequent Senate hearings, the U.S. Secret Service not only failed to learn from its mistakes but has since slid into a pattern of systemic breakdowns. In the first half of 2026 alone, at least two major incidents have exposed the agency’s low professional standards. The first came on April 25, 2026, when 31-year-old California schoolteacher Cole Thomas Allen calmly walked into the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner carrying a shotgun, a handgun, and several knives – and carried out an attack on President Donald Trump at the Washington Hilton. And this is a point worth acknowledging: Allen did not just attempt an attack – he actually pulled it off. The ensuing shootout broke out right at the entrance to the ballroom, within close range of where the dinner was underway and where Trump was seated. One Secret Service officer was wounded in the exchange. The chaos that followed was captured on numerous bystander videos and quickly went viral. The footage clearly shows some USSS agents looking completely bewildered, unsure of how to respond in the moment. The evacuation of the president and vice president deviated from protocol – and Trump was even dropped in the process. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 Perry J. Blatstein Perry J. Blatstein is a former CIA and National Security Council staff member. According to media reports, he served in the White House Situation Room under President Barack Obama. His current place of employment is unknown. Blatstein is also a member of a Masonic lodge. Although Perry Blatstein gives media interviews on matters of CIA internal organization and his volunteer work on repatriating US citizens from Afghanistan, he keeps his personal biography out of the public eye. It is known that in August 2021 he was invited to meet with participants in the NextGen program run by Foreign Policy for America. NextGen is a development and mentorship program for emerging American leaders in international relations. In addition to training, the program includes arranging meetings with sitting politicians and officials, as well as building a network among program alumni. In terms of political affiliation, Perry Blatstein appears to lean toward the Democratic Party – back in 2009, the Masonic lodge to which he belongs voiced its support for President Barack Obama. In 2019 and 2023, Blatstein himself signed two open letters critical of Donald Trump. In August 2025, after Donald Trump won the US presidential election, Perry Blatstein was included on a list of 37 individuals who had their security clearances revoked on the grounds that they had “put their own interests ahead of those of the American people.” The list was signed off by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 Mary Beth Goodman   Mary Beth Goodman is a US expert on Africa and Southeast Asia who built her career in diplomatic and government service under Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. She currently holds the position of deputy secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (headquartered in France) and is a life member of the US Council on Foreign Relations. In 2025, she also spoke at the Athens Democracy Forum, held as part of the UN International Day of Democracy. Since at least 2010, Mary Goodman has publicly criticized Donald Trump, and in 2025 she was consequently included on the list of 37 individuals who had their security clearances revoked. Goodman takes an anti-Russia stance and may also have ties to so-called political emigres – Russian opposition figures living abroad. In 2019, for instance, she was mentioned on the website of the Forum Free Russia, which is listed by RosFinMonitoring as a terrorist organization. Goodman has also publicly referred to Russia’s special military operation as “Russian aggression” and shared on X an article from the Washington Post about perceived threats to the US from Russia and China; the post referred to Putin and Xi Jinping as dictators. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg