JJaved Ali, a former senior U.S. law enforcement and intelligence official, said that given Reade's self-described relationship with Butina, it's possible that Russia helped facilitate her move to Russia as part of an anti-U.S. propaganda campaign.
"Reade's recent defection to Russia, combined with her past activities and unusual behavior seems to fit more the pattern of a pro-Russian American sympathizer (than) a trained asset of the Russian intelligence services or an actual intelligence officer themselves," said Ali, a senior National Security Council official in the Trump administration, who also spent 16 years in top national security positions at the Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Homeland Security and FBI.
Given her Biden-bashing, "At some point Russian intelligence personnel may have tried to recruit Reade and carry out taskings on their behalf," Ali said. But if so, "those efforts seem to have been fallen far short of their original objectives. "
On the broadcast, Reade is highly critical of the United States and very complimentary of Russia, and Butina and Putin himself.
“She's out there downplaying and dissing the United States, saying that our inflation is at 40%, which of course it is not, that gas prices have never been higher, that child poverty has never been higher, homelessness has never been higher,” said Helt, who left the CIA in 2014 after a dozen years traveling the world, and writing for and briefing the senior-most U.S. policymakers. “I mean, you want to talk about a Russian information operation, that is one. I was just horrified. It offended me viscerally.”
Helt said that one of Russia’s specialties is persuading unwitting Americans to do their bidding, including undermining the United States through the criticism of one of its own citizens. “To me, if I'm an intelligence officer watching that, I think she could absolutely be a Russian asset. She could be witting or unwitting. But when she shows up in Moscow, I think she's witting at that point.”
