REPORT: The FBI Has Been Working Behind-The-Scenes With Russia For 15 Months

Under the leadership of Director Kash Patel, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has forged unprecedented relationships with China and Russia, and is now routinely sharing intelligence with and hosting personnel from foreign government agencies whose officers the FBI has helped indict for conducting covert influence operations and transnational repression inside the United States.

The new relationship with Russia, revealed this week by Reuters, is reportedly the reason for Patel’s upcoming visit to Moscow, where he is expected to be hosted by the FSB (the successor to the KGB). The FBI has been working behind the scenes with Russia for 15 months, Patel told Reuters. During that time period, Russia has continued to wage war in Ukraine and, more recently, has provided targeting data to Iran that resulted in the deaths of U.S. troops.

While international law enforcement cooperation is not unusual, the partnerships described by Reuters are something entirely different. According to the report, China now sends Ministry of Public Security (MPS) personnel to the United States every other month, and FBI personnel have been traveling to China in alternating months. MPS personnel have reportedly visited multiple FBI facilities, and the two agencies communicate on a daily basis, sharing intelligence and investigative information, conducting joint operations, and establishing at least four task forces together. The partnerships are focused primarily on combatting drug trafficking, cyber fraud, and crimes against children.

This degree of contact and cooperation “has never happened before,” Patel acknowledged. But that’s not the only reason this development is so striking. In forming these new partnerships, the FBI is now cooperating and sharing intelligence with the very agencies it has accused of conducting covert information and influence operations within the United States.