Carter William Page is a Naval Academy Trident Scholar and certain non-descript ‘US Person’ at the center of all things CrossFire Hurricane. From his FISA surveillance warrant which predated the Election, to Trump’s “wiretap” claims, to James Wolfe indictment, to Nunes Memo, to unprecedented public release of FISA, to impending OIG Report, to Kevin Klinesmith impending indictment, and so much more to come, Carter Page is central to all.

This report highlights Carter Page’s life-long ties to the United States Intelligence Community as they concern his status as a target of FISA surveillance in 2016-2017. If Inspector Horowitz was moved to seek answers regarding allegations of Joseph Mifsud’s ties to Western Intelligence, then similar allegations regarding the Target of the FISA warrant itself surely deserve double such attention and scrutiny.

Unfortunately, Carter Page claims zero interest from the OIG or other relevant DOJ contacts to hear his side of the story. Carter has recently took to the airways to again forcefully allege “a quarter century of service” to the USG while threatening a court injunction if not given at least a review process afforded to other government related actors that are being named and scrutinized in the same document.

It is in this vein that this Trident Scholar Report is presented. The report highlights a quarter century of factual data concerning Carter Page and is partitioned into three parts which will examine:

1) 1989-1999: Background & Grooming as a US Naval Intelligence Officer

2) 2008-2020: ‘Innocent Citizen’ at Center of Multiple CI Investigations

3) 2016-2020: Contemporary & Continuing Displays of Intelligence Tradecraft & Assistance to USG

Taken alone, any single Part of the tripartite report would suffice as package of exculpatory information serious enough to remit the existing FISA apps as “deficient for lack of exculpatory disclosure”. Taken together as a whole, the three Parts illustrate a FISA target that looks and behaves more like an active US Intelligence Agent than a SVR recruit.

It is against this backdrop that any self-referential audit of the FISA process, subject so zero outside scrutiny, is to be read and critiqued.

PART I

BACKGROUND & GROOMING: NAVAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICER





“You know the primary driver for me and why did I get involved in Russia? When I was growing up in the 1980’s I came in off the street on my skateboard and I watched the summit meetings between Reagan and Gorbachev where they are negotiating arms control treaties to decrease nuclear weapons. I thought this is the beginning of a new era and something that’s of the highest significance and importance for the future of both of our respective countries and also the world, just given the threat. I was very motivated by that and it was something that really inspired me. Watching one of the summit meetings between the two leaders of the Soviet Union and the U.S., I saw a couple of Naval officers standing behind the president. U.S. Naval officers, and I thought that’s interesting, maybe that’s some kind of way of getting involved and helping out. That was one of the main reasons I wanted to go to the Naval Academy. So I ended up doing that, I was a political science honors major. I was always interested in politics and international relations.” — Carter Page

In accordance with his stated teenage dream, Carter Page attended the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, from 1989-1993. The prestigious institution is arguably more selective than top Ivy League schools, as prospective candidates must be nominated by members of Congress, the President or Vice President, the Secretary of the Navy, or be the child of a Medal of Honor Recipient.

Carter mentioned he was “an intern for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, liberal Senator from New York,” but it is unclear if it was he who nominated Carter to the Academy.

Within the Academy, Carter was a Distinguished Graduate (top 10% of his class) and was chosen for the Navy’s Trident Scholar program which gives selected officers the opportunity for independent academic research and study. As a Trident Scholar, the Carter Page wrote treatises on National Security and the balance of classified information between the co-equal branches of Government.

“My senior year I was chosen for this fellowship called the Trident Program where you do independent research. And I studied Strategic Defense Initiative, the STI program that Reagan did.”







Additionally, in preparation for his report, young Carter was already impressing Admirals with his promising tradecraft. Steve Frantzich, Carter’s advisor on the above paper at the Naval Academy:

“It has been a long time. What I do remember is that it shook up some of the Navy folks who did not like the access and information he got indicating the clear political aspects of procurement. An admiral (I believe his name was Johnson) came over to his oral presentation and confronted him as to how he got the information. Carter was a very resourceful student who got an internship on the Hill (I believe it was the Armed Services committee) and made some close acquaintances. Whatever one thinks of his politics, Carter is a very bright and capable individual.”

The prestigious Trident Scholarship allowed Carter to serve at the Pentagon, acting as Navy’s working group representative on Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy, focusing on negotiations with Russia under Rep. Les Aspin, D-Wis. As chair of the Committee, Aspin was spending billions to help disarm Russia. Shortly before congressman Aspin became Clinton’s defense secretary. Carter Page also worked briefly with the Clinton Administration transition team in 1992-1993.

Post-graduation, Carter served as an Intelligence Officer in the Navy for five years. His first year and a half was at the Pentagon continuing work on Nonproliferation Policy until he obtained his Master of Arts degree in National Security Studies at Georgetown University, which he received in 1994.

From 1994-1998, Page served multiple tours in the Middle East and Europe. This included a tour in western Morocco as an intelligence officer for a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

“I finished my five year term in the military, mostly in the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. I served five years in the Navy and then went to the Council on Foreign Relations but I continued to study regional issues related to this area… Caspian Sea region. So, which is kind of the stans… Khazakhstan, Turkemenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbazhan (incoherent)… So I served my five years in the Navy and I got out and got into business.”

After his Navy duty, in 1998 the Council on Foreign Relations awarded Page one of its prized international affairs fellowships. “I remember his being an appealing candidate for one of these difficult-to-get fellowships,” said a person who sat on the selection committee, who spoke only anonymously because selection is a private matter. What attracted the committee, said the panel member, was Page’s assertion that he worked in military intelligence, stationed in the Western Sahara. This does not appear in any of Page’s personal or professional accounts, but Page has confirmed that he worked in Western Morocco as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Spending his time in residence at the CFR’s New York offices, Carter worked on his MBA which he earned from New York University Stern School of Business in 1998-1999. Page has remained a consistent participant and contributor at the CFR since his fellowship, with at least 9 panel appearances for CFR events between 2007 and 2009. He was also appointed to be a Term Member of the organization for 5 years.





It should be noted that by this point in his life, Carter was well traveled on a very narrow career pathway he had set for himself back in 1986 as a teenager, which was to affect world politics, specifically between Rus & US, towards a path to peace via Naval Intelligence. Every position he has held since High School, from Trident Scholar, to Nuclear Non Proliferations Rep, to Naval Intelligence Officer, to CFR Term Member… all required both pre-selection and classified clearance.

Will Horowitz examine this remarkable background as it relates to his status as a Target of FISA surveillance? Will Horowitz examine why exculpatory background ties to the Intelligence Community were not included in the applications?

In 2000 with his MBA in hand, he began work as an investment banker with Merrill Lynch in the firm’s London office, and by 2004 was vice president of the company’s Moscow office. Page later served as COO for Merrill Lynch’s energy and power department in New York.

“I got the fellowship here at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. And then I was a banker, started in London, moved in 2004 to Moscow, although my bank didn’t have an office in Moscow, it was the fastest growth market in the world, and so me and another guy went over there to open up the office.”

In 2008, after Page returned from his allegedly unmemorable time in Russia, he set up his own investment management company called Global Energy Capital with partner James Richard.

Page has also instructed and lectured at the college level. In 2012, he received his PhD from the University of London. He ran an international affairs program at Bard College, and taught a course on energy and politics at New York University. It was at the University that Carter would be subject to recruitment efforts by Russian SVR agents working under diplomatic cover in NYC in 2013.



PART II

‘INNOCENT CITIZEN’ at CENTER of MULTIPLE COUNTERINTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS

Carter Page shows up in two separate counterintel investigations. The chances of that happening AND remaining free are astronomically small. Was he talking to the FBI or CIA? #amjoy pic.twitter.com/p02HyzO9Zu — Naveed Jamali (@NaveedAJamali) February 3, 2018

“Look, I don’t know what Carter Page is. But we do know that… he was involved in this 2013 case that resulted in 2015 in an indictment and jail time for a russian spy. He walked free. He then shows up in 2016 in another counterintelligence operation. I mean this is pretty remarkable, to show up in two separate operations and to do so without seemingly any indictments or jail time. Look, perhaps he’s either the luckiest or unluckiest man alive…and just happens to fall into this.. or perhaps its something nefarious, but there is a third possibility and its that this wasn’t happenstance, this wasn’t coincidence… and on the Chris Hayes show… I believe you also mentioned he talked to the FBI and CIA in the pat… it is possible that in some fashion he may have been sharing information with the US Government.” — Naveed Jamali, former Russian double-agent

Even more mathematically remarkable and selective than Carter’s ties to privileged circles of Naval Intelligence, Pentagon Defense Planning, and CFR-style international policy boards, is his documented involvement in multiple US counterintelligence operations as a purported “civilian” (who just happens to have a background in Military Intelligence circles). Carter is at the center of at least three very recent counterintelligence operations. In each instance, not only does Carter walk away from the case legally unscathed, he procures evidence for Federal authorities, even while he himself is under FISA surveillance!

US v BURYAKOV: 2013-2016

Carter’s involvement in the Buryakov case forms the foundation upon which the FBI builds its FISA case against him as a suspected agent of Russia. Aside from Christopher Steele’s lies, Carter’s association to the case is the only other evidence offered by the FBI in the FISA application. As such, Page’s activity in the case should be especially scrutinized. Strangely, mainstream media has given the case almost zero attention.

In January 2013, Victor Podobnyy, a Russian intelligence officer working covertly in the United States under diplomatic cover, formed a relationship with Page. Podobnyy met Page at an energy symposium in New York City and began exchanging emails with him. Podobnyy and Page also met in person on multiple occasions, during which Page offered his outlook on the future of the energy industry and provided documents to Podobnyy about the energy business.

By June, FBI interviews Page after listening to Russian agents discuss his attempted recruitment (& other topics) for 5 months. Despite the Russian spies discussing giving page “millions of dollars” for “information”, FBI agents curiously decide to bring in Carter for an interview instead of putting him under FISA surveillance. Counterintelligence investigations can typically span half a decade tracking targets so as to learn everything possible about them before arrest. In this case, the agents decide to “interview” Carter after only 5mos of interaction with the Russians, and also two years before the arrest of his “associates”.

How did FBI know they could trust Page not to talk to Russians in 2013 (revealing their CI investigation)? Will Horowitz examine why FBI declined to FISA Page in 2013 when he was being offered “millions” for “information”? Will Horowitz examine why FBI felt safe to inform Page about suspicions and/or interview in 2013 but not in 2016?

By 2015 the Russian spy Evengy Buryakov was arrested and his associates had fled the United States under diplomatic cover. In March of 2016, DOJ/FBI summon Carter to SDNY prosecutor’s offices as part of the prosecution effort. It is in this meeting on 03/02/16 that Page alleges Preet Braha asked him to provide “false testimony” to which he refused. It is not known exactly what the nature of testimony Page was being asked to provide.

In the Government’s Response documents filed a week later Carter Page as a key witness to the case (as a recruit target) is removed from pleadings and an undercover agent matching his exact description as an “energy analyst” is introduced to the case for the first time. In this pleading it is revealed that the recordings containing discussions about Carter Page were obtained from within the SVR Headquarters SCIF in NYC by an undercover agent who provided “purported industry documents” to Russians, similar to Page. In an investigation that lasted 36 months from 2012 to 2015 and involved a plethora of surveillance techniques deployed, recordings from within SVR Headquarters only exist during Page’s precise window of involvement (Jan-May 2013).







Will Horowitz examine what discussions took place with Carter Page on 03/02/16? Will Horowitz review allegations of legal misconduct by Preet and other prosecutors? Will Horowitz determine what “false testimony” Page believes was interjected into filings and also was asked of him? Will Horowitz review the records of the UCE matching Page’s description to verify it was not in fact the same person? Will Horowitz verify if ANY cause exists to conclude Page a “hostile witness” to prosecution at any point in the Buryakov case prior to his involvement with the Trump Campaign?

US v CARTER PAGE (FISA): 2016-2017

Page’s involvement as a suspect or target of the FBI’s investigation into the Trump Campaign is fairly well known. What is less well known is how early the FBI was targeting Page. Loretta Lynch has testified that James Comey & Andrew McCabe held a National Security Cabinet meeting concerning Page as a threat as early as June 2016, before he had travelled to Russia in July. What had transpired between March of 2016 when DOJ/FBI was calling on Page as a witness to June of 2016 when FBI was labelling Page a potential National Security threat before any travel to Russia or allegations of secret meetings with Sechin? The only reported change in circumstance appears to be the March 2nd meeting, where Page alleges he was asked to falsify testimony.

Will Horowitz determine when and why the FBI’s opinion of Page as a witness changed from friendly to hostile? Will Horowitz determine if enough predicate exists to warrant such a change?

What is also less well known is Carter’s specific actions taken while under active FISA surveillance. Almost immediately after being put under surveillance, Page took a number of steps to begin laying a record of exculpatory evidence which are detailed in the next section.

US v JAMES E. WOLFE: 2017-2018

Carter’s involvement in the James Wolfe case is that of a victim. James Wolfe leaked information about the FISA targeting Page which revealed his protected identity as a masked prosecution witness in the Buryakov affidavit. Subsequently, the fact that the FBI had obtained FISA surveillance on Page was also later revealed. Immediately after news of the FISA was published, the FBI opened up a counterintelligence operation to locate the leaker of the sensitive information.

As a peripheral “victim” in this particular case, Page nonetheless ends up getting “involved” and secures evidence once again for Federal prosecutors. See next section.

PART III

INTELLIGENCE TRADECRAFT – LAYING FOUNDATION/TRAPPING via FISA SIGNT

Even more amazing than Carter’s connections to the intelligence community and counterintelligence operations are his deliberate and premeditated acts that display contemporary use and command of intelligence tradecraft (spycraft), nearly all of which occur DURING ongoing CI operations wherein he is under intense scrutiny by full spectrum FISA surveillance.

Of particular note, Page makes use of emails to indirectly transmit key investigative leads and exculpatory information to federal authorities by way of *intercepted* communications via FISA surveillance.

COMEY LETTER – September 26, 2016

In a letter to FBI written in the wake of the recent allegations authored by Michael Issikoff of Yahoo News, Page writes to flatly deny all allegations, calling them “completely false media reports.” Additionally in the letter, which is addressed directly to Director James Comey himself, Carter claims to have “interacted with members of the US intelligence community, including the FBI and CIA for many decades,” before making himself available for FBI questioning.

The communication is written in the style of semi-threatening meet-and-confer letter. A M&C letter is an informal communication between attorneys arguing over discovery issues in the pre-trial phase. Before going to a judge and asking for a Motion to Compel that legally forces an adversary to give me information, I am required by law to make good-faith informal efforts to attempt to resolve those issues outside of the Court. A M&C letter is one such step; it explains to your opponent in writing the nature of your disagreements (over information), and invites them to meet and confer to resolve the issue. Oftentimes these M&C letters are torn up and ignored, but the written attempts are still necessary as “foundation” to show the Judge you “tried” to resolve things before bothering the Courts. You don’t want to be documented as being the uncooperative or bad-faith party in a Discovery dispute; if the adversary is making themselves openly transparent, a Judge will frown on being asked to waste resources making a legal order for something that was already freely offered (see FISA warrant).

In this vein, you can read Carter’s letter as an aggressive defense (to allegations) using transparency as a weapon via the Clean Hands Doctrine. Additionally, Carter is strongly hinting at connections to FBI personnel and/or the intelligence community. In an effort to avoid the dual threats of being 1) cast as uncooperative/bad-faith actor and 2) being blindsided by possible unknown exculpatory information, it would be legally prudent for the FBI to immediately interview Carter at this point. However, that they did not.

Will Horowitz investigate why FBI declined to interview a FISA target who was preemptively denying the application’s core, unfounded, allegations and offering themselves for questioning? Will Horowitz investigate why FBI selectively quoted only a few words from Page’s letter to the Director within the FISA application and omitted Page’s reference to interacting with CIA & FBI “for many decades”?

OSCE LETTER – October 28, 2016

Instead of interviewing Page who was affirmatively denying Steele’s allegations and offering himself transparently for questioning, the FBI decided to ignore Page and instead put him under FISA surveillance on October21, 2016. About a week later, and exactly one week before the Election, while every single aspect of Page’s electronic communications whatsoever were being monitored in real-time, Page sent an extremely conspicuous email to The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The OSCE is the world’s largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization and a United Nations Election Monitoring body. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, promotion of human rights, freedom of the press, and fair elections.

In the letter, Carter documents several stunning facts that are directly related to the FISA application under which he is currently being surveilled. The facts are also being published for the first time, i.e. discovered by Carter Page….

First (1) he states that the Yahoo article is “almost entirely attributable” to HRC’s campaign. The Isikoff piece had broke on Page only a month prior. In the letter to OSCE Page is alleging the Hillary for America campaign is the SOURCE to whom Isakoff should be at “almost entirely attributed”. This is a BOLD claim! Carter is already talking about DOSSIER SOURCES, IN THE FISA! This argument regarding the Isikoff article, originally advanced in print by Page, will also become the “circular sourcing” argument found later in the Nunes Memo.

Second (2), Carter Page identifies Christopher Steele *and* the intermediary (Perkins Coie) by which he’s being paid on *behalf* of the Clinton Campaign. Per the letter: “I have learned from reliable sources that a law firm close to Clinton campaign hired a London based private investigator to investigate my trip to Russia.” Again, this knowledge about money flows to the CHS being used by FBI to secure his FISA warrant was being transmitted indirectly to FBI who was monitoring the emails. Page was again “breaking” this information an entire year before it would be verified by the courts and reported in the press. Again also, this information would form a key piece of the Nunes memo and resultant investigations.

Third (3), Carter also notes the FBI has been compromised. His plea to the international body is predicated upon hints at political corruption within, to wit: “evidence of certain connections between HFA campaign and federal authorities make me cautious of of seeking help”. The “connection” between HFA and the Feds could be an illusion to the fact that FBI’s CHS Christopher Steele was being paid by HFA and FBI simultaneously, or it could also be a reference to Fusion’s connection to DOJ via the married Ohr’s.

Lastly (4), Page documents that his prior efforts to reach out to the once-friendly FBI have only been rebuffed. He notes Comey is non-responsive to cooperation, referencing his September letter that went unanswered. Page has effectively documented the FBI as a bad-faith actor

Again, this all predates election and its being watched in real-time by Comey.

Now, consider the points above that Carter Page just outlined in his email (one week before the election) juxtaposed against @DevinNunes memo. There is considerable overlap in facts and arguments used. It’s almost as if Carter’s 10/28/16 email was a nascent genesis for the Nunes Memo. Isn’t that something…

As noted elsewhere, we find it strange that Carter Page was able to AFFIRMATIVELY IDENTIFY STEELE AS A SOURCE for the Yahoo article IN WRITING *for* the FBI (via FISA intercepts) before the FBI was able to *ask* Steele themselves.

Will Horowitz examine how Page was able to determine Steele as a source before the FBI was? Will Horowitz determine who Page’s “source” was? Will Horowitz ask and examine whether the exculaptoring facts unearthed by Page were timely incorporated into his subsequent FISA application renewals?

JAMES WOLFE CASE EMAILS – May 7-8, 2016







Weeks after FBI opened its investigation into the leaked FISA & narrowed to James Wolfe as a suspect, Carter was emailing Washington Post & New York Times reporters with James Wolfe *blind copied* as a recipient. (Exhibit 5b) This email from Carter Page would as a tracer for the FISA leak recipient, directly identifying @nakashimae for prosecutors when she was the only reporter of 5 to “respond” to the “invisible” copied target, James Wolfe.

Take a moment to reflect on the irony: Carter Page, all times under 100% FISA surveillance for being an alleged “agent of a hostile foreign power”, is sending emails that identify leak-networks for federal prosecutors AND are used as multiple pieces of “State’s evidence”. (Exhibit 10 Reporter #3)

Will Horowitz determine how Page know James Wolfe was involved an entire year before anything was reported in the news? Will Horowitz determine how government prosecutors received Page’s emails and whether they were turned over voluntarily or obtained via surveillance?

This amazing display of trade-craft, specifically using emails to *indirectly transmit* key investigative leads to federal authorities by way of *intercepted* communications via FISA, is notable. It establishes a *pattern* of such behavior for Carter Page. See his email to the international body OSCE to *indirectly* inform FBI/Comey that he knew about Christopher Steele.

Carter Page also sent another email, the day before his letter to reporters, to the House Intel Committee. In this email Carter names reporters at @ABCnews & @Buzzfeednews (@brianross & @aliwatkins) as responsible for Felony #1, which is the intentional publishing of his protected identity. Carter names reporters at @Wapo as responsible for Felony #2 which is the publishing of the FISA.





Note that everyone that Carter has “named”, has suffered consequence: James Wolfe, named in the blind cc email, was of course prosecuted, convicted, and defamed. The reporters Carter named responsible for Felony #1 were both demoted from their careers on the NatSec beat *within 24 hours of each other* in July 2018. They claimed “bad reporting” for Ross and “ethics review” for Watkins. Both were poor cover stories. The reporter responsible for Felony #2 was masked as Reporter #1 in the Wolfe indictment but slyly revealed by Carter Page as @nakashimae when he leveraged a female identifier dropped by prosecutor Jessie K. Liu to eliminate 4 other male contenders!











It cannot be emphasized enough that in all three counterintelligence operations to which Carter has been a party, he has produced evidence for federal authorities each time, even while under purported “suspicions of being a foreign agent”. In Buryakov he was a key witness (and suspected undercover agent). While under FISA surveillance he provided investigative leads that made up the foundation of the Nunes memo and resultant OIG investigation. Additionally while under FISA surveillance he provided emails that would ultimately be used as multiple pieces of evidence against James A. Wolfe. At all times under FISA surveillance and FBI purported “suspicion”, Page was able to generate evidence for Feds, remain innocent of any criminal charges, and also interviewed with FBI, Mueller, Senate and House investigations all without the aid of an attorney.

PART IV

INTELLIGENCE TRADECRAFT – PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGNING

In addition to transmitting investigative details to authorities by way of electronic communications that Page knows will be intercepted by FISA, Page also has waged a one man guerilla warfare campaign of media appearances designed to defend against defamatory allegations which the FBI refused to investigate and attack the legal basis upon which FBI has used to justify its surveillance of him. Page has done an inordinate amount of televised interviews, with the outlets that carry him shifting depending on the political winds of the times.

In 2016, the Russian Television outlet “RT” was the only news outlet to film Carter Page as an interview subject. There were two interviews and both took place after he was under FISA surveillance and not a member of the Trump Campaign (in October and December). Page was immediately laying an exculpatory foundation and promoting his innocence by way of these first interviews.

In 2017 while Carter was a known investigative target with an active FISA, he appeared in 20 televised interviews. CNN/ABC/NBC (aka Blue Media) featured Carter prominently for 65% of all interviews and Fox (aka Red Media) only did 2 interviews with Carter for 10% share.

In 2018 during which Nunes Memo & Carter FISA are declassified, Carter appeared in 28 televised interviews. CNN/ABC/NBC (Blue) shrunk to 3 interviews for a 10% share and and Fox (Red) did 17 interviews for 60%.

In 2019 during which Mueller Probe was concluded and FISA Abuse Probe is still pending, Carter appeared in 27 televised interviews. CNN/ABC/NBC (Blue) further contracted to 2 interviews for an 8% share and and Fox did 16 interviews for 59%. Also notable in 2019, Page mentioned multiple times for the first time in public that he “assisted the FBI and CIA for decades” and also came out strongly in a Fall interview with Fox to directly accuse Preet Bhraha of requesting him to provide “false testimony” in the Buryakov case. This serious allegation was virtually completely ignored by mainstream media.

TWITTER SIGNALLING / LURKING

In addition to letters to authorities, televised interviews and copious interviews with print media, Page also maintains an active voice on Twitter. Page did not publicly tweet until after the Nunes Memo was released in February of 2018. Almost immediately after coming online Page directly began calling out @PreetBharara, @Comey, and their actions concerning him in the 2015 Buryakov Case…