The media, including some in conservative media, are not reporting or are burying key information about Dr. Evelyn Farkas, the former Obama official at the center of a controversy over her remarks about Obama government intelligence gathering and dissemination about President Donald Trump’s campaign and transition staffers: Farkas was an advisor to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and was touted to be in line for an appointment in the expected Clinton administration by over-confident campaign officials.

Cipher Brief, December 10, 2015:

READY FOR HILLARY – The Dead Drop is very reliably informed that optimism in the Hillary Clinton camp is reaching epidemic proportions. Why? Because the Republicans are fixated on this Trump fellow you may have heard about. While general election voting is about 11 months away – some on Team Hillary are well along in dividing up the spoils…and talking about who will get what position post January 20th. Among those we hear in the running for national security positions are Michele Flournoy, an odds-on favorite for Secretary of Defense. Anne-Marie Slaughter, a prime candidate for Secretary of State and Dr. Evelyn Farkas as a potential Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. (Farkas left the Obama administration not long ago reportedly feeling that the current crowd were too soft on Russia, Ukraine etc). To be fair, some boys are under consideration for national security jobs too. Jim Steinberg, Hillary’s former deputy at State, could be a potential Secretary of State or National Security Advisor and Clinton campaign advisor Daniel Kurtz-Phelan could be one of the youngest National Security Advisors ever. Clinton staffers are also busily calling around to retired flag and general officers fishing for endorsements and finding out who would like to be considered a player in staffing positions for POTUS 45.”

Indeed, Farkas turned up in the Wikileaks email files of senior Clinton campaign official John Podesta, offering to be a campaign surrogate in addition to her advisory role. Farkas’ impressive resume was also disclosed by Wikileaks.

From:[email protected]

To: [email protected]

CC: [email protected]

Date: 2016-02-21 21:53

Subject: Re: Following up from Tony’s brunch – Ethnic surrogate work for HRC TRENDING: Obama Statement on Ginsburg Demands GOP Senate Honors Her Dying 'Instructions' and Put Off Vote on Supreme Court Nominee Until New President Sworn In Sounds great. Thanks. Sent from my iPhone > On Feb 21, 2016, at 6:27 PM, John Podesta wrote:

>

> Thanks Evelyn. Good seeing you and we will follow up in the next few days.

> “On Sunday, February 21, 2016, wrote:

>> John,

>> As I mentioned, as a second-generation (parents came here in ’56) Hungarian-American, I’d love to do surrogate work for HRC with the ethnic Eastern European communities, in addition to the foreign policy work with Jake and Laura.

>>

>> Let me know what I need to do to get it going. As of now I have trips planned to give lectures in the spring in Newport, RI and Seattle and London next week (I did participate in a Munich fundraiser with Melanne V. the week before last and could do something like that again.) I also do a lot of media, mainly right now on Russia and the Middle East — Amanpour probably next Monday, BBC radio tomorrow am.

>>

>> Attached is more info about me than you could ever need! – Evelyn

Evelyn Farkas, image via Twitter avatar.

Farkas herself plays down her role advising Clinton. It is not mentioned in her Twitter bio (FmrRussia/Ukraine/Balkans/Caucasus Depty AsstSecyDefense, author, ExecDir WMD Commission, Senate, professor to Marines. Now NBC analyst, Atlantic Council, Aunt.), nor in her impressive bio for Foreign Policy where she is listed among their “Shadow Government” contributors. Others at FP mention their ties to the Clinton campaign in their bios, but not Farkas.

Evelyn Farkas is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, president of Farkas Global Strategies, and national security analyst for NBC/MSNBC. She served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia from 2012 to 2015 and has served almost 20 years divided equally between the executive and legislative branches of government. From 2010 to 2012, she was a senior advisor to the supreme allied commander, Europe, and special advisor for the secretary of defense for the NATO summit. Prior to that, she was a senior fellow at the American Security Project and executive director of the Graham-Talent Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction. From 2001 to 2008, she served as a staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. From 1997 to 2001, she was a professor at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College. She worked in Bosnia with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and as an election observer in Afghanistan. She is the author of Fractured States and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, Ethiopia, and Bosnia in the 1990s.”

Farkas’s lengthy bio for the Atlantic Council makes no mention of her ties to the Clinton campaign.

Dr. Evelyn N. Farkas is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Future Europe Initiative, Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, and Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. She served from 2012 to 2015 as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia, responsible for policy toward Russia, the Black Sea, Balkans, and Caucasus regions and conventional arms control. From 2010 to 2012 she served as senior advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe/Commander, US European Command, and as special advisor for the Secretary of Defense for the NATO Summit. Prior to that she was a senior fellow at the American Security Project, where she focused on stability and special operations, counterproliferation, and US-Asia policy. In 2008 to 2009, she served as executive director of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, which published the report World at Risk (Random House, 2008). From April 2001 to April 2008, she served as a professional staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Her issue areas included foreign and defense policy in Asia Pacific, Western Hemisphere, Special Operations Command (policy and budget oversight), foreign military assistance, peace and stability operations, the military effort to combat terrorism, counternarcotics programs, homeland defense, and export control policy. From 1997 to 2001 Farkas was a professor of international relations at the US Marine Corps Command and Staff College. She served in Bosnia with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1996 to 1997, and was an election observer in Afghanistan in 2009. She has published numerous journal articles and opinion pieces and Fractured States and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, Ethiopia, and Bosnia in the 1990s (Palgrave/St. Martin’s Press, 2003, 2008). She speaks Hungarian and German; has studied French, Spanish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Hindi; and appears as a commentator on major television networks, including NBC, CNN, and Fox. Dr. Farkas obtained her MA and PhD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Aspen Institute Socrates Seminar advisory board.”

A July 27, 2016 NBC News report fails to disclose Farkas’ ties to the Clinton campaign–in the midst of the campaign.

I think he (Putin) genuinely believes that she was trying to meddle in his election and therefore he thinks he can do what he is doing now,” if Russia is conclusively tied to the DNC hack, said Evelyn Farkas, who was the Pentagon’s top official overseeing military relations with Russia until last September. “It’s another example of Russia saying they don’t have to abide by the rules, and that they can directly influence elections” in the United States. Farkas, now a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Future Europe Initiative, said Putin has engaged in similar tactics to influence elections in other countries. “This is typical for Russia, using data gathering and then releasing information” to help political allies and undermine opponents.”

On April 3, 2016, Politico published an op-ed by Farkas attacking Trump over Russia. Farkas’ bio at the end of the Politico article makes no mention of her ties to Clinton. The article was published less than two months after her email exchange with Podesta.

“Evelyn N. Farkas is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia from 2012 to November 2015.”

Politico published an op-ed by Farkas on December 12, 2016 that again attacked Trump over Russia. Politico’s bio of Farkas at the end of the article paints Farkas as a non-partisan and failed to disclose her ties to Clinton.

“Dr. Evelyn Farkas served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia from 2012 to 2015, is former Executive Director, Graham-Talent WMD Commission and has served almost twenty years in the executive and legislative branches of government.”

On December 15, 2016, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Farkas about Russian spying on the Clinton campaign. Neither Blitzer not Farkas mentioned her ties to Clinton.

BLITZER: You know, Evelyn Farkas here with us, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense specialized in Russia. Do you believe Putin was directly involved in authorizing the hacking of the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign? EVELYN FARKAS, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I think it’s highly likely, Wolf, because something as serious as that, not just — not the spying on us, and taking the information. That’s something that the Russian intelligence agencies would do anyway. But the actual turning around and conducting an information operation against the United States, against our elections, against our democracy. That is something that is unprecedented and, frankly, would have to go, I would imagine, up to the level of the kremlin and the president. … BLITZER: You served on the department of defense. Have you ever seen anything like this before? FARKAS: No. And the thing that’s really disturbing is it gets to, again, the issue of, you know, who — where does Donald Trump’s allegiance of lie? You know, who does he respect more? He has said repeatedly about how much he respects Putin. We are talking about U.S. national security interests. Donald Trump should be out there saying, I want to find out what happened here because I don’t want it to happen again. Presumably he wants to run again in four years. Does he want Russian meddling or Chinese meddling? Other countries are watching. So I think it’s very disturbing that he is not taking a more professional measured approach to this and as of the other commentators said taking it personally.”

A February Vox interview with Farkas does not mention Farkas’ ties to Clinton.

In a Fox News article about Farkas published Wednesday, Who is Obama administration official who spilled beans?, one has to read down to the twelfth paragraph to learn she was a Clinton campaign advisor.

Articles published Thursday by MRCTV and Newsbusters failed to mention Farkas’ role as a Clinton campaign advisor.

One of the few places Farkas disclosed her role advising the Clinton campaign was a New Yorker report datelined March 6, 2017.