FBI Interviews Sarah Bils, the Donbass Devushka, as the DOJ and NCIS Probes Her Past

The DOJ and NCIS confirm that Bils is under multiple investigations, as details of a trouble past come to light.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh was peppered with questions about Bils during a Monday press briefing. When asked if the Department of Defense was aware that the former Navy chief petty officer had been posting Russian propaganda since 2014 and if she had been under investigation prior to the revelation of the document leak, Ms. Singh replied, “Because this investigation is ongoing, I would refer you to the DOJ for that.”

The investigation by the FBI and NCIS comes at a time when the U.S. government appears to be cracking down on Russian influence [dissent] in American politics. In a separate case, the DOJ announced on Tuesday that four U.S. citizens and three Russian nationals have been charged with “conspiring to covertly sow discord in U.S. society, spread Russian propaganda, and interfere illegally in U.S. elections.” A federal grand jury alleges that Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents recruited, funded, and discredited U.S. political groups to act as unregistered Moscow agents. Omali Yeshitela, Penny Joanne Hess, Jesse Nevel, and Augustus Romain Jr. of St. Petersburg, Florida, have been charged with violating the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and each faces up to five years in prison.

FBI Interviews Sarah Bils, the Donbass Devushka, as the DOJ and NCIS Probes Her Past

NAFO claims that Donbass Devushka’s Telegram channel was started in 2014 (during the war in Donbas?), while Bellingcat alleges that it was the first to publicly leak the Pentagon documents. Malcontent News suggests that she could be charged as a foreign agent due to her loose association with Rybar. They incorrectly state that the members of the Uhuru Movement are being charged under FARA. They’re being charged under Title 18 U.S.C. §951, according to the indictment. FYI, speech is restricted, under the UCMJ, while serving in the military.

Previously:

NAFO: Social-Media Account Overseen by Former Navy Noncommissioned Officer Helped Spread Secrets

Four Americans and two Russians conspired to sway elections, influence politics, Justice Department says

Four Americans and two Russians conspired to sway elections, influence politics, Justice Department says

The Justice Department unsealed grand jury indictments on Tuesday against four U.S. citizens and two Russian nationals who are charged with attempting to execute wide-ranging influence operation to sow political discord, sway a local election in Florida and eventually meddle in the 2020 presidential election.

The indictment, which adds to an existing July 2022 case, alleges that Moscow-resident Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, founder of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, worked with at least two Russian intelligence officials between 2014 and 2022 “engaged in a years-long foreign malign influence campaign targeting the United States.”

Four Americans and two Russians conspired to sway elections, influence politics, Justice Department says (archived)

They’re being charged for violating Title 18 U.S.C. §951 (foreign relations, agents of foreign governments) and Title 18 U.S.C. §371 (conspiracy). These are the same violations that Maria Butina was charged with.

NAFO: Social-Media Account Overseen by Former Navy Noncommissioned Officer Helped Spread Secrets

Twitter thread on ThreadReader

Social-Media Account Overseen by Former Navy Noncommissioned Officer Helped Spread Secrets

There is no evidence that Ms. Bils, who had a security clearance during her Navy service, has used that access to steal any classified information herself. “I obviously know the gravity of top-secret classified materials. We didn’t leak them,” she said.

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for the Pentagon, referred requests for comment on Ms. Bils and her role in reposting classified information to the Justice Department, which declined to comment

Related:

Pekka Kallioniemi’s ‘v@tniksoup’ (Who’s Who list of who to follow?!)

Donbass Devushka’s Linktree

“Ironically, if the same guy had leaked to the NYT, we’d be working feverishly to conceal it.”

Source.

The NYT worked feverishly to find the identity of the guy leaking TS docs on Discord. Ironically, if they same guy had leaked to the NYT, we’d be working feverishly to conceal it.

David Philipps’ Tweet, archived)

New York Times military correspondent accuses paper of double standards for working ‘feverishly’ to find Pentagon leaker – whose identity colleagues would have ‘concealed’ if he’d given documents to them

His arrest was the culmination of a week-long scramble by the media and the U.S. security services to find him. The charge was led by [NED- & Soros-funded] Bellingcat, the investigative journalism group, and saw The New York Times and Washington Post battle to find more detail about the leaks and the person behind them.

Related:

Leaks Investigation: Airman Faces Two Counts Related to Leaked Documents

He guided a group of 20 to 30 people, mostly young men and teenagers, as they bonded over guns, racist memes, video games and international politics.

They’re making him out to be a ‘far-right anti-government extremist’! Kim Iversen mentioned that the media said that he talked about Ruby Ridge, and the Waco siege, among other things that they claim are ‘extremist’!

The FBI Paid Twitter $3.4 Million for Processing Requests

The FBI Paid Twitter $3.4 Million for Processing Requests

There’s been ample insinuation that these agencies were politically motivated. But all of this was happening at a time when President Donald Trump was in power and his people were running DHS and the FBI. Rather than agencies intent on swaying the 2020 election for Biden, their actions seem like run-of-the-mill paranoia and attempts at control.

This brings us back to the money the FBI gave Twitter for “time spent processing requests.” In the last installment of the Twitter Files, Matt Taibbi reported on some of those requests, many of which were related to potential election misinformation. Twitter looked into the flagged tweets and accounts, sometimes complying with the FBI and sometimes not.

Twitter’s “Guidelines for law enforcement” does state under a section titled “Cost reimbursement” that “Twitter may seek reimbursement for costs associated with information produced pursuant to legal process and as permitted by law (e.g., under 18 U.S.C. §2706).” But the fact that this garnered millions from the FBI was not, as far as I can tell, known until now.

Related:

No, The FBI Is NOT ‘Paying Twitter To Censor’

So, who was the Trump Administration targeting?!

But this is a misreading/misunderstanding of how things work. This had nothing to do with any “influence campaign.” The law already says that if the FBI is legally requesting information for an investigation under a number of different legal authorities, the companies receiving those requests can be reimbursed for fulfilling them.

I do think it remains a scandal the way that 2703(d) orders work, and the inability of users to push back on them. But that is the law. And it has literally nothing whatsoever to do with “censorship” requests. It is entirely about investigations by the FBI into Twitter users based on evidence of a crime. If you want, you can read the DOJ’s own guidelines regarding what they can request under 2703(d).

2703(d) order:

Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, law enforcement must obtain a court order under 18 U.S.C. §2703(d) (2703(d) order) to compel a provider to disclose more detailed records about a customer’s or subscriber’s use of services, such as the following