THE CIA DIRECTOR, A C-17, AND A VERY PUBLIC “SECRET” FLIGHT TO MOSCOW

 

THE CIA DIRECTOR, A C-17, AND A VERY PUBLIC “SECRET” FLIGHT TO MOSCOW

This is one of those stories where the airplane told us something important was happening before the government did.

On the morning of August 25, a U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III did something you don't see every day: it flew into Moscow.

Not near Moscow. Not somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Moscow.

The aircraft, tail number 07-7181, was flying as RCH4555 — REACH 4555, an Air Mobility Command callsign. Publicly available flight-tracking data showed it departing Riga, Latvia, and landing at Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport shortly after 10 a.m. local time. The aircraft had arrived in Riga two days earlier after flying from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.

For those of us who have spent years watching military aviation, that immediately raises an eyebrow.

C-17s go everywhere. That's what they're built to do. They haul troops, helicopters, vehicles, pallets and just about anything else the Pentagon needs moved.

But a USAF C-17 flying into Moscow in the middle of the current geopolitical climate?

That's different.

And this particular aircraft was interesting for another reason. 07-7181 carries almost no obvious unit identification, just subdued U.S. markings — something seen on a number of Air Mobility Command aircraft used for sensitive missions.

Then came the answer.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe was in Moscow.

The Kremlin has now confirmed that Ratcliffe met with Russian intelligence officials, including Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin. Ratcliffe apparently did not meet Vladimir Putin, although Putin was briefed on the discussions.

President Trump has characterized the visit as essentially routine — or, in his words, “semi-routine.”

Maybe.

But there isn't much that's routine about putting the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency aboard a military aircraft and sending him into Moscow while Russia is at war with Ukraine and relations between Washington and Moscow remain extraordinarily tense.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Ratcliffe carried a much more serious message: a warning that Russia should not attempt an attack on a NATO member, reportedly prompted by U.S. intelligence suggesting Moscow might be considering some kind of limited action designed to test NATO's resolve. Neither the CIA nor the Kremlin has publicly confirmed that account.

There's another interesting wrinkle.

A USAF C-40B — essentially a military Boeing 737 configured to transport senior officials — also flew from Joint Base Andrews to Riga. Public tracking did not show the C-40 continuing to Moscow. One possibility reported by aviation sources is that Ratcliffe's party traveled aboard the C-40 to Latvia and then transferred to the C-17 for the Russian leg.

And that makes the C-17 itself even more interesting.

Why use a huge cargo aircraft to transport a relatively small delegation?

Because the passengers may be only part of the payload.

For sensitive overseas visits, a C-17 can carry the entire support package with them — secure communications equipment, vehicles, protective personnel and whatever specialized gear officials don't particularly want to borrow once they arrive. That's one reason these airplanes sometimes show up in places where you'd expect to see a VIP jet instead.

But my favorite part of this story is how the “secret” visit became public.

Nobody needed a spy satellite.

Nobody needed a mole inside the Kremlin.

They watched the airplane.

Flight trackers noticed an unusual C-17 leaving Riga. Aviation watchers identified the aircraft. People on the ground photographed and videotaped it approaching Moscow. Then a U.S. diplomatic motorcade was spotted moving through the city.

Only afterward did the pieces come together: the Director of the CIA was there.

That's modern open-source intelligence in a nutshell.

Governments can keep the purpose of a mission classified.

They can refuse to comment.

They can keep the passenger manifest secret.

But moving people and equipment around the planet leaves fingerprints — transponders, radio callsigns, aircraft movements, support flights, motorcades and thousands of people with cameras and internet connections watching all of it.

Sometimes the most interesting intelligence isn't hidden behind a Top Secret stamp.

Sometimes it's squawking Mode-S at 35,000 feet.

And if you know what you're looking at, the airplane can tell the story before anyone else does.