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Christopher Steele

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Not to be confused with Christopher Steel (diplomat).
Christopher D. Steele
Born (1964-06-24) 24 June 1964 (age 60)[1]
Aden, Federation of South Arabia
NationalityBritish
Alma materGirton College, Cambridge
OccupationPrivate intelligence consultant
OrganizationOrbis Business Intelligence Ltd

Christopher David Steele (born 24 June 1964) is a former British intelligence officer, head of MI6's Russia desk, and is currently a private intelligence consultant at Fusion GPS in London. He is the author of a 2016 report that claims Russia collected a file of compromising information on President-elect Donald Trump.[3][4]

Early life and education

Christopher David Steele was born in Aden, Federation of South Arabia on 24 June 1964.[1][5] He attended Girton College, Cambridge, wrote for Varsity[6] and in the Easter term of 1986 was President of The Cambridge Union.[7][8] He graduated in Social and Political Sciences in 1986.[9]

Career

During the 1990s, Steele worked under diplomatic cover as an MI6 agent in Moscow for several years, serving at the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Moscow.[1][10][11][12] While in Moscow, Steele's identity as an MI6 officer was one of 115 names Her Majesty's Government attempted to suppress through a DSMA-Notice in 1999.[13][14] Steele was involved in the investigation of the Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.[15][16] He also reportedly worked under diplomatic cover in France.[10][17] He was previously listed as the First Secretary for Bangkok, Thailand.[18]

He quit the service, and co-founded the company ″Orbis Business Intelligence, Ltd.″ based in Grosvenor Square Gardens near Buckingham Palace in March 2009 with fellow MI6 operative Chris Burrows. The company was hired by The Football Association, Britain's domestic soccer governing body, to investigate corruption at the world soccer governing body FIFA headquartered in Zürich. The British the Football Association was hoping to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cups. Steele provided information on the subject to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, amid corruption allegations, the 2018 World Cup was awarded to Russia, and Qatar was chosen to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[19][20][18]

2017 Trump dossier

Main article: 2016 United States election interference by Russia § Briefing on alleged Trump dossier

Steele was hired to create documentation of the activities of Donald Trump in Russia. His investigations revealed details which he deemed serious enough to not only reveal to his employers, but also to the FBI.[citation needed][neutrality is disputed] These documents and their allegations have raised questions about the ability of Donald Trump to act independently from Russian influence.[21] The dossier was published on Buzzfeed on 10 January 2017, days before Trump’s inauguration. Trump vigorously denied the dossier’s allegations, calling it "fake news" during a press conference. Russia has also dismissed the claims.

Compromised identity

The progressive American news magazine Mother Jones wrote about the dossier on 31 October 2016, but did not mention Steele’s identity.[21] On 11 January, 2017, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Steele had allegedly authored a controversial dossier on United States President-elect Donald Trump,[22] citing "people familiar with the matter."[4] Although the dossier's existence had been "common knowledge" among journalists for around half a year at that point, the Telegraph asserted that Steele's anonymity had been "fatally compromised" after CNN published his nationality.[22]

The Independent reported that Steele had fled his home in England several hours before the publishing of his name and "went to ground" after "realizing it was only a matter of time until his name became public knowledge. A source close to Steele said on Wednesday night [of January 11] that he now fears a prompt and potentially dangerous backlash against him from Moscow."[22] In contrast, The Washington Post reported that he fled his home after he had been identified earlier in the day by a Wall Street Journal report.[23]

Details of authorship

Steele co-founded Orbis Business Intelligence, Ltd. and was working for the company at the time the dossier was created. Orbis director Christopher Burrows would not "confirm or deny" that Orbis had produced the dossier.[24] According to David Corn of Mother Jones, Steele's services had been retained by a private American research firm in early June 2016 for opposition research into Donald Trump's activity in Russia and Europe. The firm was first financed by a Republican source, then later a Democratic one.[25]

Sir Andrew Wood, British ambassador to Moscow from 1995 to 2000, met at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada in November 2016 with senator John McCain and vouched for Steele’s professionalism and integrity. McCain, the chair of the Senate armed forces committee, was concerned by the Trump dossier and met - after returning from the Canadian conference - personally with director of the FBI James Comey and passed on the information.[26][27]

References

  1. ^ a b c The Diplomatic Service List. H.M. Stationery Office. 1996. p. 235. Steele, Christopher David; Second later First Secretary FCO since April 1993; born 24.6.64; FCO 1987; Second Secretary (Chancery) Moscow 1990; FCO 1987; m 1990 Laura Katharine Hunt.
  2. ^ "Farnham man identified as author of Trump dossier". Farnham Herald. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  3. ^ Staff; agencies (2017-01-12). "Trump dossier: Christopher Steele, ex-MI6 officer, named as author". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  4. ^ a b Hope, Bradley; Rothfeld, Michael; Cullison, Alan (2017-01-11). "Christopher Steele, Ex-British Intelligence Officer, Said to Have Prepared Dossier on Trump". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  5. ^ "Inside the shadowy world of Chris Whatsit: How the confirmed Cambridge socialist became the top British spy behind the Trump 'dirty dossier' that is tearing apart American, British and Russian relations". Mail Online. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  6. ^ Dawson, Hannah (January 13, 2017). "Everything we know about Christopher Steele, the Cambridge MI6 spy". The Tab. Archived from the original on January 13, 2017. During his time at Cambridge, Steele was a news writer at Varsity, going by the name 'Chris'. In his defence, The Tab didn't exist back then. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Dawson, Hannah (January 12, 2017). "Ex-MI6 Spy responsible for Trump dossier was President of The Cambridge Union". The Tab. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017. In 1986, Steele was President of The Cambridge Union in Easter Term. In a book 'Arena of Ambitions' on the history of The Cambridge Union, it was said that Steele was a 'confirmed socialist'. Christopher Steele, who attended Girton College, is currently thought to be in hiding after informing his neighbours to 'look after my cats'. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Parkinson, Stephen (2009). Arena of Ambition: A History of the Cambridge Union. Icon. p. 368. ISBN 1848310617.
  9. ^ The Cambridge University List of Members
  10. ^ a b Behar, Richard (January 11, 2017). "Could This Be The British Ex-MI6 Agent Behind The Trump FBI Memos?". Forbes. Retrieved January 12, 2017. A diplomatic service list published by the British government shows that Steele, 52, was posted to the U.K.'s Moscow embassy in 1990 with the title of "Second Secretary (Chancery)." It's unclear how long he remained in that position, but he subsequently served as a "First Secretary" with the U.K.'s Foreign & Commonweath Office in 2003, as well as "First Secretary (Financial)" at the UK's Paris embassy in 1998. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ "Donald Trump Russia dossier: Former MI6 spy responsible is Christopher Steele". News.com.au. January 13, 2017. THE man behind the unverified 35-page dossier on President-elect Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia spent years working undercover in Moscow and was partially responsible for lifting the lid on corruption at FIFA.
  12. ^ Haddad, Tareq (January 11, 2017). "Ex-MI6 officer Christopher Steele named as author of Trump dossier". International Business Times. However, John Sipher, who retired in 2014 after 28 years with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), told the WSJ that Steele had a good reputation in the intelligence community and was stationed in Russia for years. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Cox, Joseph (January 13, 2017). "UK Asks Journalists to Not Name Ex-Agent Allegedly Behind Trump Report". Vice News. Archived from the original on January 13, 2017. The UK government pushed out a D-Notice in 1999 in an attempt to suppress a list of 115 MI6 officers. The notice, according to investigative journalist Duncan Campbell, drew even more attention to the list. Funnily enough, that list of agents includes a Christopher David Steele, who was apparently assigned to Moscow. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ "List of MI6 Officers". Cryptome. Archived from the original on January 6, 2017. Christopher David Steele: 90 Moscow; dob 1964.
  15. ^ Haynes, Deborah (January 12, 2017). "Spy behind report knew Litvinenko". The Times. Retrieved January 13, 2017. The former British spy who drew up the dossier on Donald Trump is a highly regarded Kremlin expert who once worked with Alexander Litvinenko, the murdered Russian agent, sources said. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ Hopkins, Nick; Harding, Luke (January 12, 2017). "Intelligence sources vouch for author of Russia-Trump dossier". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017. And his interest in Russia did not diminish as he continued to rise up the ranks, which at the time included his friend and contemporary Alex Younger – now head of MI6. Over a career that spanned more than 20 years, Steele did a series of different roles, but always appeared to be drawn back to Russia; he was, sources say, head of MI6's Russia desk. When the agency was plunged into panic stations over the poisoning of its agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, the then chief, Sir John Scarlett, needed a trusted senior officer to plot a way through the minefield ahead – so he turned to Steele. It was Steele, sources say, who correctly and quickly realised Litvinenko's death was a Russian state "hit". {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ "Ex-MI6 officer Christopher Steele in hiding after Trump dossier". BBC News. January 12, 2017. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017. Mr Steele reportedly spent years under diplomatic cover working for MI6 in Russia and France, as well as at the Foreign Office in London. He is reported to have supplied the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with information on allegations of corruption at Fifa, football's world governing body.
  18. ^ a b Diplomatic Service Administration Office (1999). The Diplomatic Service List. p. 297. Steele, Christopher David; First Secretary (Financial) Paris since September 1998; born 24.6.64; FCO 1987; Second Secretary (Chancery) Moscow 1990; Second later First Secretary FCO 1993; First Secretary Bangkok 1998;m 1990 Laura Katharine Hunt (2s 1996, 1998).
  19. ^ Hosenball, Mark (January 12, 2017). "Former MI-6 spy known to U.S. agencies is author of reports on Trump in Russia". Reuters. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017. After he left the spy service, Steele supplied the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with information on corruption at FIFA, international soccer's governing body. It was his work on corruption in international soccer that lent credence to his reporting on Trump's entanglements in Russia, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. Emails seen by Reuters indicate that, in the summer of 2010, members of a New York-based FBI squad assigned to investigate "Eurasian Organized Crime" met Steele in London to discuss allegations of possible corruption in FIFA, the Swiss-based body that also organizes the World Cup tournament. People familiar with Steele's activities said his British-based company, Orbis Business Intelligence, was hired by the Football Association, Britain's domestic soccer governing body, to investigate FIFA. At the time, the Football Association was hoping to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cups. British corporate records show that Orbis was formed in March 2009.
  20. ^ Isikoff, Michael (January 11, 2017). "The British ex-spy behind the Trump dossier was an FBI asset". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017. The man behind the sensational story concerning information the Russian government had supposedly collected about Donald Trump is a former British intelligence operative and was a longtime intelligence source for the U.S. government who had assisted the FBI during an investigation into corruption by FIFA, the world soccer association, according to sources familiar with the matter. The operative — identified today by the Wall Street Journal as Christopher Steele, a former Russian operations officer for Britain's MI6 intelligence agency — had worked as a consultant for the FBI's Eurasian organized crime section, helping to develop information about ties between suspected Russian gangsters and FIFA, said one of the sources, who is directly familiar with Steele's work. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ a b David Corn: A Veteran Spy Has Given the FBI Information Alleging a Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump, Mother Jones, October 31,2017
  22. ^ a b c "Former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, who produced Donald Trump Russian dossier, 'terrified for his safety' and went to ground before name released". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  23. ^ Adam, Karla (January 12, 2017). "This former British spy was identified as the Trump dossier source. Now he is in hiding". The Washington Post. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ Nichols, Hans (1970-01-01). "Former British Spy Christopher Steele Prepared Explosive Trump Memo". NBC News. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  25. ^ Corn, David (January 13, 2017). "My interview with the former spy who wrote the Trump-Russia memos". Mother Jones.
  26. ^ The Independent: Revealed: former British ambassador Sir Andrew Wood's key role in Trump investigation | , The Independent, January 12, 2017
  27. ^ : Former MI6 agent Christopher Steele's frustration as FBI sat on Donald Trump Russia file for months, The Independent, January 14, 2017
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