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CHAPTER 21 The Russians Are Coming The collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. —VLADIMIR PUTIN [' THE FIRST INVASION of a European country since the end of the Cold War, Russian military forces moved into the Crimea and other parts of eastern Ukraine in February and March 2014. Unlike with previous Russian troop movements, such as those into Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany during the Cold War, the weeklong massing of Russian elite troops and sophisticated equipment for the move into Ukraine almost totally evaded detection by the NSA’s surveillance. Never before had the NSA’s multibillion- dollar armada of sensors and other apparatus for intercepting signals missed such a massive military operation. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal that cited Pentagon sources, Russian units had managed to hide all electronic traces of their elaborate prepara- tions. If so, after more than half a century of attempted penetrations, Russia had apparently found a means of stymieing the interception capabilities of the NSA. Putin had firm ideas about restoring Russia’s power in the post— Cold War era. A formidable KGB officer before he became president | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r.indd 220 ® 9/3016 8:13AM | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019708