The Russia watchRussian intelligence pawns; Ryan: no FBI “spying”; hacking Canada’s 2019 election, and more

The astonishing tale of the man Mueller calls “Person A” (Franklin Foer, The Atlntic)
One of the most shocking revelations from the special counsel’s investigation is the suggestion that Paul Manafort’s longtime aide is a pawn of Russian intelligence.

Paul Ryan: Gowdy’s statement contradicting Trump on spying claims is “accurate” (Melanie Zanona, The Hill)
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday pushed back against President Trump’s “spygate” claims, siding with Rep. Trey Gowdy’s (R-S.C.) defense of the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s campaign and Russia. “Chairman Gowdy’s initial assessment is accurate, but we have more digging to do,” Ryan told reporters during his weekly news conference. A week after the closed-door briefing, Gowdy told CBS News that he had seen no evidence to support Trump’s claims that a “spy” was improperly inserted into his 2016 campaign. The Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman, who is retiring, said he did not believe the FBI had done anything out of bounds in its investigation, and defended the use of informants by the bureau and other law enforcement agencies. “That is not a term I’ve ever used in the criminal justice system,” Gowdy said. “I’ve never heard the term ‘spy’ used. Undercover informant, confidential informant, those are all words I’m familiar with. I’ve never heard the term ‘spy’ used,” he added.

“We could fight this thing to the end”: As Christopher Steele prepares to be deposed about his dossier in London, BuzzFeed girds for a long struggle (Joe Pompeo, Vanity Fair)
What did the former British spy believe about some of the details in his now-famous report? Finally, in a Russian tech executive’s defamation suit against BuzzFeed, a window into the Russia-collusion murk may open.

Midterm elections: Russian trolls return with new website targeting U.S. voters, expert cyber-analysts report (Jonathan Vankin, Inquisitir)
Online site ‘USA Really’ appears linked to Russian group known as Internet Research Agency indicted by Robert Mueller earlier this year, expert says.

The Russian hacking risk: Wisconsin’s energy grid (Matthew Simon, 7 Investigates)
Since March, the Trump Administration has been warning of an ongoing Russian government operation to hack the sources that bring that power to your home. 7 Investigates spent the last three months learning how Wisconsin power providers, first responders, the military, law enforcement and state leaders are responding to this energy grid threat.

Chinese, Russian hacking groups spy on South Korea amid U.S.-North Korea peace talks (Ryan Duffy, Cyberscoop)
Ahead of the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore next week, U.S. cybersecurity researchers say that Russian and Chinese hackers are scaling up cyber-espionage operations against South Korea.

Canada’s 2019 election a likely target for Russian hackers, James Comey warns (James Dickson, Global News)
Canada – like any number of democracies around the world – needs to be concerned about the threat of Russian interference in its elections, says former FBI director James Comey.

Any country that shares liberal, democratic and western values should be worried, considering how much of a threat those values are considered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of the world’s most famous former investigators told an Ottawa audience Tuesday.

World Cup-bound German civil servants told to leave smartphones at home (Deutsche Welle)
One of Germany’s state-level interior ministries has warned employees about Russian espionage. Nevertheless, Russian authorities are already collecting extensive data about World Cup visitors via so-called fan ID.