The FBI has posted an odd billboard in Russian at New York Kennedy (JFK). Is this a joke or is the FBI blatantly recruiting Russian assets who are fleeing Mother Russia?
Odd FBI Billboard At JFK
A friend snapped the following picture earlier this week at New York JFK:
Translated, it simply reads, “Welcome to New York Regards, FBI.”
If you follow the QR code it brings you to a webpage with the same message.
I could understand if this was a CIA ad trying to recruit assets in Russia, but I am not clear about the link between the FBI and Russia. What is it that the FBI is looking for? Or is it all just a joke?
Apparently, the FBI trolled the Russian Embassy with similar billboards as well as a social media campaign after the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
Per The Washington Post:
The ads are designed to capitalize on any dissatisfaction or anger within Russian diplomatic or spy services — or among Russian emigres to the United States — over the invasion of Ukraine, an event that counterintelligence experts call a huge opportunity for the U.S. intelligence community to recruit new sources.
But the New York JFK ad is a bit more benign. There is no contact information. The whole “welcome to New York” message seems to be lacking context.
CONCLUSION
I too join in welcoming disgruntled Russians to New York and wish you a great life of prosperity in this land. And sure, if you want the USA to undermine Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, by all means, do so. But I am not sure what the point of this billboard is at JFK.
What do you make of the FBI ad at JFK?
I guess they need help spying on republicans.
These stories sure are writing themselves these days.. Plot Twist: Ex-FBI Agent Involved in Trump-Russia Probe Indicted For Violating Russia Sanctions. A former FBI official involved in the investigation of the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia was charged Monday for violating sanctions on behalf of a Russian oligarch sanctioned by the U.S. government.
I think it’s great. It’s essentially a bit of either PSYOPS and/or non-kinetic warfare, depending on how you want to look at it. It’s blatant yet passive and superficially unoffensive all at the same time.
It’s a drop site. If there is a white mark in the lower right, then that signals that there will be a meeting on the Upper West Side.
I believe that this is a reminder to FBI staff that they are watching, and take treason seriously.
See:
Former Special Agent In Charge Of The New York FBI Counterintelligence Division Charged With Violating U.S. Sanctions On Russia
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-special-agent-charge-new-york-fbi-counterintelligence-division-charged-violating
This guy may not be seeing the outside world for the rest of his life (of course, given where he’s going and who will be able to get to him in there, and who would want to shut him up quickly, his life span may not be more than a few weeks).
It seems aimed at Russian agents and assets or those who may be considering to go down that line, whether operating under official cover or not.
I don’t expect to see the same sign at MSP.
“Welcome to New York” doesn’t seem to be a FBI reference applicable to the FBI agents at the special NYC post.
I was under the impression that the arrested former senior FBI supervisor was a Trump fan.
should add – “Mind the defenestration.”
The Russian invasion is everywhere. It’s also in Bali, Boracay, and Dubai. It’s a different type of invasion though. Millions fleeing a failing nation whose leader has gone mad. Soon the only people left in Russia will be conscripts who didn’t get out in time (and who will eventually be brought back in body bags), and old babushkas wandering the streets muttering, “Where did everyone go?”
And the Abrams tanks haven’t even been shipped yet. Zelenskyy will grease their treads with dead Orcs.
Every town in Ukraine will have its own Бульвар Джозефа Байдена (Joseph Biden Boulevard).
I am SO looking forward to the war crimes trials.
I don’t think war crime trials will happen for several reasons including that Russia is a nuclear power and therefore will not be subjugated to the world to hand over their citizens for trial. After all, when the USSR collapsed, there were no such trials despite WWII war criminals in the USSR such as Vasily Mikhailovich Blokhin who personally shot 7,000 Polish POW officers in the head at the Katyn forest camp. Even after WWII, the vast majority of Nazi war criminals escaped prosecution.
Millions of Russian men, and their families, are fleeing potential mobilization and it has just been announced that additional border tightening is in place meaning that it will increase. The Russian economy, like many petro-economies, is resiliant but nonetheless showing cracks as supply-chains break but it takes time. During the USSR era, entire factories would break down for lack of a spare part for some machine to keep the whole factor moving along. My wife refers to ‘deficits’ as common although people could get by, but it hindered people significantly. For example, Russia has local food but the machines and components to get that food to market are impacted such as, I think, blue labels for certain milk cartons so the milk cartons lack that label.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge –and more.
John F. Kennedy
Yeah, baby.
Nothing worse than the Russian people. Their inferiority complex, the problems and corruption they bring to every corner of the earth they go to, it’s awful. Not to mention the alcoholism and wife-beating so prevalent in their culture.
It’s just messing with the minds of Russian agents, letting them know the FBI is watching. In particular, it adds extra anxiety when they go through immigration.
What day did the ads appear?
A Russian national, under investigation for many years and wanted by the FBI, passed through JFK last week on his way to MIA (… and then jail).
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/founder-and-majority-owner-cryptocurrency-exchange-charged-processing-over-700-million
My suspicion is that once somebody scans the qr code some hidden soft is installed on the corresponding mobile device. Tracking or snooping, whatever. A newer poster said “your future has no borders”, which is even more creepy:)