A substantial number of former CIA officers and FBI agents—a number of whom were Ms. Bannerman’s mangers and/or otherwise directly involved in the investigations, Russians operations or Counterintelligence programs—are highly critical of Mr. Baer’s thesis of the Fourth Man.
They believe the rationale Mr. Baer uses to make the case that Mr. Redmond is a KGB spy is ridiculous and not supported by the facts, operations and investigations at the time.
None of them recall Ms. Bannerman making a case for Mr. Redmond being a spy in 1994-1995 as she claims or documenting her findings in official channels to the FBI as she should have done if she indeed had the facts to do so.
This includes but is not limited to senior FBI agent Mr. Curran, in charge of managing all espionage issues and investigations at CIA as well as his two Deputies, John Turnicky and Lucinda Webb. (Though Bannerman was supposed to report to them, chain of command was not something that came easily to her which ultimately was the key factor in her removal.)
The consensus of these senior officers is that Ms. Bannerman’s claims are highly inaccurate if not deliberate disinformation for reasons outlined above. Flawed analysis, incorrect assumptions and baseless speculation are used to support Mr. Baer’s narrative indicating Mr. Redmond committed treason.
She also showed no understanding and/or willingness to accept CIA’s extensive post Ames improvements, such as stronger relationship with CIA’s office of Security in key programs, the 811 legislation and Presidential Decision Directive-24 on requirements to share information with the FBI and collaborate with their investigations under the leadership of the senior FBI agent assigned to oversee counterespionage in CIA.
Nowhere does Mr. Baer present the alternative and actual reasons Ms. Bannerman’s management lost confidence in her ability to work with the FBI ’s management of these Important investigations.
They also note there were some officers Mr. Baer mentions briefly who told him there was no truth to his focus on Mr. Redmond as a spy, but Mr. Baer did not give those views the weight they deserved.
They note most importantly the highly misleading and dishonest focus on the Fourth Man since the 1994-1995 search for the high-level spy in the CIA ultimately turned out to be senior FBI agent Robert Hanssen.
In our numerous interviews of people directly involved in the SIU investigations at the time no one recalls Ms. Bannerman identifying Mr. Redmond as the spy. They also note he did not nor could he possibly have tried to control all Russian operations and reporting to protect himself.
They note that the SIU was never disbanded but rather CIA and FBI significantly expanded the people and sources in the SIU in 1994-1995 to handle the multiple, complex new investigations.
They also brought in a new, more capable SIU Chief, Mary Sommer, in the summer/fall of 1995 to replace Ms. Bannerman for reasons described above.
As a senior Reports officer, Ms. Sommer was selected by Mr. Redmond because of her proven track record on Russia and her exceptional record working with Intelligence Community partners. She led the SIU through significant expansion in order to manage the multiple complex espionage cases in CIA, FBI and elsewhere in the US Government and foreign partners.
Ms. Bannerman and Mr. Milburn were well aware of the SIU’s continuing work with the FBI under new leadership. In fact, Mr. Milburn continued to work closely with the SIU for many years.
The claim that no one in CIA wanted to look for additional spies is dishonest.
The significantly expanded counterespionage capability—in addition to the SIU—is well documented. And senior CIA leadership followed espionage-related developments very closely and provided tremendous support.
Some we interviewed had to wonder if the reason Mr. Baer and Ms. Bannerman promoted this was to offer an excuse for the fact that senior officers told Mr. Baer they had never heard such an allegation against Mr. Redmond and it is absurd.
Finally, they noted the admission in the book that Ms. Bannerman and her colleagues continued a rogue investigation—with Mr. Lofgren ’s support—is among the most unethical and perhaps illegal of the many dishonorable revelations. It explains in spades why Ms. Bannerman ’s management determined she did not have the expertise, wisdom and temperament to work with the FBI managing these sensitive, complex investigations.