Wikileaks Exposes CIA Involvement In French 2012 Presidential Election

In a move that is sure to unleash a fresh firestorm of accusations that Russia is interfering in the upcoming French elections, Wikileaks has has released three classified CIA "tasking orders" revealing details of a seven-month long spying campaign and involvement by the agency ahead of the 2012 French presidential election.

The 7 pages of documents reveal that all major French political parties "were targeted for infiltration by the CIA"s human ("HUMINT") and electronic ("SIGINT") spies in the seven months leading up to France"s 2012 presidential election."

RELEASE: CIA espionage orders for the last French presidential electionhttps://t.co/ARd8alUjMS #CIAFrance pic.twitter.com/15Q5ojw4L4

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 16, 2017

The latest set of revelations are contained within three CIA tasking orders published as context for its forthcoming - and cryptic - CIA Vault 7 series.

Named as targets are the French Socialist Party (PS), the National Front (FN) and Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) together with current President Francois Hollande, then President Nicolas Sarkozy, current round one presidential front runner Marine Le Pen, and former presidential candidates Martine Aubry and Dominique Strauss-Khan.

According to Wikileaks, the CIA operation initially ran for 10 months from November 21, 2011, to September 29, 2012, and continued after the April-May 2012 French presidential election and into the formation of the new government.

Specific instructions tasked CIA officers to discover Sarkozy"s private deliberations "on the other candidates" as well as how he interacted with his advisors. Sarkozy"s earlier self-identification as "Sarkozy the American" did not protect him from US espionage in the 2012 election or during his presidency.

The CIA assessed that President Nicholas Sarkozy"s UMP party was not assured re-election and ordered officers to find out Sarkozy"s private deliberations "on the other candidates" as well as how he interacted with his advisors, according to the documents. The agency also reportedly outlined orders specific to the UMP (Union for a Popular Movement), including obtaining the party’s “Strategic Election Plans" and gleaning private thoughts within the party on Sarkozy’s campaign strategies.

RELEASE: Full text of CIA orders targetting French presidential election including Hollande, Sarkozy & Le Pen https://t.co/BUrH14uePb pic.twitter.com/I4TDfbCvYA

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 16, 2017

As part of the disclosures, the espionage order for "Non Ruling Political Parties and Candidates Strategic Election Plans" which targeted Francois Holland, Marine Le Pen and other opposition figures requires obtaining opposition parties" strategies for the election; information on internal party dynamics and rising leaders; efforts to influence and implement political decisions; support from local government officials, government elites or business elites; views of the United States; efforts to reach out to other countries, including Germany, U.K., Libya, Israel, Palestine, Syria & Cote d"Ivoire; as well as information about party and candidate funding.

Significantly, two CIA opposition espionage tasks, "What policies do they promote to help boost France"s economic growth prospects?" and "What are their opinions on the German model of export-led growth?" resonate with a U.S. economic espionage order from the same year. That order requires obtaining details of every prospective French export contract or deal valued at $200m or more.

The opposition espionage order also places weight on obtaining the candidates" attitudes to the E.U"s economic crisis, centering around their position on the Greek debt crisis; the role of France and Germany in the management of the Greek debt crisis; the vulnerability of French government and French banks to a Greek default; and "specific proposals and recommendations" to deal with "the euro-zone crisis".

According to Wikileaks, the CIA espionage orders published today are classified and restricted to U.S. eyes only ("NOFORN") due to "Friends-on-Friends sensitivities". The orders state that the collected information is to "support" the activities of the CIA, the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA)"s E.U section, and the U.S. State Department"s Intelligence and Research Branch.

The newly released documents can be downloaded here.

WikiLeaks: CIA Plotted to Infiltrate Every Major French Political Party

(ANTIMEDIA) A fresh release of classified documents shows the CIA permeated France’s 2012 presidential election, according to Wikileaks. The agency targeted every major party, as well as the current and former president and other prominent candidates.

Wikileaks has been teasing its upcoming “CIA Vault 7” document dump. Thursday’s release of seven pages containing three CIA tasking orders regarding France’s 2012 election is the first such promotion to offer something of substance.

The documents show CIA spies working in human intelligence (HUMINT) and electronic, or signal, intelligence (SIGINT) were directed to infiltrate each major French political party and several leaders from November 21, 2011 to September 29, 2012. Elections took place between April and May of 2012, meaning the operation began about six months before the vote and lasted around four months afterward.

The operation targeted the French Socialist Party, the National Front, and the Union for a Popular Movement, along with current leading presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, current President Francois Hollande, then-President Nicolas Sarkozy, and former candidates Martine Aubry and Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Assessing that President Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement was “not assured of winning the presidential election,” the CIA issued the espionage order, entitled “Non-Ruling Political Parties and Candidates Strategic Election Plans,” in order to better inform U.S.-France policy, according to the documents.

Among the specific instructions for spies were orders to obtain Sarkozy’s private talks “on the other candidates” as well as his own advisors. The agency valued information pertaining to changes in the party’s “perceived vulnerabilities to maintaining power” and its ideological direction, as well as Sarkozy’s interest in “the continuation of the party’s dominance,” the documents show.

Wikileaks cites a previous 2012 espionage order calling for the discovery of details on any potential French export contract or deal valued at $200 million or more as seeming to be connected to specific CIA tasks under the “Strategic Election Plans” order. Those tasks asked the questions: “What policies do they promote to help boost France’s economic growth prospects?” and “What are their opinions on the German model of export-led growth?”

Additionally, the CIA wanted to know the candidates’ positions on the Greek debt crisis and the roles of France and Germany in its management, along with information regarding the “specific proposals and recommendations” for and consequences of a Greek default on France’s government and banks.

The leaked documents were classified and for U.S. eyes only, marked “NOFORN” because they contained “Friends-on-Friends sensitivities.”

Wikileaks claims this most recent release will serve as “context” for its anticipated Vault 7 series.

It comes at a time of relentless speculation over Russia’s influence over the Trump administration and the November presidential election, as well as reported divisions in the White House since controversial leaks led to the resignation of General Michael Flynn as national security advisor to President Donald Trump.

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