Text messages between Andrew McCabe, the deputy director of the FBI at the time, and Jeremy Fleming, his then counterpart at MI5, now the head of GCHQ, also reveal their mutual surprise at the result of the EU referendum, which some US officials regarded as a “wake-up call”, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In one exchange in August 2016, Fleming noted that members of the FBI and MI5 had “met on our strange situation”, a veiled reference to discussions about Russian activities, according to the source

When Boris Johnson, the UK foreign secretary at the time, was asked in November 2017 whether Russia had played any role in British elections, he told MPs in a select committee that he had not seen any evidence of such an occurrence.

When asked in a follow-up if Russia had sought to play a role, Johnson said: “I don’t know about sought to play, but as far as I know they played no role.”

The new revelation comes as authorities in the UK are investigating the funding behind a pro-Brexit campaign, and whether it might have included illegal foreign donations. The National Crime Agency (NCA) is investigating the insurance executive and political donor Arron Banks, who was suspected by the UK’s Electoral Commission of not being the “true source” of £8m in funding to the Leave.EU campaign. The matter was referred to the NCA by the commission after it said it had “reasonable grounds” to suspect a number of criminal offences.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/30/secret-texts-cast-light-uk-early-role-trump-russia-inquiry

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appoints Jeremy Fleming as next director of GCHQ

With the agreement of Prime Minister Theresa May, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has announced that Jeremy Fleming – who has served as deputy director general at MI5 since 2013 – is to succeed Robert Hannigan as director of GCHQ. Hannigan announced in January his decision to step down once a successor was in place. Fleming will assume his new role at Easter. The appointment was made following a recruitment process chaired by national security advisor Sir Mark Lyall Grant.

https://www.risk-uk.com/foreign-secretary-boris-johnson-appoints-jeremy-fleming-next-director-gchq/

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Announcing the appointment, Boris Johnson said: “Jeremy is a dedicated public servant whose work over two decades in the intelligence services has helped to keep our country safe. I congratulate Jeremy on his appointment as director of GCHQ at an important time for the service. I know that he will continue the excellent work of Robert Hannigan in leading this outstanding organisation. The skills and ingenuity of the UK’s intelligence community are critical to defending Britain from cyber attacks, terror plots and other activities that threaten both ourselves and our allies.”

Sir Mark Lyall Grant added: “Jeremy emerged from a strong and competitive field as the outstanding candidate to become the next director at GCHQ. He’s a national security professional of the highest standard who’s widely respected across the national security community, in the UK and overseas. I would like to thank Robert Hannigan for his excellent leadership of GCHQ over the last three years, including for the important role he played in preparations for the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act and in the setting up of the National Cyber Security Centre.”

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faggot