Summary

Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old DOGE staffer recently promoted to a senior adviser role in the State Department, is reportedly the grandson of former KGB spy Valery Martynov.

Martynov was executed in the Soviet Union after being exposed as an FBI informant. Coristine, an alleged former cybercriminal, previously worked in the General Services Administration and now has potential access to sensitive diplomatic data.

Concerns have been raised over his background and apparent lack of a security check.

The situation fuels fears about foreign influence in U.S. government operations.

  • Eugene V. Debs' Ghost@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 hours ago

    What kind of North Korean “sins of the father” shit is this?

    Punish him for his actions of helping Musk take over the government in a coup, not that his grandad did spycraft every nation did in the Cold War.

    I don’t care if he was the grandson of Jesus Christ and Buddha if he is a dipshit fascist. Fascists get called out for being fascists, not being related to one they might have never known.

    • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      National security isn’t fair because its more important than being fair and those who are for any reasons suspect are free to do any of the other hundreds of millions of jobs.

      People are absolutely suspect because of their associations.

      • Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.com
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        4 hours ago

        Exactly this. Top Secret clearance typically extends out to three degrees of separation. They’ll check on you, your friends/family, and their friends/family. Because when national security is concerned, they don’t want to risk a leak due to something like a cousin being a spy and going drinking after work with the employee.

      • Eugene V. Debs' Ghost@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 hours ago

        Then would a check to everyone of an immigrant family be acceptable? Only people who’s family have never left the country are fit to protect it?

        That feels like a violation of the 14th amendment, and ensures only redneck Republican hillbillies are the ones who ensure the safety of Americans.

  • Kalysta@lemm.ee
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    9 hours ago

    And what is anyone doing about it?

    I am seeing nothing but stories today about how trump, musk, and musk’s incel groupies are all tied to russia. And no one arresting them for being undocumented foreign agents.

    So why bother reporting?

    • yunxiaoli@sh.itjust.works
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      7 hours ago

      Who would arrest them? Dems and gop both have spent a century placing nearly all government power with scotus and the executive. The judicial isnt going to start drafting an army of armed officers of the court, so that just means the executive is going to continue to use all of the power both parties decided to give it.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Even if this stupid asshole isn’t related to a KGB spy…WTAF:

    recently promoted to a senior adviser role in the State Department

    He’s a FUCKING TEENAGER. The guy cannot even legally drink. Cannot rent a car.

  • redwattlebird@lemmings.world
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    24 hours ago

    Surely the fact that he’s 19 and a senior advisor in a state department is more damning than his lineage? And that Trump is very obviously friendly with Putin?

    I think this familial connection is just a storm in a teacup which is sitting inside a much larger storm.

    • Placebonickname@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      U know what I was doing at 19 years old? Nothing…nothing that counted as work. I won a bacon eating contest at college and played a ton of Mario Kart 64.

      • stardust@lemmy.ca
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        14 hours ago

        And that was very responsible of you. Wish more people would be participating in bacon eating contests over actively making the world a worse place. Please play video games and go have harmless fun. It’s better for society.

    • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      Surely the fact that he’s 19 and a senior advisor in a state department is more damning than his lineage?

      Well firstly, it is the media, they love to sensationalise so they came up with this attention grabbing headline.

      And that Trump is very obviously friendly with Putin?

      At first I thought both simply have the same ideological inclination, and the speculation that Putin has a kompromat on Trump is a meme. Now, I am increasingly becoming convinced on the latter. Not even Mussolini bent this low to Hitler.

  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    [slightly off topic]

    I’m a native of the Northeastern United States and I’ve lived in numerous areas depicted in the media as being under the influence of ‘organized crime.’ To wit, Harlem, lower Manhattan, Hell’s Kitchen, and Staten Island.

    Actual tough guys never have nicknames like ‘Big Balls.’ Never. The guys you fear have names like ‘the Chin,’ or ‘Bumpy,’ or ‘Legs.’ Al Capone’s buddies called him ‘Snorky.’

      • GeeDubHayduke@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        16 hours ago

        I worked in construction and we used radios to communicate between crews. One kid insisted we call him ‘AntDawg.’ His name was Anthony.

        It’s started with ‘Labradoodle.’ He put up with that for two days before bitching he didn’t wanna be Labradoodle. Everyone agreed it was too annoying over the radio, so we all agreed to shorten it. Doodle still hates his name.

        • Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.com
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          3 hours ago

          I know a dude who introduced himself with “hey, my name’s Mike but call me Spike.” I think it was one of those “I just changed schools and want to reinvent myself as someone cooler” scenarios.

          That was like 15 years ago. To this day, we still call him Spmike (pronounced “SPUH-mike”).

      • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zip
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        1 day ago

        Pilot’s nicknames / unofficial callsigns often are as well, some kind of back handed reference to a fuck-up or troublesome character trait.

      • Cort@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Maybe that’s what this is. Like calling a fat guy slim, or a tall guy tiny. Maybe he’s used to many steroids and actually shrunk his balls

    • MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com
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      15 hours ago

      I’m pretty sure it comes from his twitter handle or something like that. I think it’s more irrelevant/childish humor and less serious than it’s made out to be. Plenty of people refer to each other by their online handle, and I don’t think it’s intended as a “nickname” in the conventional way. I have a friend whose UN is basically “dragonslayer42069” and people call him dragon. I don’t think he chose that name so his nickname would be badass or anything. I think he thought it was funny when he made it and people just happen to refer to him as dragon. Plenty of memorable vulgar UNs on microblogs and forums are just there for some immature fun.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        12 hours ago

        You’re losing sight of the fact that he and his boss weren’t elected, haven’t been vetted by Congress, and have zero experience.

        His name is the least of his problems.

        That’s why my comment was [off topic]

        • MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com
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          41 minutes ago

          I’m not losing sight of anything. My comment wasn’t off topic because it was a response to your comment, not the post. I wasn’t supporting him or Elon/DOGE. I don’t know why you’re taking issue with my comment. I imagine we agree on more than we disagree on, I was just adding context. If you didn’t want to talk about it, then I’m not sure why you brought it up.

  • grue@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    How the Hell does someone have a background as both a cybercriminal and a GSA employee at 19? I mean, sure, you can be a cybercriminal as an adolescent. But why is the GSA even hiring anybody that young at all?

  • Deceptichum@quokk.au
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    1 day ago

    I don’t get this angle.

    So his grandparent was someone who on being exposed to the American way of life converted to the American side, helped America, and was killed by the Soviets for it. And they’re what, worried this previous generations pro-American views will somehow influence the kid today?

    Go with them being a cybercriminal thing, not some bizzaro sins of the father nonsense.

    • Eugene V. Debs' Ghost@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      6 hours ago

      I don’t care who someone’s family is, their actions are what defines them.

      If someone was the son of Hitler and they did massive charity work, I don’t care. If someone was the child of Theodore Roosevelt and murdered someone, I don’t care.

      It’s weird that being the grandson of some random KGB is what matters here more than the fact they are aiding a fascist take over. Like it’s in their DNA.

      My grandfather on my mother’s side was a Nazi. We’re unsure of it was willing or “everyone had be in Nazi Germany.” I still fight for the rights of minorities everywhere. His actions don’t speak for mine. Nor my mother’s.

    • Aqarius@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      The angle is that the Overton window shifted so far right that the disagreement is now which foreigners (and secret, domestic foreigners) are to blame for the country’s decline.

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      It’s the kind of thing you’d have to disclose before getting a security clearance. And the FBI would be the ones to decide if it’s okay. Not Elon.

      • KinglyWeevil@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        12 hours ago

        If it was your parent, definitely. They don’t ask about grandparents. I don’t know there’s a place on the SF-86 for you to insert this info.

  • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    “Big Balls” huh. This is 100% the same situation as calling the dude that can bench a school bus “Tiny”.

    Looking at a photo, this dude definitely has a pair of undescended testicles. They’re missing for sure.