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.

  • Kalysta@lemm.ee
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    2 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?

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    4 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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    16 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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      10 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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        7 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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      14 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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    22 hours 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.’

    • MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com
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      7 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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        5 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]

      • GeeDubHayduke@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        9 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.

      • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zip
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        21 hours 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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        22 hours 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

  • grue@lemmy.world
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    17 hours 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?

  • wirebeads@lemmy.ca
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    19 hours ago

    America is Putins puppet. Musk is sitting in between getting richer while Trump does Russia’s wants.

    Look at the Russian playbook. Look at the current U.S. playbook.

    Insert image of “the office <they’re the same image>.jpg here.

  • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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    21 hours 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.