'Bizarre and anomalous': Kushner request for Russia back channel troubles experts

Establishing secret secureback channels between foreign governments iscertainlynothing new, nor something that should necessarily be deemed nefarious when it comes to diplomacy.

Yet reportsthat White House senior adviser JaredKushnersuggested using Russian diplomatic facilities and equipment for back-channel communications have experts scratching their heads, wondering if his actions are naive or have a darker motive.

According tothe Washington Post,Kushnermade the suggestion toRussian ambassador Sergey Kislyakin December, shortly after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election.

• Jared Kushner wanted a back channel with Russia: reports
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The report served to intensify the scrutiny ofKushner, who is reportedly part of the FBI investigation into allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election.

'A whole can of worms'

"Suggesting they use Russian securecommunicationtechnology that's the most disturbingpart for me because that clearly indicates [they]want to keepthis secretfrom American surveillance," said Jeffrey Fields, professor at the University of Southern California's School of International Relations. "That's hugelyproblematicand troublesome."

Richard A. Moss, a former analyst with the U.S. Defence Department, said he was "baffled" byKushner's reported request to use Russian diplomatic facilities.

"Ifthat pans out to betrue completely bypassing U.S. government systems that are made for having thesekind of secure communications and willinglyreliant onRussia again, that raises eyebrows and opens up a whole can of worms in terms of potential issues," he told CBC News.

Back channels are often used as unofficial ways for two countries to communicateand have been employedeffectively in times of diplomatic crises the peacefulresolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis is often cited as an example. And they can also be used to engage in sensitive negotiationsor to advancerelations with foreign adversaries.

Moss, authour ofNixon's Back Channel to Moscow: Confidential Diplomacy and Detente, saidthat former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, concerned about leaks, hadset upa secret secure line betweenhis office and then-Soviet ambassadorAnatolyDobrynin.

But that was only created after a dozen meetings betweenKissingerand Dobryninand after they had established solidrelationships.

'Something nefarious'

"[Kushner] trying to set up a securecommunicationschannel before you really have that backchannel in place is again one of those curious detailsthat cancertainlyadd to theperceptionthat somethingnefariouswasgoingon,whetheror not that's true," Moss said.

Kushner's discussion with theRussian ambassadoralso came at atime whenhewas still a private citizen.

Emile Simpson, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School,said that a private citizen conducting diplomacy with a foreign power could be a violation of the Logan Act.

And he can't understand whyKushner would want to hide these discussions from U.S. intelligence agencies.

"One would assume that your own stateintelligenceagencies would know about those back channels and would probably run those back channels," Simpson said in an interview with CBC News.

That Kushnerwould want to set up such a channel using the facilities and communications ofMoscowwith its long history of espionage againstthe U.S. is "bizarre and anomalous," Simpson said.

"Even the Russiaambassador himself thought it wasbizarre," he said, referring to the Post story.

So bizarre, saysPeter VanBuren,a former State Department official, that he was skeptical about the report.

"Ifthat'strue, that'scrazy,that's nutty talk. I have no idea why anyone would want to say something so insane. If that happened, the Russians probably laughed out loud at him," VanBurensaid.

"We're looking at leaked comments from someone claiming to have seen this,meaning we have no context how thiswas said assuming it was said."

While not commenting on the specifics of the story, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly defended Kushner. He said there are different waysto communicatewith foreign powers, whether it be publicly or throughback channels.

'Don't see any big issue here'

"I don't see any big issue here relative to Jared," Kelly said on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.

"And I think anytime you can open lines of communication with anyone, whether they're good friends or not so good friends, it's a smart thing to do."

Kushner'smeeting with the Russian ambassador, and some others he had with foreign government officials, have already been criticizedbecauseKushnernever disclosed these meetingson his security background investigation forms.(His lawyer has said it was an unintentional oversight.)And it is why somehave called forKushner'ssecurity clearance to be suspended.

"It's eitherwillfulneglect orobfuscationor justincrediblynaive," said Fields, a former analyst at the State Department and the Department of Defence."And that justreally calls intoquestionwhetherthis guy should hold a top secret security clearance."