The Spring of 2018 has brought into sharp focus how differently states pursue
strategic communications. One particular incident, more spy novel than grand
politics, would have far reaching consequences beyond its original intent. In
March a former Russian double agent and his daughter were poisoned using the
military-grade nerve agent Novichok, apparently smeared on the door handle
of his home in Salisbury, England. Sergei Skripal, a retired colonel with Russian
military intelligence, had previously been sentenced to prison in Moscow for 13
years as a British spy. Subsequently, he was exchanged in a spy swap. As dramatic
as the murder attempt was, the aftermath would prove even more revealing.