On LinkedIn, Christopher Steele is endorsed by three people as having skills in crisis management. He’ll need them after the Wall Street Journal revealed the former British spy to be the author of the infamous Donald Trump dossier.
But Steele himself has bigger concerns now — his safety.
News outlets say he’s “gone underground.”
The New York Times, citing neighbors and news reports, said Steele “hurriedly left his home in Surrey, a county southwest of London, on Wednesday to avoid attention or possible retribution once his identity as the author of the dossier was revealed.”
The Times quoted retired CIA veteran John Sipher as saying Steele has a good reputation and “some credibility.”
“I have confidence that the FBI. is going to follow this through,” Sipher said. “My nervousness is that these kind of things are going to dribble and drabble out for the next several years and cause a real problem for this administration going forward.”
Steele and his business, London-based Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd., previously investigated corruption at FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, the Times said.
The BBC said Steele left his home either Tuesday or Wednesday, before he was publicly named, and was now “in hiding”.
“Mr. Steele, a father of four, had asked his neighbour to look after his three cats,” the BBC said.
The Wall Street Journal said Steele has declined repeated requests for interviews through an intermediary, who said the subject was “too hot.”
Meanwhile, the so-called “dirty dossier” author has become the most interesting man in the world.
Are we in a Bond film or in a Bourne film? I can’t decide https://t.co/CJT5WnL9fi
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 11, 2017