There must be a perfectly logical explanation.... Yes, people in the
industry know where the choke points are. But the choke points aren't
always the most obvious places. Its kinda a weird for diplomats to show up
there.
On the other hand, I've been a fiber optic tourist. I've visited many
critical choke points in the USA and other countries, and even took
selfies :-)
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/russia-spies-espionage-trump-239003
In the throes of the 2016 campaign, the FBI found itself with an
escalating problem: Russian diplomats, whose travel was supposed to be
tracked by the State Department, were going missing.
The diplomats, widely assumed to be intelligence operatives, would
eventually turn up in odd places, often in middle-of-nowhere USA. One was
found on a beach, nowhere near where he was supposed to be. In one
particularly bizarre case, relayed by a U.S. intelligence official,
another turned up wandering around in the middle of the desert.
Interestingly, both seemed to be lingering where underground fiber-optic
cables tend to run.
According to another U.S. intelligence official, “They find these guys
driving around in circles in Kansas. It’s a pretty aggressive effort.”
It’s a trend that has led intelligence officials to conclude that the
Kremlin is waging a quiet effort to map the United States’
telecommunications infrastructure, perhaps preparing for an opportunity to
disrupt it.
