@Eka_FOOF_A He may have been trying to establish that he was acting as part of a covert operation and therefore his "crimes" should be covered by his "service" to the country.It looks like he was selling intelligence to a number of different agencies, but he was being targeted in the United States so he was looking for a defence from them. The "cannot confirm or deny" line is telling. If there was nothing, they would have said so.