49 Facts About Christopher Steele

Christopher Steele ran the Russia desk at MI6 headquarters in London between 2006 and 2009.

Christopher David Steele was born in the Yemeni city of Aden, on 24 June 1964.

Christopher Steele's paternal grandfather was a coal miner from Pontypridd in Wales.

Christopher Steele spent time growing up in Aden, the Shetland Islands, and Cyprus, as well as at Wellington College, Berkshire.

Christopher Steele graduated with a degree in Social and Political Sciences in 1986.

Christopher Steele was recruited by MI6 directly following his graduation from Cambridge and worked for MI6 for 22 years.

Christopher Steele worked in London at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1987 to 1989.

From 1990 to 1993, Christopher Steele worked under diplomatic cover as an MI6 officer in Moscow, serving at the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Moscow.

Christopher Steele was an "internal traveller", surviving over thirty Aeroflot flights and visiting newly-accessible cities such as Samara and Kazan.

Christopher Steele returned to London in 1993, working again at the FCO until his posting with the British Embassy in Paris in 1998, where he served under diplomatic cover until 2002.

In 2003, Christopher Steele was sent to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan as part of an MI6 team, briefing Special Forces on "kill or capture" missions for Taliban targets, and spent time teaching new MI6 recruits.

Christopher Steele returned to London and between 2006 and 2009 he headed the Russia Desk at MI6.

Christopher Steele served as a senior officer under John Scarlett, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, from 2004 to 2009.

Christopher Steele was a counterintelligence specialist and was selected as case officer for Alexander Litvinenko and participated in the investigation of the Litvinenko poisoning in 2006.

Twelve years later, Russian double agent Boris Karpichkov alleged that Christopher Steele himself was included in a hit list of the Russian Federal Security Service, along with Sergei Skripal who was poisoned in 2018 by a binary chemical weapon Novichok in Britain.

Since 2009, Christopher Steele has not been to Russia or any other former Soviet states.

Christopher Steele has refrained from travelling to the United States since his authorship of the Christopher Steele dossier became public, citing the political and legal situation.

Between 2014 and 2016, together with Bruce Ohr, Christopher Steele cooperated with the FBI's and Justice Department's unsuccessful efforts to flip Deripaska into an informant.

Between 2014 and 2016, Christopher Steele created over 100 reports on Russian and Ukrainian issues, which were read within the United States Department of State, and he was viewed as credible by the United States intelligence community.

Christopher Steele ran an investigation dubbed "Project Charlemagne", which noted Russian interference in the domestic politics of France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

Christopher Steele's research indicated that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin had rigged the bidding of the 2018 World Cups by employing bribery.

Christopher Steele contributed to a privately commissioned report that alleged China attempted to influence key figures in British politics and business.

Fusion GPS then hired Christopher Steele, to investigate Trump's Russia-related activities, and this investigation produced what became known as the Christopher Steele dossier.

In July 2016, Christopher Steele supplied a report he had written to an FBI agent in Rome.

In October 2016, Christopher Steele spoke about his discoveries to David Corn of the progressive American political magazine Mother Jones.

Christopher Steele said he decided to pass his dossier to both British and American intelligence officials after concluding that the material should not just be in the hands of political opponents of Trump, but was a matter of national security for both countries.

Christopher Steele has said that he soon found "troubling information indicating connections between Trump and the Russian government".

On his own initiative, Christopher Steele decided to pass the information to British and American intelligence services because he believed the findings were a matter of national security for both countries.

In relation to a defamation lawsuit filed by Aleksej Gubarev against BuzzFeed, regarding their publication of the dossier, Senior Master Barbara Fontaine said Christopher Steele was "in many respects in the same position as a whistle-blower" because of his actions "in sending part of the dossier to Senator John McCain and a senior government national security official, and in briefing sections of the US media".

Christopher Steele first became a confidential human source for the FBI in 2013 in connection with the investigation in the FIFA corruption case, but he considered the relationship as contractual.

In November 2016, after Christopher Steele discussed his findings with the press, the FBI formally closed Christopher Steele as a confidential human source.

Christopher Steele continued to work for Fusion GPS on the dossier without a client to pay him.

On 11 January 2017, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Christopher Steele was the author of the dossier about Trump, citing "people familiar with the matter".

The Telegraph asserted that Christopher Steele's anonymity had been "fatally compromised" after CNN published his nationality.

The Independent reported that Christopher Steele left his home in England several hours before his name was published as the author of the dossier, as he was fearful of retaliation by Russian authorities.

On 7 March 2017, as some members of the United States Congress were expressing interest in meeting with or hearing testimony from Christopher Steele, he reemerged after weeks in hiding, appearing publicly on camera and stating, "I'm really pleased to be back here working again at the Orbis's offices in London today".

Ynet, an Israeli online news site, reported that US intelligence advised Israeli intelligence officers to be cautious about sharing information with the incoming Trump administration, until the possibility of Russian influence over Trump, suggested by Christopher Steele's report, has been fully investigated.

Brenton expressed some doubts due to discrepancies in how the dossier described aspects of the hacking activities, as well as Christopher Steele's ability to penetrate the Kremlin and Russian security agencies, given that he is an outsider.

Christopher Steele was concerned about the accuracy of the information, due to the approach taken by Steele to gather it.

Christopher Steele gave money to intermediaries and the intermediaries paid the sources.

Christopher Steele's reporting did not reach the counterintelligence team investigating Russia at FBI headquarters until mid-September 2016, more than seven weeks after the FBI opened its investigation, because the probe's existence was so closely held within the FBI.

Christopher Steele reportedly revealed the identities of the sources used in the dossier to the FBI.

Christopher Steele objected to testifying but his objections were rejected by US District Court Judge Ursula Mancusi Ungaro, who allowed the deposition to proceed.

In July 2020, Justice Warby from the Queen's Bench Division of the British High Court of Justice ordered Christopher Steele to pay damages to Aven and Fridman who Christopher Steele claimed had delivered "large amounts of illicit cash" to Vladimir Putin when Putin was deputy mayor of St Petersburg.

When one of Christopher Steele's sources was later interviewed by the FBI about the allegations sourced to them, they gave accounts which conflicted with Christopher Steele's renderings in the dossier.

Christopher Steele acknowledged that one of his sources had faced repercussions; he confirmed that the source was still alive, but he would not provide further details.

In 2018, Christopher Steele was included as number 38 in Vanity Fair's 100-person "New Establishment" list.

Christopher Steele had grown a beard and been in hiding, but sent a thank you note explaining why he could not attend given his "present legal and political situation".

Christopher Steele was first married to Laura Hunt in July 1990.