COUNTRY1 went along with placing the signal from Saturday night to Sunday morning to allay Toebbe’s fears.
But who would that country be? Only six countries currently have nuclear-powered submarines; the UK, US, China, Russia, India and France. The technology Toebbe offered concerned improved, probably quieter, propulsion so not useful to any power that didn’t already already have nuclear propulsion.
Russia and China would probably not cooperate with a false flag counter-espionage operation, say former intelligence officers. Meanwhile, the UK has long been in partnership with the US on its nuclear fleet, and recently strengthened that alliance with the Aukus deal, convincing Australia to ditch a troubled diesel sub contract with France in a favor of cooperatively built US-UK nuclear models.
As described in the complaint, the Indian embassy in Washington doesn’t fit the description of “an area inside our property that we control”. A leading candidate for COUNTRY1, says the former intelligence official, is France.