Decades ago, the C.I.A. recruited and carefully cultivated a midlevel Russian official who began rapidly advancing through the governmental ranks. Eventually, American spies struck gold: The longtime source landed an influential position that came with access to the highest level of the Kremlin.

It happened two years earlier, but on Monday it was breaking news: CNN anchor and chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto reported the Central Intelligence Agency carried out a top-secret mission in 2017 to extract a high-level Russian asset-a Kremlin official who'd been informing U.S. intelligence