Who is (really) behind it and what are the political implications?
The financial elite establishment (our real rulers) is behind it, ultimately.
Things like this go on continually.
The elite establishment controls (around the world) espionage and media (and has for centuries).
Of course they use them to keep the sheeple in their velvet chains.
This illustrates how the minions of the elites mold public opinion. So politically we can infer that public opinion is also molded in election seasons, of course, for both parties, so the winners of both parties’ primaries will be acceptable to the elites, even if they prefer one to the other. No one who is a real problem to the elites lasts long in politics. Of course, politicians can spout off as much as they want in pretending to be “far left” or “far right”, because the final bills that are passed into law will be true to the elites’ original intent when they had their minions create the initial draft of the bill.