In 2009, Russia’s state nuclear agency, Rosatom, began acquiring a Canadian company called Uranium One. It started small—17%—then kept buying. By 2010, Rosatom wanted control. The prize wasn’t just uranium. It was access: to Kazakh deposits, American mines, and strategic reserves buried beneath a 35,000-acre ranch in Wyoming.The deal needed approval from CFIUS, a powerful U.S. committee tasked with blocking foreign threats to national security. On the panel sat the State Department, then led by Secretary Hillary Clinton.That spring, as the uranium deal quietly advanced toward Washington, Salida’s charitable arm—the Salida Capital Foundation—received $3.3 million. It was an anonymous donation.Within...