Lessons from the Russian Spy Arrests
The point is that the FBI carried out a sound counter-intelligence program, and stopped them before it became clear a few of the group were planning to flee (as evidently the eleventh man in Cyprus has already done). Certainly, it might have been embarrassing to President Obama so soon after the friendly cheeseburger he and the Russian president shared in Virginia, but as the authors point out, the Russian interests have not changed. Recall the Putin once said that the greatest tragedy for Russia was the end of the Soviet Union.
Putin was not referring to the end of Communism in Russia, but to the Soviet empire which almost immediately began to disintegrate. The Russian government would like to rebuild it, increase its influence abroad, prevent NATO expansion into Eastern Europe in areas once under their control, and generally try to keep the US off balance by flirting with its enemies like Iran. We may talk about new tough sanctions against the mullahs, but as we know, the US announced them only to soften the actual sanctions a day later in deference to the Russian government’s concerns. Hence I heartily concur with Miller and Schoen’s conclusion that “Washington’s slobbering love affair with the Russians may be a trifle one-sided. Obama should remember Ronald Reagan’s advice on dealing with the Kremlin rulers: trust but verify.”
The other major article appeared in the Wall Street Journal, and was written by my good friends and colleagues, John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr. Going through the long history of Soviet espionage against the United States, they remind us of the many years of placing “deep penetration” agents in our midst, as well as the constant use of “sleeper cells” in the old days of the Cold War.
They write: “There were two Soviet illegals exposed in the late 1950s whose activities came a bit closer to the recently arrested 10. An illegal officer, KGB Col. Rudolf Abel (real name Vilyam Fisher), entered the U.S. in 1948 and operated under a variety of false identities. He was finally exposed when his assistant and fellow illegal, KGB Lt. Col. Reino Hayhanen, defected in 1957. (Hayhanen, of Finnish background, had been sent to the U.S. using false papers identifying him as an American of Finnish ancestry.) Abel, who never admitted his real name, was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.”
Like the neighbor of the Murphys who commented that she was shocked, since Mrs. Murphy did such good work on her garden hydrangeas, the neighbor of Col. Abel, when asked what she thought about the fact that her eccentric Greenwich Village neighbor who posed as a painter of landscapes was actually a top Soviet spy, responded: “that’s the Village.” One will always come across the bemused next door neighbor who thought they really knew the occupation of the people they had got to know somewhat.
What is central, Klehr and Haynes note, is that it is “unprecedented, and reassuringly so, … that FBI counterintelligence had identified these Russian sleepers early on, had been monitoring them for years, and finally decided that it had gained what it could from such surveillance and rolled up the Russian networks.” As late reports make clear, the FBI had no choice. Evidently both the Murphys and Ms. Chapman had already bought plane tickets and were ready for a quick departure in the near future.
It is unclear whether or not, as my two friends argue, they face potentially large prison sentences. Depending on which people are charged with money laundering and which are charged with failing to register as foreign agents, some may only be liable for short five year sentences, while others might face twenty years. In both cases, cooperation with the government could lead to lesser sentences, and even possible freedom for turning against their colleagues.
If things turn out well for them, the femme fatale in the case, the woman with “the Victoria Secret’s body,” Ana Chapman, might even be out of the slammer in time to play herself in the Hollywood film that most certainly will be forthcoming.
To understand the continuity of Russia and the Soviet Union read Anatoliy Gollitsyn’s The Perestroika Deception, Tennent Bagley Spy Wars, and my article in the Feb/March 1998 issue of Midstream, Primakov: A Key Player.
Considering that the current government in the US is hell bent on dismantling America from within, any spy operation is a complete waste of rubles. Unless Putin (like the rest of us) can’t believe what’s been going on for the past 18 months and needs confirmation.
Where’s Agent 86 when you need him?
Russia would probably be better off copying the Saudi Arabian government. It could provide jobs to pseudo-intellectuals and former government officials in its various so-called intellectual institutions. These not so subtly bribed individuals could easily be persuaded that Russia has been victimized by American imperialism.
Yeah, lets have Russian “cultural centers” manned by SVR goons, Russian Orthodox Churches agressively built near places/communities of interest and support of Russian organized crime to create “no-go” areas for non-Russians. (Sure works for Islamists and makes politically-correct wienies afraid to stop them.)
Fill the Russian areas with girls like Chapman and I’m in.
Get a bugged apartment in NYC for cheap!!!
NYCRentals.com – Discover Apartments in New York City
This site is Anna Chapman’s company. Anna Chapman is the KGB spy. She was running a apartment search finding site. Was she planning on placing diplomats and influential business people in specially bugged apartments? Why did she choose this business to go into? It is an interesting question to ask.
This is very interesting. We should also keep an eye on other enemies who seek the downfall of the country.
Great idea, Lee — I’m sure nobody else has thought of that yet …
There is one more aspect that makes the summary dismissal of the case very dangerous. Our nation is becoming increasingly unrecognizable. For decades, our State Department has seemed to work on behalf of foreign interests to the detriment of American interests – a service bureau to reinforce the desires and aspirations, sometimes of our mortal enemies abroad. Our desire to “win hearts and minds” in the Muslim world through appeasement is one example. The illegal alien lobby, and the so-called “Hispanic Caucus”, is another.
I cannot tell the difference between the goals and desires of avowed enemies of America in the radical La Raza / la MeCHa movement, and the members of the Hispanic Caucus. We now have a dumpy La Raza member serving on the Supreme Court… We have a Stalinist mongrel for President. If these are not measures of how degraded, how compromised, how infiltrated America has become, then I don’t know what would be.
Since the Bolshevik revolution (even before 1917) the communist internationalist parties have actively infiltrated American institutions, not limited to unions. The Trotskyites lost, remember.
Since consolidation of state power under imperialist Stalin, the USSR state has heavily invested in disinformation activities in the USA. They also strongly influenced development of drug use in the USA since the 1950s, and invested people and money in causes to diminish the moral strength of the America.
Thus the razing of curricula, the socialization of the NEA/NTA, the utter saliency of ACLU programs to eliminate Judeo-Christian principles in public life, sex, drugs, rock’n'roll, etc. etc. Does it work? Look at us now . . .
Ten sleepers? Ten thousand, not counting the Islamists, Chinese and Izquierdistas de America Latina.
The US relies on satellites for their INTEL. The Russians get INTEL the old fashion way, HUMINTEL. It has worked for them since 1917. Since before WWII they sent thousands of illegals to Europe and the US and some successfully infiltrated government and college institutions. They even infiltrated the FDR administration. But it was ironic that when FDR was informed that the Russians have infiltrated the government, he would respond by saying “Uncle Joe wouldn’t do something like that”, refering to Joseph Stalin. Since Obama is compared to FDR, I can see him calling Putin “Uncle Putin” and Medvedev “Brother Medvedev”. The more things change, the more it looks like it has not changed at all.
We don’t dismiss attempted murder charges on the grounds that the assailant missed.
Another reason not to snicker.
For many decades the assumption was that since America is the land of opportunity, and you can be anything you want in America, that’s what turned all those generations of immigrants into loyal Americans. Well, here we have people who were making it in America and quite nicely. One was a graduate of the Harvard B school; the other, the “honeypot”, seems to be genuinely entrepreneurial, and would likely strike it rich even if she were as ugly as a log. Yet, the appeals of freedom, opportunity, prosperity, were over ridden by older and evidently stronger loyalties. If the American Dream isn’t strong enough glue to hold the allegiance, of the best and the brightest, then we have a real problem. And it isn’t just Russians; we started to ask this question after 9/11, but got diverted.
Classic Movie fans may be reminded of Ninotchka, a really great film made in the 1930s. Greta Garbo plays perfectly a dour functionary sent to Paris to represent the Soviet Government in a litigation in a French court over possession of some Czarist jewels. However she succumbs to the charms of Paris and an idle playboy and throws all that Commie crap to the winds. That’s how it went in fiction. The reality is that we can’t assume that the people occupying the top positions in government, finance, business, the courts and so on are necessarily good loyal Americans.
Based on policy positions & decisions made by our federal bureaucracy over the past twenty or so years, isn’t it patently obvious these folks & others like them committed socialists, have already infiltrated our ranks & have already seriously affected this nations policies? Lets be real, w/ so many who actually think socialism would be good for us & w/ the monumental efforts made by members of academia, what we have is a massive & serious effort to destroy America, from within. Obama was indoctrinated by his mentor (Frank Davis), & by his father & many others. He “surrounded” himself with radicals activists, communists, & others who were committed to & were active in socialist circles. He wanted to learn all he could. His brainwashing was total & complete. He never had someone discuss the positive aspects of our constitution. This is why he calls it a negative document. He never learned that its positives are basically its restrictions or limitations it places on the federal government. Obama sees that as a negative. But average folks know that if the federal government turns all powerful, if it becomes the end all be all for every decision, then it becomes the tyrant who runs the show no matter what the people think or say. W/o our constitution, minorities in America & oppressed peoples around the world, would have had no document, no government that acted to improve their circumstances. The world & in fact America herself would be a much different place than it is today. A place where the norm would be an oppressive government that has no written law to abide by, but makes it up as they go along, & makes sure whatever law is applied, it works in favor of those in power!
I believe these spies have been active & they are but a small number who have already been working hard to destroy this nation. Think about it folks. Perhaps we have a few who are already in the congress & yes, some even believe we have an occupant in the White House who is committed to the socialist ideology & who will do all he can to impose it on us using any means at his disposal & some we never thought were at his disposal.
The all-encompassing spying by the Chinese is far worse. They do not have to pay their spies in any traditional sense, they simply invite them for a nice meal and some ego-fluffing at a consulate party. There they remind their guests of how underdeveloped China is, and that there is nothing wrong in swiping proprietary secrets, reagents, and pieces of equipment to help the poor Chinese “catch up.” I have encountered essentially brilliant Chinese scientists who when questioned about such behavior simply cannot comprehend how their theft of intellectual property or unique biological reagents is theft let alone spying. Many of these things would be freely given at the appropriate time if legitimately requested, that is the nature of scientific collaboration, but they cannot and will not wait on their goal of domination.
The timing and exaggerated importance of this whole thing is just to distract us from the New Black Panther case.
“How dare you questions their patriotism?”
Seems like the Left’s got that part down pretty good.
One declining socialist kleptocracy spying on another. Yawn! We’ve reset our relationship with Russia, remember? Comrade Obama is always right! Those Russkies better use all that up-to-date technology they’ve managed to steal real quick before their feeble birthrate and their accelerating death rate catch up with each other and Russia becomes an Islamic Republic (Russia will have an Islamic majority by 2020). As for the Land Of Hope And Change, the Golden Goose has been plucked, cooked and eaten.
My first reaction is, “what the Hell difference does it make when your president
is a Commie?”
A cooler head does prevail, that spies must be rooted out, and the current Federal
regime will pass. One hopes.
Why is the New York Times studiously avoiding any mention of Anya Kruschenko Chapman’s friendship with financier and Democratic fundraiser Alan Patricoff?
Boris Badonov and Natasha Fatale were probably better spies than the current crew. But Rocky and Bullwinkle did a better job of protecting the country.
ron: charge them with espeinoge? this is America and we laws here. you dont charge someone with a crime they did not commit. they did not pass any secrets.
But I bet you you are a srong advocate for Jonathan Polard who is serving a life sentence in Fedral prison
for selling our secrets to the Israelis. That is ok…
Nope- Jonathan Pollard got what he deserved. Understand something Miriam, Conservatives are patriots first! We don’t like it when ANYBODY, whether they be on the left or the right, does something to hurt our country.
Blind patriotism, I think. Pollard was promised a plea bargain. Weinberger, once Pollard had spent more than 20 years in prison, stated without any prodding that Jonathan’s offense was minor and typically ‘got’ a much shorter sentence. The basic point being that the Fed broke the plea agreement they had with him. Note also that American spies in Israel, whether Israelis or Americans, get much nicer treatment when caught. The US applies immediate pressure to keep their sentences light. Thus an Israeli Navy officer who gave the store away to American handlers served about seven years and was released.
Another factor in Pollard being in jail this long is that some of Israel’s top pols abandoned him and continued to do so because 1) to come to his defense would make their relations with important Americans difficult, 2) they faced possible legal difficulties here. Additionally, the ‘official’ American Jewish community mostly sat on its hands for fear of the dual loyalty accusation.
So I think you have your facts wrong, and like about 20-40% of the posters here, your emotions overrule logic when it comes to considering foreign policy. That’s fine, but it does not make you right. It makes you what I would call a religious patriot, whether you are religious or not.
The other relevant fact being that Pollard acted in the wake of his discovery that not only was the Reagan Admin not keeping a strategic agreement it signed with then DM Sharon in 1982, but that officials and companies were actively aiding Iraqi WMD development. Yes, he broke the law, only after being convinced that US aid to Saddam could result in Israel’s destruction (though I think his opinion was wrong).
I wonder if you think any censure of any kind should have been due Reagan-Bush for openly violating that particular agreement.
Recall, if you will, Jimmy Carter’s genuine, almost touching, astonishment and dismay at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and his subsequent confession to the effect that the invasion, that single act by the Soviets, told him more about them than all his earnest, well-intentioned dialogues to that point. And while that experience did not result in any dramatic changes in Carter’s behavior, it at least indicated that he had the potential to recognize that he might possibly make a mistake and might, therefore, be in some small way disposed to do something about it.
And now we have The One. The Russians have invaded Georgia. They routinely beat and poison journalists and political opponents. They threaten their neighbors. They support America’s enemies and deny America support in the UN. They sell advanced radars and anti-aircraft missile systems to our most implacable enemies. They are caught, red-handed (pun) running multiple sleeper agents in the US (tip of the iceberg, anyone?) The One responds by abrogating missile defense agreements with those nations that Russia threatens. He pushes the reset button, but Hillary can’t get the translation right. He appeases, and every time Russia indicates by thought, word, and deed that they aren not our friends and allies, Obama appeases with even greater–as Shakespeare said–”base spaniel fawning.”
In Obamaworld, there is no possibility that Obama can be wrong, and therefore, no possibility of change. The world is as Obama imagines it is: enormously impressed by his magnificence and therefore anxious to do his bidding. Heaven help us.
What will be telling in the months to come is how the SVR agents’ cases are disposed of. If you see them getting whitewashed in the manner of the new Black Panther case, you may reasonably suspect that Obama doesn’t want them prosecuted for other reasons.
I submit in all seriousness that it should be considered as a frightening possibility that a man who was born of communists, raised by communist grandparents, mentored by a communist who was under the direct influence of the KGB, and who has associated extensively his entire adult life with communists … has potentially been directly under the control of the Russian SVR, and helped, promoted and financed to gain the highest possible office in the United States, where he could have the greatest possible impact on U.S. policy, as well as to facilitate the greatest possible theft of American secrets.
The FBI should interrogate these arrested SVR agents and any other in the manner of Al Qaeda operatives, to expose this fact. Or offer a massive reward (let’s say, $100M) to any former KGB / SVR, to provide evidence of same. But again, watch what happens. The FBI reports to Eric Holder (who is probably a communist).
What do you call a mole when it is in fact sitting atop the flag pole, not under the lawn?
Gathering intelligence is only one part of the job description of illegals. Gaining influence is perhaps the most important job of sleepers like this group. It is a subtle and sophisticated undertaking. And one which the Russians have practiced successfully for quite some time. Just take a look at America today.
Of course this case doesn’t amount to much. Seems as though Boris and Natasha got caught trying to spy on Moose and Squirrel. So why is it getting so much airplay just now?
Simple.
Obama has been doing everything he can to ruin the US economy so that he can force through socialist measures that the American people would otherwise vehemently reject. Journalists, bloggers, and protesters have been calling Obama “socialist,” “progressive,” and “Communist” – and not without overwhelming evidence to back up their accusations. What Obama needs here is a major diversion.
Having his henchmen round up a few insignificant Russian wannabee-spies makes Obama look as though he isn’t so much of a “commie” after all. Never mind the facts that Russia is not the Soviet Union, that Russia is not Communist, and that Obama is making no effort to curtail genuine present-day Communist enemies, such as North Korea and Venezuela.
His supporters can say, “See, the Obama administration is cracking down on Russian spies. That means that the Obama administration isn’t communist after all.” Yeah, riiiight…
Even if a single U.S. secret was not compromised, as they say may well be the case, it was not for want of trying.
The most valuable intelligence is not always the most highly classified. What the enemy wants is to know what we’re thinking. If Donald Heathfield was truly good a “joining” and getting the right people to say things at parties, he could be a very valuable agent. One can learn a lot about, say, a State Department negotiating position by listening to a junior level staffer complain about working late. One can also determine fairly easily when there’s a crisis going on at the Pentagon by simply observing the proper Domino’s Pizza store.
Through lust or one’s heart is the easiest way to become a mole — remember the Marines at the US Embassy in Moscow in the late ’80s who fell for and were fooled by the female Russian embassy workers?
Nowadays, it’s our military men overseas (whether in Korea or in Europe) who are meeting young Russian women there and getting married to them. Hopefully, these women have undergone strict background checks by the militaries before their members marry the women.
Anya, Anna, whatever…
Eye candy though you are, you do not get to stay here.
You’re an illegal alien, who’s about to serve a sentence making you a felon.
You get to go home to the motherland and explain to Putin.
Maybe the Brits will trade you for some oil deal and you won’t have to serve the whole sentence.
“…some solid reporting, even in the New York Times.”
Oops! I think your knee just jerked, Ron.