Russian Spy Mystery: Why’d They Bother?

Recently, 12 Russians were accused of spying in the U.S. FF interviewed former intelligence officials to help make sense of this spy caper.

The Russians don't seem to realize that the Cold War ended almost thirty years ago.  Recently, there were 12 Russians accused of spying in the U.S. for approximately a decade.  One spy, Christopher Metsos, avoided extradition by jumping bail in Cyprus while the other eleven were arrested by the FBI as illegals.  They are accused of posing as civilians in an effort to penetrate U.S. policy circles. FrumForum interviewed former intelligence officials to get their opinions on the issues surrounding this spy caper.

The spies were detected at a very early stage.  According to former CIA Director, Michael Hayden, they were likely detected because in the internet age it is very difficult to build a ledger legend that stands up.  He stated that “part of the challenge the Russians may have had is trying to sustain anonymity or a false identity in which ‘paper trails’ are far more visible and far more frequent.  With records being easily accessible it is very hard for illegals to have the cloak of invisibility they had 20 years ago.”

In addition, all those interviewed were puzzled and baffled as to what the Russians were trying to accomplish. Tom Burns, a former FBI Soviet counter-terrorism agent, explained that those arrested as illegals do not have the protection of diplomatic immunity.  He stated that “those who have been branded with diplomatic immunity would be allowed to return home even if they were caught red handed with classified information.  Apparently these Russians did not have any access to classified information.”  Richard Marquise, a former counter – terrorism FBI agent who headed the Lockerbie investigation, sarcastically wondered why “FBS (the Soviet intelligence Agency) [would] send as moles people who can have the ability to get mostly public source information.  I guess they have not heard of the internet.”

FrumForum was given a number of possibilities regarding the Russian goals.  Frances Townsend, President Bush’s former Homeland Security Advisor, stated that “Just because the Cold War ended doesn’t mean they just stopped trying.”  Michael Hayden, former CIA Director, told FrumForum that “there is a bit of that Cold War fixation that still goes on in the Russian services and it shows up in the Russian political leadership.” Burns felt that they were possibly “spotters.”  Their goal was to interact in normal social situations with people in their neighborhoods.  By doing this they could search out someone sympathetic to Russia who might be approached and developed.  Another scenario involving spotters is to find individuals vulnerable to being recruited.  He noted that “they would be blackmailed based on knowledge of a sexual act or anything that could cause the individual to cooperate for fear of being exposed.”

Were any of these former intelligence officials surprised at the timing of the arrests considering that President Obama was meeting with Russian President Medvedev?  All agreed with a former CIA official that “something probably forced the FBI’s hand.  Maybe they picked up some information that they were close to, or had recruited a US citizen, or maybe they heard that some or all were getting ready to bug out.”  Another former official noted that the Obama Administration is “making nice to the Russians.  By arresting the Russians at this time the right flank could be more protected. President Obama should have made it perfectly clear to the Russians that this is completely unacceptable.” However Townsend cautioned that “Although President Obama should have publicly praised the FBI effort, we have to be careful not to overreact.  The Russians could arbitrarily pick out Americans in Russia and hold them.” Hayden agreed and commented that “this may be one reason the President is letting the actions speak for themselves.  He is not going to pound his chest about that because the more he does the more Putin will feel the need to respond.”

Burns wanted people to realize that this incident showed “the strength of the FBI.  They were able to manage the situation for about a decade, watching the Russian activities.  Information was gained that could be used in the future.”  Hayden wanted Americans to understand that although “I do not want to trivialize or dismiss it; yet, I find this more curious than frightening.  It’s not quite the same thing as taking microfiche out of CIA headquarters.”