by whitenoice on 2/11/17, 4:53 PM with 75 comments
by Pyxl101 on 2/11/17, 8:23 PM
FBI Operation Ghost Stories arrested 11 people back in 2010. https://vault.fbi.gov/ghost-stories-russian-foreign-intellig...
What I'm wondering is: how many other agents are out there and haven't been caught yet? Or were here and left without being caught?
I wonder if this type of agent is still in active use, in the sense of seeding more of them. Given the arrests just 7 years ago, I'd guess so. But perhaps not, since hacking and electronic surveillance can be so effective. You don't necessarily need an agent within a country's borders to penetrate a lot of their networks, email, and other communications.
But you never know ... what lengths would Russia go to to get an agent TS/SCI clearance and access to a SCIF?
by pjc50 on 2/11/17, 11:04 PM
The TV series Deutchland 83 is also well worth watching for a snappy spy drama about a young man from East Germany being coerced into being a double agent.
by CalChris on 2/11/17, 8:10 PM
by akoster on 2/11/17, 8:42 PM
by diebir on 2/12/17, 10:41 AM
The Americans is a cool show, but the real life illegals could not fool anyone.
These days Russia probably has no need for this type of presence, since there are enough Russians living in the US and enough of them support Putin that a small percentage may choose to work as spies. Same for China.
Another interesting detail that came out of the 2010 illegal bust was that America is so diverse and people are so respectful of privacy, that one of the spies was doing just fine with an American name ("Jack Ryan" or "Patric Foley" or something like), fully American "legend" and a heavy Russian accent. People wondered but nobody asked any questions.
P.S. And who needs spies when you can have a whole administration? :)
by EternalData on 2/11/17, 10:33 PM
by walterkobayashi on 2/13/17, 9:18 PM
by kev009 on 2/11/17, 10:59 PM
by myf01d on 2/11/17, 8:56 PM