Every Russki in America arrested for spying

[Ed Jewett]

[URL="http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view.bg?articleid=1264792&format=comments#CommentsArea"]oops
[/URL]

[Ed Jewett]

White House: President Obama knew of fed sting, kept quiet

By Herald wire services
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - Updated 3h ago
[url=http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?targetUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bostonherald.com%2Fnews%2Fus_politics%2Fview.bg%3Farticleid%3D1264792][/url]
President Obama knew FBI agents were zeroing in on a Russian spy ring when he had burgers with President Dmitry Medvedev at a Washington D.C.-area eatery last week.
The arrests of 11 alleged deep-cover agents living near Boston, New York and Washington prompted angry denials and laughs in Moscow yesterday. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs insisted it was a law enforcement matter, but said Obama knew about the case before he met with Medvedev last week. Another spokesman said Obama did not know the timing of the arrests. Obama declined to comment.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin drew a laugh from former President Bill Clinton in a meeting outside Moscow when he said, “I understand that back home police are putting people in prison. That’s their job. I’m counting on the fact that the positive trend seen in the relationship will not be harmed by these events.” The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the arrests as “Cold War-era spy stories.” U.S. and Russian officials insisted they would have little effect on recently mended relations.


http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_poli...ept_quiet/

[Helen Reyes]

Vi vill distract zee attenshin uv zee Amerikans frum aur sekrit sleeper agent Barry Soetoro by halfing 11 false sleeper agents arrested.

[Magda Hassan]

Five of the alleged Russian spies arrested in the US in court: MI5 says that Russian espionage in the UK is at the same levels as during the cold war. Photograph: Shireley Shepard/AFP/Getty Images The uncovering of the spy ring in the US is unlikely to surprise MI5. In recent years the agency has been building up its counter-espionage arm against Russian and other foreign spies for the first time since the end of the cold war, according to counter-intelligence officials.
Though its priority remains the threat from extreme Islamist and al-Qaida inspired terrorism, MI5 officers have been switched to counter more traditional tasks against foreign states whose intentions are considered hostile, officials say.
"The number of Russian intelligence officers in London is at the same level as in Soviet times", MI5 says on its website. It does not say how many there are but counter-intelligence officers have told the Guardian that 30 agents are operating out of the Russian embassy and trade mission in London.
Russia is interested in particular in the energy policies of the west, given the importance of its own oil and natural gas reserves, and the Kremlin's determination to use them as an instrument of foreign policy, the officials said. Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, is a former chairman of Gazprom, Russia's giant energy company.
Though Britain is less dependent on energy imports than continental countries, both Labour and the coalition government has highlighted the issue in their national security strategies.
They have made the point that Russia and China were making control of energy supply a foreign policy priority.
MI5 says on its website: "We estimate that at least 20 foreign intelligence services are currently operating in the UK against UK interests. The Russian and Chinese intelligence services are particularly active, and currently present the greatest concern."
It adds: "The threat of espionage (spying) did not end with the collapse of Soviet communism in the early 1990s. Espionage against UK interests continues from many quarters."
"In the past, espionage activity was typically directed towards obtaining political and military intelligence. In today's high-tech world, the intelligence requirements of a number of countries now include new communications technologies, IT, genetics, aviation, lasers, optics, electronics and many other fields. Intelligence services, therefore, are targeting commercial enterprises far more than in the past".
MI5 continues: "The UK is a high priority espionage target and a number of countries are actively seeking UK information and material to advance their own military, technological, political and economic programmes."
Counter-intelligence sources say while the specific threat of cyberwarfare comes from China, Russia is after a raft of information, ranging from the analyses of the political scene in Westminster to high-tech weapons systems.
"The threat from Russian espionage continues to be significant and is similar to the cold war", a counter-terrorism official said yesterday.
Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, said the technique of placing agents under long term deep cover was one the Russians had used for a very long time. "These are techniques long tried and trusted", she said.
Sir David Omand, former security and intelligence coordinator, said he was surprised by the amount of investment the Russian had put into the US operation.
Russia has said it wants to improve bilateral relations with Britain, damaged by the radioactive polonium 210 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian former agent and dissident who died in a London hospital in November 2006.
"The Russians have been very active here and have been very ruthless", Omand said referring to the Litvinenko case. He added: "London is still a target for the Russians, largely directed at ex-patriots".
Shortly after Litvinenko died, British security sources said they believed there was a Russian state connection with the murder. They have not changed that view.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun...war-levels

[Magda Hassan]

US claims 'Russian spies' used British passports

By Channel 4 News
Updated on 29 June 2010

Government officials have confirmed to Channel 4 News they are investigating the alleged use of fake British and Irish passports by suspected Russian spies in America. Sarah Smith reports from the US on a plot worthy of a Cold War drama.

Enable JavaScript to play video.


Members of the alleged spy ring, who were rounded up in FBI raids in Boston, New York, New Jersey and Virginia, were using fake British and Irish passports, according to US government papers.
See the full charge sheet here.
The FBI arrested 10 people for allegedly serving for years as secret agents of Russia's intelligence service, the SVR, with the goal of penetrating US government policymaking circles.
US Department of Justice papers said that Tracey Lee Ann Foley travelled on a "fraudulent British passport prepared for her by the SVR". Foley was arrested in Boston on Monday.
The New York Times has reported that the FBI moved to arrest the spy ring suspects because they feared one of them was about to leave the US.

In a statement Russian president Vladimir Putin has said he hopes the case does not "reverse positive gains" in US-Russian relations. Earlier, officials in Moscow said the suspect had never acted against US interests.

More from Channel 4 News on the Russian spy allegations
- Read the charge sheet against the alleged spies (.pdf)
- Spies who came in from the suburbs
- I spy: from Trolleygate to exploding cigars
- US to Russia: we know who your spies are
A Foreign Office spokeswoman has told Channel 4 News: "We have seen the reports and, obviously, we will look into them."
Members of the group are accused of conspiracy to act as unlawful agents of a foreign government. Nine of them also face a charge of conspiracy to launder money. An eleventh suspect named "Christopher R Metsos" was arrested earlier in Cyprus.

Enable JavaScript to play video.


Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Irish government has told Channel 4 News: "The Department of Foreign Affairs has, this morning, learned that a person arrested in the United States on suspicion of espionage activity is alleged to have travelled on a forged Irish passport.
"The Deparment of Foreign Affairs will be seeking to obtain further information in relation to these reports. The firm position of the government in regard to fraudulent use of Irish passports is a matter of record."


Professor Christopher Andrew, the official historian of MI5 who has also written about Russian and US security services, told Channel 4 News the Russians are, at root, nostalgic about the "glory days" of espionage.

Enable JavaScript to play video.


He said: "During the Cold War they were brilliant at producing disguises. It's simply that there isn't very much evidence that these illegals, who spent years and years training for the job, actually collected anything very worthwhile.
"It is partly about commercial secrets but it's just an old tradition which they keep hankering back to."
Meanwhile, a former British intelligence agent Oleg Gordievsky believes the significance of the latest development is that the FBI is saying to the Russians "we know who your spies in the US are."
He explained: "When I visited the US, in the late 1980s and 1990s, I was struck then by how much the FBI knew about the KGB 'illegals'. I was very impressed. The fact is, the United States is spied upon more than any other country in the world."

[Magda Hassan]

I wonder how differently the evil Russians will be dealt with than the Israelis with regards to the use of passports. If russia has any sense they will say "There is no proof" even if there is.

[Keith Millea]

the SVR, with the goal of penetrating US government policymaking circles.

Well yeah,I'd say there was some deep penetration in policymaking circles.Lucky Bastards! :driver:


"Anna Chapman".

[Jan Klimkowski]

Professor Christopher Andrew, the official historian of MI5 who has also written about Russian and US security services, told Channel 4 News the Russians are, at root, nostalgic about the "glory days" of espionage.

He said: "During the Cold War they were brilliant at producing disguises. It's simply that there isn't very much evidence that these illegals, who spent years and years training for the job, actually collected anything very worthwhile.

leep:leep:leep:

Wot - did stupefyingly tedious Colonel Mustard-flavoured ordure just emerge from the mouth of MI5's officially authorized historian......

[Paul Rigby]

the SVR, with the goal of penetrating US government policymaking circles.

Well yeah,I'd say there was some deep penetration in policymaking circles.Lucky Bastards! :driver:


"Anna Chapman".

Silicon Valley - must be CIA.

[Paul Rigby]

Professor Christopher Andrew, the official historian of MI5 who has also written about Russian and US security services, told Channel 4 News the Russians are, at root, nostalgic about the "glory days" of espionage.

He said: "During the Cold War they were brilliant at producing disguises. It's simply that there isn't very much evidence that these illegals, who spent years and years training for the job, actually collected anything very worthwhile.

leep:leep:leep:

Wot - did stupefyingly tedious Colonel Mustard-flavoured ordure just emerge from the mouth of MI5's officially authorized historian......

Penis-cutting (aka involuntary genital mutilation) apparently leads to increased levels of job satisfaction, according to Christopher Robin:

Hay 2010: Only Mills & Boon can rival British intelligence, says MI5's official historian

Charlotte Higgins
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 June 2010 22.00 BST

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/j...andrew-mi5

The official historian of MI5, Christopher Andrew, who spent several years as a member of the service while he undertook the research for his book The Defence of the Realm, suggested a solution to the banking crisis: moving all the people who work in GCHQ to the banks. His point was that the British intelligence services have never much minded employing people who disagree with the orthodox view, nor, more importantly, genuine eccentrics, rather than the management-speak-tamed clones running the banks. He recalled codebreaker Alan Turing's many oddnesses: wearing his gas mask at his job interview because he believed it would diminish the probability of catching a cold; chaining his coffee mug to his radio ("very sensible, but not something to mark you out as a team player"); converting his life savings into silver ingots, burying them in the grounds of Bletchley Park, but then being unable to find them after the war.

He also claimed that the human resources consultants employed to discover the levels of job satisfaction at the British domestic intelligence service had found that there was "only one organisation they had investigated that had higher morale: the publisher Mills & Boon". Perhaps this is partly down to the fact that the spies stage an annual satirical revue with, he recalled, a sketch including a skit on Pirates of the Caribbean. Well, that's certainly a plotline they've not explored in Spooks. Perhaps just as well: the real version didn't sound especially funny.

Which is why MI5 has long been stuffed-full of far-right army types and public schoolboys - diversity, spook-style.

If there is a bigger tosser currently propagandizing for the penis-cutters, we need to know.