Espionage Expert: There Will Always Be Spying

(CBS)  They're gaining fame as the "The Spies Among Us": Eleven alleged Russian agents who federal prosecutors charge were trained by Moscow and sent to infiltrate America.

Most posed as couples and quietly set up house in the suburbs around New York, Washington, and Boston.

But, one opted for the spotlight: Manhattan parties, Facebook, and YouTube.

Anna Chapman, a socialite and real estate entrepreneur and now accused spy is becoming the face of the caper that has intelligence experts a bit baffled.

"It is a serious spy effort," former CIA officer Peter Earnest told CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. "This is not being done for comic relief."

Earnest spent 25 years running spies during the Cold War. He says the Kremlin invested heavily in the alleged suburban spies.

"It sounds like they were assigned initially to do that with the aim of gleaning what we would call political intelligence," he said.

The accused spies were directed to mingle with policy makers and think tank experts. But, they apparently didn't get much.

One of the suspects claimed he chatted up a former U.S. government official. Another reported to Moscow that he'd met a staffer working on nuclear weapons development.

But, officials say no state secrets were stolen. In fact much of the information collected would be readily available on the internet, a resource that did NOT exist when the snooping program started.

The suspects were also instructed to look for potential recruits: Americans who may be willing to sell secrets.

Journalist and leading expert on espionage David Wise said while the alleged spies did not turn over any classified information, they were part of a robust Russian network.

"Well, the cold war ended 19 years ago. But the KGB never stopped working. And they never will stop working. Nor will we," said Wise. "This is what countries do. They spy on each other."

There have certainly been spies who have done more damage: Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen are just a few.

But, the FBI spent a decade working this case, a clear sign the government still views espionage as a leading threat.

[NigelC7]

You are supposed to spy on other nations then go into denial mode when caught

[larrryshrine]

It's a double standard, and will always be so. Agents spying on the U.S. - no matter what country they work for - are excoriated in the press and by the public and are subject to severe penalties. And at the same time, we run spies in other countries. I can't prove it, but would suspect that we are spying on Russia, Israel, Iran, and who knows who else. And if one of our spies get caught, guess what - he or she is subject to severe penalties. So the double standard will exist as long as there are spies. It's been so for many decades, and will continue into the future. I am not condoning, merely observing. And don't get me wrong - the Russian spies should be punished, just like we would expect our spies to be punished by a foreign power.

[RoboBlogger]

Of course there will always be spies. Its bred into our DNA to find out how to overcome one's shortcoming by observing the opponent for weakness. OODA to be more precise. Observe Orientate Decide Act.

[alphaa10000]

COLD WAR-- OR BUSINESS AS USUAL?

CBS reports, ""It is a serious spy effort," former CIA officer Peter Earnest told CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. "This is not being done for comic relief... It sounds like they were assigned initially to do that with the aim of gleaning what we would call political intelligence," he said."
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Espionage cases represent merely "business-as-usual" among the major powers, because everyone spies on everybody else.

That does not make it the ideal policy in peacetime, but neither does it make it completely wrong. There are abundant arguments for a foreign policy which has all the facts, including information other states do not wish known.

Our own government has taken those arguments to heart. With no special effort, taxpayers can read about the massive void in our federal budget for "black operations", which includes funding for NSA, CIA and other spying.

Most of that spying budget comes not from "cloak-and-dagger" human spying, but from satellites and other remote sensing devices.

Such machine-driven intelligence gathering has been in place a long time. Even at the height of the Cold War, B29s and RB47s skirted the coastal waters of Russia to pick up and record radio and radar signals for the same reason Russian Bear and Bison bombers skirted our coastal waters.

And in 1960, Francis Gary Powers and his U2 spyplane were shot down over Soviet territory after a continuous series of US spy overflights-- all to provide a clear picture of what threat Soviet strategic weapons posed to the US.

It was business-as-usual. The day is long past since Secretary Stimson closed the decoding section of the Department of State because, as he claimed, "Gentlemen don't read each other's mail."

Likewise, espionage cases come from not only The Usual Suspects, but our old "ally and friend" Israel. The Jonathan Pollard case is only the tip of continuous Israeli efforts, often in conjunction with AIPAC (American-Israeli Political Action Committee), to plunder through the American security establishment.

As an instructive example, look over our congress, and register how many of them receive aid and comfort from AIPAC money and/or affiliate organizations. Now, ask for a show of hands of how many are "Shocked! Shocked!" at the string of cases associated with Israeli agents in the US.

AIPAC is so brazen, it uses friendly congressmen like Joseph Lieberman in The Best Congress Money Can Buy to criticize all efforts to balance our foreign policy away from overt favoritism and direct aid to Israel. Congressmen like Lieberman have been so successful, the American taxpayer funds one of every five dollars in the Israeli defense budget, and spends one-third of foreign aid to prop up Israeli interests-- more than all US aid to Africa, combined.

The lesson? Covert operations, even political front groups like AIPAC, work well in Washington because we are a nation of immigrants from all over the world. Not only Israeli agents but Russian and Chinese agents move freely against the ethnic patchwork of the "typical" America.

While many are alarmed at the latest FBI "sting" of Russian agents, it is also reasonable evidence the FBI is doing its job well. The background on this case spans many years, from 2000 and possibly before, and by the time it reaches the US press, all the excitement is over. A court case represents nothing more than the final stage of FBI counter-espionage activity-- when more details can be made public.

Put another way, a spy case in the press is actually a "slow news day"-- the real activity almost never makes the news.