Russian Spies Aim High -- but Fall Short

"It's all strange. This is a quirky case to say succinctly."

That statement comes from Bob Orr, who has seen his fair share of national security cases over the years as CBS News' Justice Correspondent. The case in question, of course, is that involving 11 people living in the United States allegedly involved in a Cold-war style espionage ring on behalf of Russia.

With one of the suspects jumping bail in Cyprus and another being held without bail, the other nine suspects made their first appearance in federal courts - in Boston, New York and Alexandria, Va. - Thursday morning.

Orr spoke with CBS News Senior White House Correspondent Bill Plante on Thursday's Washington Unplugged and explained their tale.

"These apparently were real people working for Russia," he said. "They were here a long time. They mingled in fairly high profile circles, but as far as we can tell they really didn't deliver any of the goods."

Plante asked Orr the question that has everyone scratching their heads - why the romanticism of playing "spy games" for such low stakes?

According to Orr, "When this program was started, things like Google didn't exist, for example. This is kind of old fashioned vestige of the Cold War, where you go out and meet people, work with people, go to cocktail parties."

Orr added: "The goldmine here [is] former government officials who may have been become disenchanted, maybe a little loose with the tongue, maybe they could tell you something that would lead you to someone with real information. That might be the most important thing here. These folks, among other things, were supposed to be recruiting potential sources."

While the story has become fodder for the tabloids (especially give the public face of the saga, Anna Chapman, who's being dubbed the ring's "femme fatale"), Orr notes that it's still a lesson to be learned and shouldn't be taken lightly.

"The fact is a foreign government did manage for a long time to have a sustained network of deep cover, covert operatives here and that's serious business," he said.

Watch Thursday's Washington Unplugged above, also featuring CBS News Chief Political Consultant Marc Ambinder on al-Qaeda's English language magazine, "Inspire," and the potential impact of the sexual harassment allegations against Al Gore as well as the Brookings Institution's Stephen Hess on the legacy of the late Robert Byrd.

"Washington Unplugged," CBSNews.com's exclusive daily politics Webshow, appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 2:00 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.