US arrests alleged Russian spies

[Kalam]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsZWZdQfdKk]YouTube - US detains alleged Russian secret agents[/ame]

US arrests alleged Russian spies

US authorities have arrested 10 people for allegedly serving for years as deep cover secret agents of Russia's SVR intelligence agency, with the goal of penetrating US government policymaking circles.

According to court papers unsealed on Monday, the FBI intercepted a message from SVR headquarters in Moscow to two of the defendants, describing their main mission as "to search and develop ties in policymaking circles in US".

They were to "become sufficiently 'Americanised' such that they could gather information about the United States for Russia and can successfully recruit sources who are in, or are able to infiltrate, United States policymaking circles", according to criminal complaints filed in US federal court....

According to the court papers, the defendants had been operating in the US for years, with alleged activities ranging from as far back as 2000 to just Saturday, when undercover FBI agents met two of the accused individuals.

The timing of the arrests was notable given the emphasis that Barack Obama, the US president, and his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev have placed on "resetting" US-Russia relations....

Intelligence on Obama's foreign policy positions, particularly as they related to Russia, appeared to have been one of the top priorities for the defendants, according to the court filings....

Full article:
US arrests alleged Russian spies - Americas - Al Jazeera English

And this happens right after the State Department criticizes anti-Russian resistance in Chechnya...

 

[blu]

the technology they used to hide (or attempted to hide) their communications is fascinating. I would have loved to work that forensics case, would have done it for free

 

[Avatar4321]

Seriously, don't they know any better? You don't arrest the spies. You give them bad intel. Arresting the spies you know about will just have them send spies you don't know about.

Use your adversaries tools against him.

 

[JBeukema]

So they sent spies who failed to spy?

 

[Mr. H.]

I would guess the U.S. has similar operatives in Russia.

 

[sangha]

Seriously, don't they know any better? You don't arrest the spies. You give them bad intel. Arresting the spies you know about will just have them send spies you don't know about.

Use your adversaries tools against him.

Umm, one of the spies was preparing to flee. I guess you would be happy if they all got away scot-free

 

[martybegan]

Seriously, don't they know any better? You don't arrest the spies. You give them bad intel. Arresting the spies you know about will just have them send spies you don't know about.

Use your adversaries tools against him.

It seems they have been monitoring them or even using them for counterintel for a long time. Maybe they just got sick of watching them or realized that they had used them as much as they could.

To me this is usual statecraft. Nothing personal, just business. We play the same game too. You just have to catch people from time to time to make the other side at least work for it.