These operations, in turn, have been compromised by double agents in the United States. The CIA did its fair share of infiltration.īut rather than train moles who can masquerade as locals, the CIA has specialized in cultivating “assets,” namely foreigners willing to cough up secrets for cash or a ticket to a safe house in the Midwest. Remember the huge appendix of agents in Philip Agee’s famous Inside the Company: CIA Diary? Most of these were the usual chiefs of station, but the list also included people like Lloyd Haskins, an agent who worked as the executive secretary of the International Federation of Petroleum and Chemical Workers. This rule applies as much to the untrustworthy Russkies as it does to the home team. Human intelligence - or HUMINT - remains a key element of spycraft. Oh, those crazy Russians! Didn’t anyone tell Boris and Natasha that the Cold War is over and they can get all the intelligence they need from open sources or through the usual crypto-diplomatic channels?īut in espionage, as in politics, it’s all who you know. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has continued to rely on - and celebrate - these “illegals” who burrow into societies under false names and remain planted for years. There was even that indispensible element of the post-007 era: the KGB’s comely Anna Chapman and her honey-traps. The coverage of the Russian spy ring has been full of intriguing and salacious details: forged passports, fake identities, and secret coded texts posted on the Internet. The latest spy scandal involving the Russian “sleepers” is a case in point. In espionage, as in sports, we generally see the heroism of our side and the perfidy of the opponent.
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