Archives:
Russian Double Agent Who Brought Do...
Huffington Post Op Ed 6/30/10
Huffington Post Op Ed 7/8/10
Colonel Alexander Poteyev, the Russian double agent instrumental in the arrests of ten Russian spies in the United States last June 27, was convicted of treason and desertion in absentia by the Moscow District Military Court, which handed down a prison sentence of 25 years. The …
Official Charged with Betrayal Flee...
By Daria Carmon
In the wake of the exposure of a Russian spy ring in the U.S, Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has begun a campaign against the man who is supposedly responsible for the failure. Aleksandr Poteyev, a former Russian intelligence officer, has been accused in Moscow of betraying the spy ring and faces up …
Raymond Davis is a Spy? Not So, Say...
Relations between the United States and Pakistan are heating up as the details surrounding an imprisoned American become less clear. Raymond Davis was arrested by Pakistani officials in January on murder charges after shooting and killing two men. He claims that they approached him in his car with guns drawn in an attempt to rob him …
Iran Blames West for Stuxnet; Arres...
In the aftermath of the discovery of the complicated and effective Stuxnet worm, Iran’s intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi blamed western intelligence agencies for developing and unleashing the virus on thousands of Iranian computers. He has now announced on Iranian TV that his own intelligence team has captured “several spies” implicated in the plot to derail Iran’s …
New AMC Spy Show: Seriously Smart S...
If you’re on the prowl for a new action-packed, fast-paced spy series, this is not the one for you. However, if you’re curious about what sort of person, with what sort of past and psychology, goes into the spy line of work anyhow, AMC’s Rubicon might just be up your alley.
A word of caution: The …
Texas Girl Arrested for Attempted S...
A 24-year-old Texas beautician was arrested on July 15 after trying to smuggle three night-vision rifle scopes into Russia aboard a JFK-Moscow flight in March. Although rifle scopes, which allow riflemen to see more precisely at further distances, are widely available in the U.S., exporting them without a license is illegal.
Anna Fermanova, born in Latvia …
U.S. v. Iran: Winds of War or Psych...
By Haggai Carmon
Did Brigadier-General Mehdi Moini, who commands Iran’s Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps (IRGC) in the Iranian West Azerbaijan province, fail to read events through, or was he conducting psychological counter-warfare? Moini was interviewed by the Iranian television channel Press TV, following media reports on the presence of American and Israeli forces in Azerbaijan …
A Russian-U.S. Spy Swap: What’...
By Haggai Carmon
At this very moment, there are growing rumors about plans for a prisoner swap that would return ten suspected Russian spies to Russia, in exchange for an imprisoned Russian military researcher Igor Sutyagin, who was convicted of espionage in 2004. The rumors also suggest that the U.S. has compiled a list of 11 …
The Russian Sleeper Spy Ring in the...
By Haggai Carmon
This week the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York filed criminal complaints against ten alleged Russian sleeper agents in the U.S. Although the cases concern U.S. national security, the sleepers were not indicted for espionage but rather for lesser charges of money laundering related felonies and for failure to register as foreign agents, …
Tango with Tehran
By Haggai Carmon
Time has come for the world to recognize that a nuclear-armed Iran could bring the economy to their knees by hiking the price of Middle East oil, and that what is needed is more than rhetoric and mild sanctions against Iran.
“Let’s tango with the Americans,” said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to his …
Obama Forces U.S. Spy Chief to Reti...
On Thursday May 20, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair resigned from his post as head of the sixteen agencies that together create the U.S. intelligence community. Although his resignation was originally attributed to his security...
CIA to Improve Intelligence Gatheri...
Just about everything about the CIA is classified – including its budget – but occasionally we get a little insight into how it’s spending its money: This week, the agency announced plans to pour millions of dollars over the next five years into improving intelligence gathering techniques, technologies and communications.
Number 1 on the agenda is …
15 yrs in slammer for China-born en...
Seven months after Dongfan 'Greg' Chung, a Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizen in his seventies, was put on trial for economic espionage, he has been issued a sentence of 15 years. His trial was a quick affair – 10 days in Santa Ana, California – and he was declared guilty of...
U.S. official gets 3 years for help...
In September of 2009, an ex-Pentagon official with top security clearance was put on trial for knowingly sharing military secrets with an agent of a foreign government - the Chinese government to be specific. James Fondren, 62...
China poised to win cyber war?
Google shocked the Chinese government – not to mention all us gmail users – by announcing on January 12 that the company had suffered a serious cyber security breach, likely perpetrated by China. Encouraged by Google’s bold step, other companies are now coming forward, and so we see...