Moscow's spies are at it again, officials say

Baltimore Sun ^ | March 26, 2006 | Douglas Birch

[Tailgunner Joe]

The amount of Russian espionage in the United States dipped after the Soviet collapse in 1991, officials and experts say, but rebounded by 1994 under then-foreign intelligence chief and later Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a "massive" expansion of intelligence-gathering in Western Europe and North America, Jane's Intelligence Digest reported. Officials and experts say Russian spying has increased significantly under Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel.

"In 1989 and 1990, after the Berlin Wall fell, we all wanted to light candles and sing 'Kumbaya' and wait for the peace dividends to roll in," said James Casey, chief of the Eurasia section of the FBI's counterintelligence division. "But things haven't changed as much as we thought they were going to change in 1989."

The Kremlin considers Chechen insurgents and Islamic militants the greatest threats to its security, Casey said. "But in the same breath, they'll talk about the United States. They still consider us a strategic threat."

In Russian intelligence circles, the United States no longer is called the glavny protivnik, or "main adversary," as in Soviet days, said Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB general who worked as a spy in New York and Washington in the late 1960s and early 1970s. "Now, it is 'priority No. 1.' "

"A great power humiliated wants to restore its influence worldwide," said Kalugin, who has lived in the United States since 1995. ...

"Just five years ago, the Russian media was relatively free. There was some freedom in parliament and in the courts," Kalugin said. "But today that's all over."

Western governments are interested in Moscow's close commercial and diplomatic ties to North Korea and Iran. The Kremlin confirmed last month that it planned to sell $700 million worth of surface-to-air missiles to Iran...

[Redleg1963]

"In 1989 and 1990, after the Berlin Wall fell, we all wanted to light candles and sing 'Kumbaya' and wait for the peace dividends to roll in," said James Casey, chief of the Eurasia section of the FBI's counterintelligence division. "But things haven't changed as much as we thought they were going to change in 1989." Perhaps, and this is just my uneducated guess, after 45 years of focus on one advesary, many in the intelligence community are still focused on Russia. You don't forget the main players, just because the threat has diminished.

[Stellar Dendrite]

ping

[strategofr]

"It is unclear how much Russia stands to gain from acquiring equipment such as high-tech sensors or lasers. John Pike, an arms expert and director of GlobalSecurity.org, said the manufacture of advanced devices requires sophisticated components and experienced managers, robotic systems and highly trained workers.

"The challenge today is to find something that can be stolen and that can be used when you bring it home," he said.

Russia's military-industrial complex may not be up to the task, Pike said. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia's military technology was 10 years behind that of the United States; today, it is about 25 years behind, he said."

Wow, this is a relief! The Russians have apparently turned our security into a sieve, and are stealing all of our most secret technologies to do with our most vital defenses like lasers, anti-ballistic missiles, space weapons, etc. But the poor Russian fools don't realize that they can't do anything with the secrets anyway! I guess we really outsmarted them, huh?

[Tailgunner Joe]

haha. Pike is a leftist so of course he tries to downplay the threat from abroad even as he pushes for unilateral disarmament.

Why does the media think John Pike is a "national security expert"?

[spanalot]

"Russian spying has increased significantly under Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel."

Consult a surgeon and his is going to recomend surgery.

[Altair333]

"The Kremlin confirmed last month that it planned to sell $700 million worth of surface-to-air missiles to Iran."

All those SAM missiles they sold to Iraq and Serbia did those countries a whole lot of good. They must have fired something like 1000 SAMs for every plane they shot down.

[Thunder90]

Communism never collapsed in Russia, it just got a makeover and an image team.

[Wiz]

Try reading something from Federation of American Scientists. You will probably notice it way worse than John Pike. When compared to them, John Pike sounds like being in the center, instead of the left.

[Schwaeky]

that's like going to a bankruptcy lawyer and asking if your bankrupt...

[b2stealth]

There is no such thing as ex-KGB.. (c) Putin