The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service in the US - Research Paper Example

Ann Chapman and Ten Russian Agents in the US In the US, there is a program that was referred to as the illegals program which was named so by the US department of justice. This is because the program comprised of a network that harbored Russian spies. These spies were also under non-official cover. An investigation by the FBI led to an arrest of the 10 agents. Moreover, this arrest led to the exchange of prisoners between Russia and the US in 2010. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service is the one that had set the spies in the US. In this case, the spies were supposed to behave like ordinary American citizens. They were supposed to build relationships with people such as policymakers, industrialists and academicians so that they could gain access to America’s intelligence service (DeYoung and Pincus). These agents served as the target of the US for many years thereby forcing the FBI to name program as Operation Ghost Stories. This operation reached its climax when the 10 spies were arrested in the US by the end of June 2010. Many people who the police arrested got charged for carrying out deep-cover assignments in the US for a long time after being directed by the Russian government (Parfitt). However, one suspect who had been arrested in Cyprus is said to have skipped bail. On the other hand, there was a twelfth person who was working for Microsoft but he was deported on July 2010. Moreover, research reveals that there were other agents who managed to flee the country without getting arrested. The agents who were arrested were taken to Vienna since they pleaded guilty to the charges against them (DeYoung and Pincus). The charges against them were that they failed to register as representatives of foreign government. In the same day, there were other Russian nationals who were exchanged with the agents who had been apprehended in the US. Three of these people had been arrested by the Russian government because they were suspected of wanting to commit high treason (Daily Mail). In this case, there were various documents which were released by the government since the Freedom of Information Act made the request to be provided with the documents which had that information. Most of the spies who had been arrested in America are said to have used fake documents in order to be identified with Americans. In this case, most of them had been enrolled in major American Universities and they also joined various professional bodies. They did this so that they could gain access to the government activities. Two of the spies who were named Richard and Cynthia Murphy used to reside in Hoboken before acquiring a home at Montclair. Moreover, another couple served as journalists. They were Vicky Pelaex and Juan Lazaro and they used to live in New York (DeYoung and Pincus). Most of these couples had been arranged in Russia so that they could enter the country that they had been assigned without raising much suspicion. There are those couples who even went to an extent of having children so that they could sustain their deep cover in America. The people who used to investigate these incidences stipulated that the Russian agents used to send information to Russia using messages that were written with a disappearing ink. Moreover, they also used the ad hoc wireless networks to transfer confidential information while other agents used to swap identical bags by acting as if they were passing each other. These activities were mostly carried out at the stairwells of train stations. Most of these agents had been given the duty of reporting about the central policy in the US. Moreover, they were supposed to identify how the US identifies the Russian foreign policy. In addition, they were given the task of identifying the problems that were present in the US military policy. Also, they were supposed to identify the US policy regarding the manner in which terrorists should use the internet to gather information about the US and its weaknesses. In this case, it is evident that the agents had been sent to America so that they could compromise the security of America. Studies reveal that the FBI made plans to arrest these agents in June 2010. However, this issue was hastened because some people were already making plans to leave the country. Moreover, the issue of Anna Chapman having been exposed made the process to be rushed. Moreover, Vladimir Guryev was already making plans to go to France whereby he would later end up in Russia (Parfitt). On the other hand, Bezrukov was planning to depart from the US together with his son. Moreover, Anna Chapman was heard in a telephone call saying that she was afraid that she had been discovered and therefore wanted to travel to Moscow before she got arrested (Daily Mail). The agents who were involved in conspiring against the US were all arrested in June 2010. In order to get hold of these agents, the FBI carried out various raids in Montclair, Boston, Northern Virginia and Yonkers (Daily Mail). This was done in order to apprehend the spies and charge them for putting the security of the US at stake. These agents were charged with engaging in money laundering activities as well as living in a foreign country without being registered. They were not charged for accessing any classified materials from the US government. However, some contacts had been made whereby some information about a scientist who was trying to design a bunker bomb had been exposed. One of the people suspected was Christopher R. Metsos. He was detained while trying to leave Cyprus for Budapest. However, he was released on bail whereby he disappeared completely. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the spies who had been arrested knew each other. The only spies who are said to have known each other are the ones who lived as spouses. When the FBI made the arrests to these people, the British Guardian stipulated that the operation that the FBI engaged in was one of the biggest penetrations that had been made regarding the communications that had been made by the SVR. In this case, the FBI was able to read their emails and decrypted their information which had been encrypted by their intelligence agents (Parfitt). Moreover, the FBI was able to embed the texts that had been coded on images that were being sent to the internet. In addition, the FBI was able to bug the calls that the agents made as well as videotaping incidences when the spies were passing bags which contained money and messages to each other. In this case, the form of raid that was performed by the FBI is regarded as having sent cold shivers down the spine of Russia’s intelligence bodies (DeYoung and Pincus). However, though there were claims about the existence of bunker bombs, there was no evidence that was discovered. In this case, the spy ring is regarded as having been uncovered before the agents engaged in serious spying. This incidence is therefore very embarrassing to the Russian government. However, since the death of a Russian defector Sergei Tretyakov is said to have coincided with the day that the prisoner swap was being carried out, his death was reported on July 9 2010 (DeYoung and Pincus). Moreover, the Florida medical examiners stipulated that the cause of his death was associated with an accident and a tumor. However, though Tretyakov was not among the people who were being suspected by the US, sources stipulate that he knew about the existence of the spies in America. However, there was a government source in Russia which stipulated that the spies who had been arrested had been revealed by a person who was a senior in the SVR officer. The officer was referred to as Colonel Scherbakov and he is said to have led the American Unit of the SVR department. This department used to deal with people who had come from Russia and resided in America illegally. Sources stipulate that Scherbakov engaged in high-level defection and he actually led to the uncovering of the 10 spies who had been sent to America to receive sensitive information about America’s intelligence (Daily Mail). The prisoner exchange program was carried out in a manner that the arrested people in America acting as Russian agents would be exchanged with the people who had been arrested in Russia and charged with espionage. The four people who were to be exchanged for the 10 agents had spent a lot of time in Russian prisons. They were regarded as spying either for the UK or the US government. When Barack Obama heard about the swap deal, he supported it strongly though he had not engaged in a conversation with the Russian president (DeYoung and Pincus). In this case, though the arrests are said to have occurred 72 hours after the Russian President left the White House, this doesn’t mean that the US/Russia relationship would be not terminated. In fact, the US administration stipulated that Russia would not be accused of spying on the US at all. Works Cited DailyMail. "Revealed: Femme Fatal Anna Chapmans Russian spy ring groomed their American children to become agents." Daily Mail. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. . DeYoung, Karen, and Pincus Walter. "U.S Russia reach deal on exchanging spies." Russia Spy Investigation. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. . Parfitt, Tom. "Russian spy Anna Chapman was close to seducing Obama official." Telegraph Media Group. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. . Read More