Posted on Oct 13, 2020
How the FBI uncovered Russian spies posing as suburban Americans
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Long before Americans were worried about election hacking and Russian fake news schemes, the New York office of the FBI was tracking a very different kind of espionage operation: Russian spies living in deep cover as normal Americans.
Between 2000 and 2010, the agents tracked a group of ten Russian agents who posed as regular people in an attempt to get close to influential Americans and send secrets back to Moscow, according to a forthcoming documentary from CBS News called The FBI Declassified: The Spies Next Door, which airs on Tuesday.
“When they first come to the United States, they’re armed only with a birth certificate,” FBI Case Agent Maria Ricci says in a promotion for the show. “They have to build a life here.”
The spies were trained in Russia, watched American TV and movies, and were given made-up backstories they referred to as their “legend,” all of which helped them blend in. According to the FBI, they lived in locations ranging from the New York and New Jersey suburbs, to Cambridge, Mass. and Washington DC.
Between 2000 and 2010, the agents tracked a group of ten Russian agents who posed as regular people in an attempt to get close to influential Americans and send secrets back to Moscow, according to a forthcoming documentary from CBS News called The FBI Declassified: The Spies Next Door, which airs on Tuesday.
“When they first come to the United States, they’re armed only with a birth certificate,” FBI Case Agent Maria Ricci says in a promotion for the show. “They have to build a life here.”
The spies were trained in Russia, watched American TV and movies, and were given made-up backstories they referred to as their “legend,” all of which helped them blend in. According to the FBI, they lived in locations ranging from the New York and New Jersey suburbs, to Cambridge, Mass. and Washington DC.
How the FBI uncovered Russian spies posing as suburban Americans
Posted from independent.co.uk
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
Posted >1 y ago
I’m not surprised, if anyone would know, you would Brother Chip, stay vigilant.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
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GySgt Gary Cordeiro I was Trained in the COMINT, SIGINT, ELINT Community but Damned if I wasn't Providing Communications Support to the Counter Intelligence Folks Quite Early in the Game. Cloak and Dagger is Not My Game but I Got to Read All Their Professional Correspondence.
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Posted >1 y ago
Thank you my friend PO1 William "Chip" Nagel for posting some background from the Cold War which had some hot spots :-)
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Posted >1 y ago
Funny how life goes.
Now we have suburban Americans posing as Bolsheviks.
Now we have suburban Americans posing as Bolsheviks.
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