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Russia Captures Alleged American CIA Agent In Moscow
wiredmikey tips this AFP report:
"Russia on Tuesday said it had detained an alleged American CIA agent working undercover at the U.S. embassy who was discovered with a large stash of money as he was trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB, ex-KGB) identified the man as Ryan C. Fogle — third secretary of the political section of Washington's embassy in Moscow — and said he had been handed back to the embassy after his detention. Photographs published show his alleged espionage equipment including wigs, a compass, torch and even a mundane atlas of Moscow as well as a somewhat old fashioned mobile phone. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said Fogle was carrying 'special technical equipment, written instructions for recruiting a Russian citizen, a large sum of money and means for changing a person's appearance.' The FSB also said the U.S. intelligence service has made repeated attempts to recruit the staff of Russian law enforcement agencies and special services. The incident comes amid a new chill in Russian-U.S. relations sparked by the Syrian crisis and concern in Washington over what it sees as President Vladimir Putin's crackdown on human rights."
First post posts YOU!!
What if he would have been secretly paid Bitcoins?
Turnabout is fair play.
How the FBI Busted Anna Chapman and the Russian Spy Ring
No surprise - Putin has been trying to drag the US - Russian relationship back to Cold War times. He has become much more provocative with military probes around US territory, and has been dismissive of US diplomats. Apparently it plays well in Russia.
It looks like he is getting his wish. So much for the "reset" in relations.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
This spy seems to have all the marks of an made-up-Amateur or a set-up. The guy is wearing a wig, has a hat over it (not dyed hair) even when he is on a diplomatic passport and is openly approaching Russians. Then the Russians have a camera crew and policemen waiting in the street to arrest him and oddly enough he is found to be carrying money, maps and more wigs in his bag. This seems like Americans set-up a honeypot and the Russians jumped on it. Probably the guy had been told already that this is his last assignment in Russia.
Either that, or the CIA decided to have some fun with a Rookie and set him up with a couple of wigs and told him to go on a "Top Secret Assignment" and the poor slob got caught.
http://slashdot.org/submission/1062723/Cheap-mobile-data-plan?art_pos=2
at home!
Does not sound like they got Jason Bourne on this one. In the good old days he would have been chopped up and thrown in the Moskva.
captcha: indolent
... is this bloke some kind of amateur Walter Mitty type, or is he for real?
tit-for-tat expulsions that usually follow someone (innocent or guilty) getting nabbed? How long before the CIA nab a Russian agent in Washington DC?
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
Their spies are hot redheads, ours look like dimwitted fratboys. I can't tell if we're losing or winning.
Seems that way from the number of comments posted so far.
I call this mission improbable
concern in Washington over what it sees as President Vladimir Putin's crackdown on human rights."
Coming from the US with its imprisoning of more people (by absolute numbers and percentage of population) than any other country in the world. Indefinite detention, torture, summary execution. Yeah. The US has credibility when it comes to human rights.
I don't doubt for a second that this was an American agent. But I would think in every situation there is a reason everything happens when it did. Why did the Russians nab him now. Why not keep him under surveillance let him reveal traitors to the FSB as they get recruited? They obviously were not all that serious or they wouldn't have promptly turned him back over to the US. So what is up?
A compass, a paper map of Moscow and a flashlight? Is this all CIA has in its arsenal? O yeah, a semi-literate "recruitment letter".
Another detail that make it sound even more ridiculous: an FSB guy lecturing Fogle on Russian primetime news about how spying is bad. Looks like some really bad spy movie.
I think this story was created by FSB for consumption within Russia. It is possible they knew more about his activities, but they are not telling the interesting stuff and for some reason decided to disclose this "evidence" that makes people laugh.
Not trying to start a flame-war here, but I've been seeing a fair amount of strictly politics related postings here lately. Could anybody please explain to me how this is on topic for Slashdot?
Excuse me Sir. Your shoe is ringing.
"We suspect this man is spy."
"Take his money, Tell him only lies, see where lies turn up."
"Maybe they know, we know, he is spy?"
"Possible. He has been searched?"
"He is carry a compass, torch, map of Moscow, mobile phone..."
"Yes, is spy. They expect we know. Use our lies to deceive. Make false leak to trick us... Kill him -- Wait, he has wig, yes?"
"Has not only a wig, but two."
"Two wigs? Ah! Is sign of double agent! Carry one wig, is a risk. Two is job application."
"You want I should not kill him then?"
"Of course not. Pay him standard fee; Send back to embassy. Tell this story to news, so CIA know he can not spy here. He can go home, work for us."
"Moscow Winter is the Father Land's greatest ally. Thin blooded American will do anything to escape it."
"One thing. Why we must speak filthy English, not Russian?"
::BLAM::
"Everyone knows. Is basic spy training to trick double agen--- Wait, you are American SPY!"
"No. I'm a Brit you poor, dead git."
Isn't "a torch" and "a somewhat old fashioned mobile phone" the same thing?
rewriting history since 2109
I'm surprised that nobody has brought up an obvious point:
Article 29 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations prohibits the arrest or detention of a diplomat.
The US Department of State even issues guidance to law enforcement on how to deal with issues in the USA. Even if the case of driving while intoxicated, the officer may remove the keys or prevent the diplomat from driving, but may not handcuff the diplomat or prevent him/her from leaving.
Every U.S. embassy has CIA staff.
Torch eh? Good thing he didn't light it on fire ahead of time - would have set his briefcase on fire!
Spies kick YOU out!
Yes, GITMO etc removes the moral high ground, but that doesn't change things like a difficult journalist getting assassinated as a present for Putin's birthday last year.
Actually GITMO is precisely to maintain the moral high ground by providing extraterritoriality. The extraterritoriality is what makes it safe from enforcement of US law, and makes the president and his underlings safe from accusations of violating US law by condoning events on its premises.
This is exactly why it has not been shut down, despite the campaign promises of several presidents, including Obama. Once sworn in, they get a thorough briefing on everything, which includes a little sit-down about GITMO with the White House General Council, after which it stays open to aboid personal criminal liability for the staff in the executive branch, up to and including the president.
I really don't understand all the outrage about spying. OF COURSE the CIA is spying on Russia - it's their fucking job to spy on Russia! And of course Russia is spying on us - it's their job, too. Once in a while somebody gets caught - but so what? You shrug your shoulders, say "OK, you won this round", and then you get right back to business. It doesn't mean either side is being "bad guys"; we shouldn't be surprised or upset when we catch one of theirs, and we shouldn't feel embarrassed when they catch one of ours (OK, maybe we should be embarrassed about being so inept we were caught, but not embarrassed about what we were caught doing).
News flash: the CIA spies on Russia and occasionally gets caught! In other news, water remains wet and rocks remain hard.
Yeah, as the OP said, there is a lot of concern about Putin's crackdown on human rights. Why, the rumor is that he is using the tax administration to harass opponents and that his chief Justice has grabbed phone records from news agencies that don't tow the line.
Fortunately, such things would never happen in the US.
--
Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
You think that maybe this guy is a distraction/diversion? I sure do, and I suspect the Russians do too.
Reset? It was "overcharge".
This doesnt make sense. CIA operatives are better than this. First since when does the CIA write a note that can be used as evidence. Next, search for the translation of the letter... they wanted him to sign up for gmail. FFS gmail? Really? Then they would contact him via that email address in a week. This seems like Russian propaganda and not a CIA operative being caught. Operatives always have a way out, and they would repeatedly try the same guy. If they wanted him bad enough, he would have been kidnapped. Nothing about this makes sense.
Should not have used his Hawaii driver's license
I think I finally understand the CIAs remarkable success record at killing Fidel Castro.
Are you sure this guy isn't from the Surete?
The description sounds like something from Get Smart or something else.....not a serious CIA operative.
He looked more like operetta singer in this blond wig.
This is a stupid (sorry!!!) thing to say: If "it's their job" is a justification for something, Mafia killers won't have any problems with the law.
Please note I have no conclusion to offer as far as spying is concerned (in the above statement!), I merely want to make you think a little harder to come up with some better arguments.
The equipment looks pretty lame, although I'm no expert at what is effective in avoiding surveillance or implication.
What I wonder is if the FSB thought this guy was a spy and found no evidence (which is likely), but wanted to expel him (which is reasonable), why would the FSB not plant some grotesquely obvious evidence during the arrest? Would the CIA complain? How would they prove anything?
It would be more likely the US would complain about an unjustified request for deportation, meanwhile this is an open and shut case.
The CIA and MI5 on one side, with the "no such thing as a former Chekist" FSB on the other, makes for more hijinks than anything Hal Roach could have produced with Laurel and Hardy or The Little Rascals.
At least the Russians have some foxy spies, even if they perform like ZaSu Pitts in a custard pie fight.
And these people are professionals? It is to laugh.
No wonder the CIA leans on the Mossad for a great deal of information.
Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
NUKESNUKESNUKES Lets reboot.
>and concern in Washington over what it sees as President Vladimir Putin's crackdown on human rights
Meanwhile, in Guantanamo 'hypocrisy' Bay inmates are having a ball ....
I don't see them maintaining anything like Guantanamo Bay?
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
The CIA for all its bungling in the Boston bombing is trying to say that Russian intelligence was too slow in coming through channels so they find it necessary to get the information by a more direct method. In other words this is a staged event after the fact to make it look like the CIA knows what their doing...move on to more important stories
After a wikileak, foreign governments catching them, spies coming out -- the CIA wouldn't still admit somebody is a spy. Hell, they could reclassify something that was public and then refuse to acknowledge the obvious! That is how they work.
Now if the spy upset Bush... THEN it could then get officially acknowledged (and it would still not result in consequences.)
This hurts the state dept. not that anybody should have trusted them before and especially after wikileaks showed them for what many of us knew that they were. The CIA is using diplomats to do spying and corruption... the only thing perhaps new about this is that the CIA would be directly involved.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Excerpt:
The Kremlin is surprised by the "crude and clumsy" espionage activities of the United States in Russia, after a suspected CIA operative was caught trying to recruit a Russian agent, a senior advisor to President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
--- end excerpt ---
The article, NOT in the US infotainment media, goes on to say that the Russians think he was trying to get information on the Boston Marathon bombers. That's even *more* stupid, since all the US had to do was *ask* - they'd *love* to have us down on the Chechens, too.
This isn't even up to the level of Maxwell Smart.
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