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."

Comments

Bitcoins

[Anonymous Coward]

What if he would have been secretly paid Bitcoins?

Amateur

[quarterbuck]

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.

Re:Amateur

[MichaelSmith]

Yeah he sounds a bit like Ben Zygier to be honest.

Re:Amateur

[TWX]

Maybe Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase can make a movie about it...

Re:Amateur

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not sure I see the tech angle on this /. story but I find it interesting that he had a plastic bag that says RFID Shielded.

Here's a picture of the blue RFID bag:
http://admin.new.rt.com/files/news/1f/11/50/00/48.jpg

Re:Amateur

[lgw]

"Russia on Tuesday said it had detained an alleged American CIA agent working undercover at the U.S. embassy

This spy seems to have all the marks of an made-up-Amateur or a set-up.

There are two kinds of CIA employees: "undercover agents" and those who have ever entered a US embassy. This separation is required by US law (after some casualness about this lead to many deaths, IIRC). If you've ever walked into an US embassy, you can never be an undercover agent, simple as that.

A goodly amount of "spying" is simply being in-country and collecting the local media and the local mood and reporting it back. What the government is telling the people and how the people are reacting. Research into local public records. That sort of non-secret intelligence gathering is still the CIAs job, and is probably what most of their employees abroad do.

It's also worth remembering that, unlike what movies might have you believe, the undercover agents don't personally "spy" in the sense of sneaking into government buildings and such. They develop relationships with people who are authorized to be in those buildings, or with "freedom fighters" who are shooting at those people, or whatever. Their job is to convince others to do the stuff you'd make a movie about.

Re:Amateur

[SolitaryMan]

If this was some serious spy, this is not how FSB would have cashed on the catch. This thing would have been quietly dealt with between agencies or they would have just kept an eye on him as on a "known spy" to use for spreading misinformation or something.

Since he is some entry position diplomat, the only thing this catch is good for, is to get some anti-US outrage inside the country going.

No biggie, really.

Re:Amateur

[Charliemopps]

You're assuming that:
A. Our federal government isn't totally fucking retarded.
B. Our federal government follows any of their own rules/laws/policies.
Both of which have been proven about as false as possible after this past week.
I've always wondered if our government was actually bad... or just inept boobs. You know, never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence... color me surprised to find out they are both malicious AND incompetent.

Re:Amateur

[Dahamma]

Beat me to it! He's definitely the decoy GLG-20.

Re:Amateur

[Anonymous Coward]

The US government gets a good excuse for restricting its own people even more since they now have a plausible enemy.

The CIA gets more funding since they now have a plausible enemy.

Re:Amateur

[Dahamma]

There are two kinds of CIA employees: "undercover agents" and those who have ever entered a US embassy. This separation is required by US law (after some casualness about this lead to many deaths, IIRC). If you've ever walked into an US embassy, you can never be an undercover agent, simple as that.

Sorry, but this is the most ridiculous statement I have read on this thread. If it's public federal law can you provide ANY citation? Should be all over the place but I can't find anything even resembling it...

Re:Amateur

[drinkypoo]

Well, "Our federal government" employs about 5 million people, so trying to generalize the action of one individual is totally fucking... well, you said it ;)

What's really going to blow your mind is how many bacteria live in your body. Literally pounds of bacteria colonize a healthy human. If you can't generalize the action of the government based on its aggregate actions, then you can't generalize the action of a single human based on its aggregate actions either.

But, that's bullshit! You can judge a government by its actions. We've got a welfare system just good enough to keep you in poverty, an economic system leading more people to the welfare system, and a massive military using the majority of funding (count military pensions, please, thank you) to murder people for profit in other countries. We've got laws which criminalize victimless crimes and laws which create victims. Our government is evil. We are The Empire. Still looking for those droids, I guess.

So in the absence of official denials...

[benjfowler]

... is this bloke some kind of amateur Walter Mitty type, or is he for real?

When do we get the ...

[Kittenman]

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?

Lopsided war

[Anonymous Coward]

Their spies are hot redheads, ours look like dimwitted fratboys. I can't tell if we're losing or winning.

Re:Lopsided war

[Anonymous Coward]

Their spies are hot redheads, ours look like dimwitted fratboys. I can't tell if we're losing or winning.

Who do you mean by our spies, comrade?

Re:Lopsided war

[cusco]

I realize that was meant to be a frivolous statement, but there's an actual reason for that. The CIA has traditionally recruited from within the 'old boy network' of Ivy League fraternities and secret societies, people whose loyalty to the existing power structure they can pretty much guarantee because they were born into it.

Re:Lopsided war

[cold fjord]

I realize that was meant to be a frivolous statement, but there's an actual reason for that. The CIA has traditionally recruited from within the 'old boy network' of Ivy League fraternities and secret societies, people whose loyalty to the existing power structure they can pretty much guarantee because they were born into it.

You might want to ask someone how that can work out.

The Cambridge spy ring

Re:Meh

[BarbambiaKirgudu]

Let's call it CWII.

yeah.

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:yeah.

[dbIII]

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.

Re:yeah.

[cusco]

If they were actually considered POWs they would have to be accorded certain treatments, like visits from the Red Cross, decent treatment, freedom from torture, notification of their detention to family, and the like. Instead the Shrub Madministration invented a new and completely internationally unrecognized category of "illegal combatant" and pretended as though the Geneva Conventions don't apply to them. Even worse, the current administration continues with the farce, even though they acknowledged that it was actually illegal.

How blinded are you? What do you think the purpose of the Black Sites is, lovely vacation sites? You're too late, the previous administration would have paid you for posting nonsense like this, I think this one just relies on volunteers.

Re:yeah.

[cold fjord]

The POWs in Guantanamo do get Red Cross visits. As to the rest of their status - in order to receive the full protection of the Geneva Convention as a combatant you have to obey the Law of War. Al Qaida doesn't do that, quite the reverse. Their basic strategy of directly targeting civilian noncombatants constitutes a war crime. They are quite rightly recognized as unlawful combatants. And do note, it isn't that this categorization is unknown internationally, but rather that various advocates refuse to acknowledge that it exists.

The black sites? Last time I looked they were for detention and interrogation.

Now, there are a couple of factors that make these discussions more interesting. First, is the fact that Al Qaida teaches its members to lie about their treatment and not cooperate.

Al Qaeda Manual Drives Detainee Behavior at Guantanamo Bay

. . . Police in Manchester, England, discovered the manual, which has come to be known as the "Manchester document," in 2000 while searching computer files found in the home of a known al Qaeda member. The contents were introduced as evidence into the 2001 trial of terrorists who bombed the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998. . .

The closing chapter teaches al Qaeda operatives how to operate in a prison or detention center. It directs detainees to "insist on proving that torture was inflicted" and to "complain of mistreatment while in prison."

Chapter 17 instructs them to "be careful not to give the enemy any vital information" during interrogations.

Another section of the manual directs commanders to teach their operatives what to say if they're captured, and to explain it "more than once to ensure that they have assimilated it." To reinforce the message, it tells commanders to have operatives "explain it back to the commander."

One consequence of this lying, and international pressure on their behalf, is that committed terrorists have been released who then return to Jihad again, killing who knows how many.

Recidivism rises among released Guantanamo detainees

(Reuters) - The proportion of militants released from detention at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay who subsequently were believed to have returned to the battlefield rose slightly over the last year, according to official figures released on Monday.

In a summary report, the office of the Director of National Intelligence said that 27.9 percent of the 599 former detainees released from Guantanamo were either confirmed or suspected of later engaging in militant activity

Second, as does sometimes happen in war, service members will occasionally exceed their instructions, lose control, or develop a mental illness, and then engage in behavior that constitutes a war crime. Some people want to pretend that those actions are deliberate policy rather than the illegal actions of an individual or particular group. One prime example is the incident at Abu Ghraib. It resulted in a number of American soldiers going to jail, including the infamous Lynndie England. An isolated incident by a small number of soldiers that took an extraordinary number of pictures in a very short time, and gave a black eye to the US military and the United States. The actual events were magnified by the work of the media - the New York Times put stories and/or pictures on the front page 47 times.

Pay? Nobody pays me to post. But I do like to see the discussion occasionally enter the realm of facts even if it aggravates some people.

After all, facts that contradict some political view are "flamebait."

Re:yeah.

[cold fjord]

Although sometimes the torture is indeed deliberate policy.

It turns out that this "torture" is a routine medical procedure performed daily for large numbers of people, from infants to the elderly: Feeding tube. Are they being "tortured" too?

So, question for you - if the US authorities were to stop forced feeding, and 60 detainees actually did starve themselves to death, would you complain? I expect so. Sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, isn't it? What do you think would happen if the threat of starving yourself to death becomes a "get out of jail free card?"

Keep in mind that the Islamists fighting the West do not fight alone, they have allies.
The Leftist-Islamist Alliance in Pictures
It's Official: Leftist-Islamist Alliance against the West

On a related note, can you post any facts on whether the CIA had or has a policy of followup drone strikes . . .

Maybe this will help:

Pakistan Says Drone Strikes Have Been Effective

Major-General Ghayur Mehmood spoke to a group of Pakistani reporters on a rare trip to Miran Shah, the administrative center of North Waziristan.

The Pakistani general says that information the military has gathered from its sources suggest most of those killed in drone attacks are hardcore militants, and the number of innocent people being killed is relatively low.

The official paper distributed among reporters says that there have been 164 drone strikes in the militant-dominated region of North Waziristan since 2007, killing 964 "terrorists". There were 171 al-Qaida fighters among those killed, mostly belonging to central Asian and Arab countries.

------

I'm more than beginning to have the disturbing sense that the US government/military has stared too long into the abyss.

The media is having its intended effect.

If you have any brainstorms about how to do this better, I'm sure the Pentagon would love to hear about it. Send them a letter. Maybe something like, "Dear General, I know how you can get all the Al Qaida to stop fighting. All you have to do is ....."
If the next part is, "give up their fringe religious views and dreams of conquering the world for Islam," that isn't going to be very helpful.

Before you think about such a thing, you might want to read up on Al Qaida's goals.
The Future of Terrorism: What al-Qaida Really Wants

Re:yeah.

[Sabriel]

It turns out that this "torture" is a routine medical procedure performed daily for large numbers of people, from infants to the elderly: Feeding tube. Are they being "tortured" too?

Have you ever been intubated? Against your will? Infant, elderly or otherwise, if they or their next of kin are capable of informed consent, refuse, and then are shackled, restrained and operated on anyway, then yes, they are being tortured. If my word isn't enough, I refer you to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Tokyo and http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/c18/index.html

So, question for you - if the US authorities were to stop forced feeding, and 60 detainees actually did starve themselves to death, would you complain? I expect so. Sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, isn't it? What do you think would happen if the threat of starving yourself to death becomes a "get out of jail free card?"

Why yes it is a damned if you do, damned if you don't - but is that any surprise when you're "indefinitely detaining" people extra-territorially to avoid those pesky "habeus corpus" laws? There's no "get out of consequences free" card just because you allege a higher moral ground than your enemy. And it seems to me it's not a "get out of jail free" card either, unless you mean "free" as in dead. But they're not even allowed that. And no, the probability that most of them are evil terrorists does not excuse torture.

Keep in mind that the Islamists fighting the West do not fight alone, they have allies.

[snips quoted links] I too have some links too if you want them. There's one in particular with video of Rumsfeld and Saddam shaking hands in 1983, around the time US administration decided to look the other way for a while whilst Iraq was using chemical weapons against Iran.

How much has really changed since then? Has the government really done anything to truly show those allies that it's much nicer now and they have no reason whatsoever to be suspicious despite the long US habit of funding coups against democratically elected foreign governments that don't bend to its demands?

Maybe this will help: Pakistan Says Drone Strikes Have Been Effective

Major-General Ghayur Mehmood spoke to a group of Pakistani reporters on a rare trip to Miran Shah, the administrative center of North Waziristan.

The Pakistani general says that information the military has gathered from its sources suggest most of those killed in drone attacks are hardcore militants, and the number of innocent people being killed is relatively low.

....

Also from that article, "Because on one hand the drone attacks are a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and it is also a violation of international law. But at the same time, they have a certain tactical utility in the sense that Pakistan has lost control over these areas and if the American drones help in containing these forces and also killing some of the militants, specially their top leadership, then it will facilitate Pakistan's fighting against the militant forces," Masood states.

How's that old rationalization go? "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs"?

If you have any brainstorms about how to do this better, I'm sure the Pentagon would love to hear about it. Send them a letter. Maybe something like, "Dear General, I know how you can get all the Al Qaida to stop fighting. All you have to do is ....." If the next part is, "give up their fringe religious views an

This story sounds ridiculous

[mike449]

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.

Re:Maybe the FSB has silenced this site

[Areyoukiddingme]

What's to talk about? The remarks about the blindingly amateurish nature of this guy have already been made. Honey pot or patsy, either way, we know damn well that Russians aren't recruited by the American Third Secretary of the embassy who toddles around with a bag full of wigs. Sounds like Putin called up Obama and said, "I need a Big Bad America thing in the news. What can you do for me?" and Obama responded with, "Hey Rob! Who do we not like in the embassy?" and there you go. Or vice versa. Does it really matter?

In short, we're bored with this story. It's "news" only for particularly lame values of manufactured news. We're so bored with it nobody is even bothering to generate conspiracy theories about this being a calibration test of fake spy stories, to see who reacts and how.

Somewhat old fashioned mobile phone

[dbIII]

Excuse me Sir. Your shoe is ringing.

Re:Somewhat old fashioned mobile phone

[Sulphur]

Excuse me Sir. Your shoe is ringing.

Which one?

Re:Somewhat old fashioned mobile phone

[dkleinsc]

That must have been what Nikita Khrushchev was complaining about when he banged his shoe on the table at the UN: "Why doesn't this thing ever get good reception in here!"

Re:Maybe the FSB has silenced this site

[dbIII]

If you read a bit about the history of the CIA you'll see a lot of blindingly amateurish stuff. They still trust that "polygraph" voodoo which was a scam that came from the guy that wrote the Wonder Woman comic (no I am not joking).

Counter Counter Counter Intelligence

[VortexCortex]

"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?"
"Everyone knows. Is basic spy training to trick double agen--- Wait, you are American SPY!"
::BLAM::
"No. I'm a Brit you poor, dead git."

Re:This is news for nerds?

[gman003]

Story is about a spy, James Bond is a spy, Bond uses crazy gadgets, nerds love crazy gadgets.

QED.

Re:Meh

[Aaron B Lingwood]

Let's call it CWII.

We have already had a Second Cold War.

Re:This is news for nerds?

[tlambert]

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?

I'm guessing the flashlight he had was a Google Firesword?

BFD

[CapOblivious2010]

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.

Re:BFD

[rtb61]

The consignment of criminal acts is dangerous. Oh tee hee a foreign agent killed some citizens, oh tee hee a foreign agent funded internal terrorists, oh tee hee foreign agent is consorting with and funding local organised crim. Perhaps a foreign agent corrupted local politicians to start a war and kill thousands of our soldiers to fulfil their goals of regional dominance, hmm, Mossad and the US government, not so fucking funny now is it. Capturing intelligence is worlds apart from inciting criminal acts like treason.

Putin's crackdown on human rights

[SysKoll]

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.

Re:Torch

[Anonymous Coward]

Torch is British for flashlight.

doesnt add up

[fazey]

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.

Re:GITMO

[Anonymous Coward]

precisely to maintain the moral high ground by providing extraterritoriality

That's precisely the opposite of maintaining the moral high ground.

Re:Maybe the FSB has silenced this site

[dbIII]

From Wikipedia:

Marston is credited as the creator of the systolic blood pressure test, which became one component of the modern polygraph invented by John Augustus Larson in Berkeley,

It's annoying when people don't check their facts before they rush in to "correct" you on this site. Somebody please mod that AC back down.

Re:This is news for nerds?

[gman003]

By the transitive property, yes.

Re:Maybe the FSB has silenced this site

[deadweight]

Writing a comic really has no bearing on this person's other abilities. A movie actress invented spread spectrum, so there ya go! (not to say the polygraph isn't a pice of shit - it is. All it tells you is if the subject is nervous)