Breaking: US Charges 11 Russian Spies [UPDATE: Names]

Probably a spy


The Justice Department has filed charges against 11 people who are part of a Russian spy ring. The details are still a little fuzzy. It's not clear if these are Americans who were recruited by the Russians, or if these were Russians living in America, or a mixture of both.




The story seems to indicate that at least some of them were Russian. This may explain why all those hot Russian chicks willing to marry dumpy, balding, middle-aged American men. They're all Russian spies!



As some of you know, I spent a year studying in Russia under the theory that the Cold War would be back, and when it does -- job security, baby! Is it time for Rusty to break out the old resume?

WSJ:


The Federal Bureau of Investigation alleged the Russian intelligence service known as the SVR provided extensive training, including in foreign languages and the use of codes and ciphers, to the alleged agents before dispatching them to the U.S. over the past decade.



Once inside the U.S., the alleged agents took on aliases and "deep cover" assignments to become Americanized in order to gather information about the U.S., and possibly recruit sources inside American "policy-making circles," an FBI affidavit filed in New York federal court alleged.



Interesting enough, the stories say that only 10 have been arrested in recent days. Does this mean that one of them is still on the loose?

Thanks to Terresa.


UPDATE: The Blotter has the names:


Charged are Richard and Cynthia Murphy of New Jersey, Donald Howard Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley of Boston, Massachusetts, Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills of Arlington, Virginia, and Juan Lazaro and Vicky Pelaez of Yonkers, New York.



Also charged is Christopher Metsos, who remains at large and is alleged to be one of the main facilitators for the group and a trained agent living outside the U.S. According to the complaint, Metsos purports to be a Canadian citizen and regularly traveled to U.S. locations to meet with the other defendants, including numerous meetings in New York City in places such as coffee shops and book stores.



Two additional defendants, Anna Chapman and Mikhail Semenko, were also arrested Sunday for allegedly aiding in the same suspected Russian spy ring.



No news yet on how hot the women spies were, but:The court documents read like a 1960's cold war spy novel: The accused spies allegedly used steganography, hiding secretive data in an image, and radiograms, bursts of data sent by a radio transmitter that resemble the sound of Morse code, as part of their secret communications with the Russian government....



And there are allegations of fabricated birth certificates, Irish and Latino surnames, and fake college diplomas.



Most of the names seem pretty white bread. If originally from Russia, then the falsifying of birth certificates could explain that.





By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D.