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Espionage!

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
When was the last big spy case? Probably predates the invention of cryptocurrency.

There has been a steady stream of espionage cases in the last few years and along with a couple of 'big' spy cases recently, but they haven't gotten wider notoriety for whatever reason. Maybe they weren't sexy enough? One pretty notable case that was reported on for several years, to include before he was even arrested, was this former CIA case officer who may have been responsible for getting a bunch of CIA assets in China rolled up and killed. They got him for what they could which wasn't as much as they probably wanted to nail him with, likely because he was trained in actual tradecraft and didn't just Google 'how to spy'.
 

ABMD

Bullets don't fly without Supply
We tend to hear about cases of US Citizens spying against their own country or attempting to. I wonder who many for the other side we catch (foreign agents working in the US). I'm thinking similar to the show The Americans. Assuming we don't want that information broadcast to the general public or back to our enemies.
 

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
We tend to hear about cases of US Citizens spying against their own country or attempting to. I wonder who many for the other side we catch (foreign agents working in the US). I'm thinking similar to the show The Americans. Assuming we don't want that information broadcast to the general public or back to our enemies.
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Author is an 1835, USN
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Naveed is a clown, who trots out his “Hey everyone, I was a double agent” story every single chance he gets. It’s kinda sad to watch.
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
We tend to hear about cases of US Citizens spying against their own country or attempting to. I wonder who many for the other side we catch (foreign agents working in the US). I'm thinking similar to the show The Americans. Assuming we don't want that information broadcast to the general public or back to our enemies.

When we catch foreign agents it is publicized too, but the risk versus reward usually isn't worth it for a country to utilize foreign agents in this country unless they are under 'official cover' as diplomatic or official representatives. 'Illegals', foreign agents not operating under official cover like in The Americans, is great fiction but pretty rare and the last time we busted a group of illegals in this country in 2010 it was highly publicized. Notably those illegals did not have any really good successes, and nowhere even close to the successes foreign countries have had at utilizing US citizens with good access to material they want.

Given the broad implementation of biometrics in passports, social media, the large amount of personal data available online and the ubiquity of surveillance worldwide 'illegals' or clandestine/undercover intelligence agents operating like the spies of old has become increasingly difficult. Conversely the ease of communication along with the storing and transmitting very large amounts of data very easily makes the job of traitors like these folks and Snowden much easier.
 

zipmartin

Never been better
pilot
Contributor
On a side note, my next door neighbor in the mid-'80's when I was at Oceana, living in Va. Beach, was an FBI agent working out of the Norfolk office. My wife would always try, half jokingly, to get info from him concerning the latest case he was working on. All he'd ever say was, "You'll find out when it hits the news." The day the Walker case broke, my wife was in the front yard when he came home. She asked him as he he exited his car if the news reports were what he'd been working on. With a big grin on his face, he replied, "Yep!"
 
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