Memo to Americans Spying for Another Country or Considering It

Most people know about Aldrich Ames, Jonathan Pollard and Robert Hanssen, but the list of Americans who have spied for other countries hardly ends there.

A recent Defense Department report, Changes in Espionage by Americans: 1947-2007, cites cases of 173 Americans arrested between 1947 and 2007 for passing state secrets to al-Qaeda, China, Egypt, the Philippines, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Libya, Israel, Switzerland, Austria, Ecuador, Japan, Vietnam, Liberia, Taiwan, South Korea, Greece, Egypt, the United Kingdom, Iraq, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, El Salvador, Jordan and Taiwan, among other countries or organizations whose identities were not discovered.

Since the report's publication in March 2008, "There have been at least ten or twelve more arrests," says its author, Katherine Herbig. In addition, a companion report entitled Espionage Indicators 1985-2005, which is classified Secret, cites even more cases.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Herbig speculates there are hundreds of other Americans still spying.

If you're one of them, possibly it happened something like this: You became friends with another member at your racquet or golf or yacht club. We'll call him J.P. He's from -- let's say -- Fredonia. His work regularly brings him to your city. You two had a lot in common, you hit it off, even your wives clicked. Also you have Fredonian roots. You and your wife spent a week's vacation with J.P. there.

After you'd been friends for more than a year, he confided to you that he does a little work for the Fredonian intelligence. And he asked you a favor. Your company has been contracted to do a project for the Army. J.P. wanted a look at the specs.

"I'd like to help Fredonia," you said. "But isn't that illegal?"

"It's not really that big a deal," he said. "Fredonia and America are allies."

So you did it, for reasons that could be considered noble. Or you're thinking about doing it now. Of course you hope you won't be caught. Your country, after all, would consider you a traitor. That aside, there's one thing you should know:

J.P. is most likely not Fredonian, but an agent of the Russians.

Or the Chinese.

Or al-Qaeda.

Or a different organization flying a false flag in order to capitalize on your ancestral, religious or other ideological affiliation with Fredonia.

The house you stayed at in Fredonia, J.P.'s office you visited there: fronts. And his wife probably wasn't really his wife.

From the vantage point of a case officer, it's a relatively simple op. "You figure out who has the information you need, then you figure out how to get it out of them," says Fred Rustmann, a CIA case officer for twenty-four years before becoming chairman of CTC, a private counterespionage company. "The best way to get it is to get them to want to give it to you. So you have to become someone that person will want to talk to. A good case officer, using the right access agent, can dupe them."

Rustmann ought to know. He once penetrated Hezbollah using the same tactic. "The agent thought he was working for Khomeini," he says.

Says one Defense source, "It's a nice thing that Americans are willing to trust a stranger coming up the street." Still, the intelligence community would like Americans to bear in mind the words of Jefferson: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

If you've been solicited by a J.P., or even if you've already given him secrets, call your local FBI field office.

Today.

Your lapse may be forgiven. Moreover, it may prove a boon to our national security.

Comments

[aviatrice]

Imagine a country not bent on world domination. Then think how many fewer secrets that country would have.

[S1m0n]

John Walker Lind spied on no one; nor did he commit treason of any kind.

The crime he was convicted--err, browbeaten into pleading guilty to--is one that's unique among nations, and is clearly extrajudicial in scope. It was definitely NOT something that he could have been extradicted for.

[FearlessFreep]

He was accused of complicity in the murder of a CIA agent, but the case seems pretty circumstantial to me. (He didn't mention to the agent that there was going to be a prison uprising which would cause the latter's death, but did he even know the uprising was going to happen?) I'm not surprised that they dropped that charge and settled for a plea bargain on less grave charges of belonging to a terrorist group.

[Michale32086]

@LeftRight

}}}}
And I've BEEN one of those people, but I really don't think that you have been. You sure seem an awful lot like right wing talk show hosts!
{{{{

I understand.

My bona fides have been well established in over 3 years of posting here.

But I understand that you must call them into question.

You must, else your argument fails..

So, I understand completely. It's kewl.. :D

Michale.....

[LeftRight]

Do you know why I call your "bona fides" into question Michale?? BECAUSE YOU NEVER CHANGE YOUR OPINION!! No matter how many facts are presented to you, you ALWAYS come back to I said this, and you said that and you are wrong because I'm speaking TRUTH and you are speaking opinion! THAT'S ALWAYS BEEN YOUR MO!!! Once you change your mind based on a fact, THEN I will stop calling you a rightwingnutjob!

[peterg76]

And then there's outing Valerie Plame...

[BSERIUS]

And this is why Barack and the majority of politicians supported FISA... not to invade our privacy , but international terrorism prevention... wich seems to have worked well these last 7 years since the results of The Last Liberal administration caused 9/11

[LeftRight]

So there's been 173 cases, plus ten or twelve more since 1947..... That's a grand total of............ ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY FIVE!!!

And just how many Americans have been born, lived, and died in that timeframe?? We have more than 300 MILLION Americans alive right now. You've GOT to be looking at more than half a BILLION!!! and there's been 185 arrests........ Yeah, this is a CRISIS we've got brewing here!

[Michale32086]

While it's nothing to lose sleep over, mere numbers do not tell the whole story..

When ONE person can cause irreparable harm to a country and cause the deaths of hundreds or thousands or even millions, it's definitely an issue NOT to be taken lightly..

Michale.....

[LeftRight]

Name one who actually caused irreparable harm to our country. The Rosenburgs? The ones who it came out later gave information to the Soviets that they ALREADY HAD FIGURED OUT??

I'm not saying that it's nothing to worry about, I'm saying that it's the job of the FBI and CIA to ensure that this is limited, and it doesn't really affect ME at all!!

[who38]

So everyone is suspect and should be monitored......except you, of course.

[legalclubs]

What's your alternative? The secrets being passed are secrets that people are willing to risk death to obtain from us. Probably kinda important that we prevent that. For example, let's suppose an enemy of the U.S. obtains secret missle technology specs which subsequently enable them to build a missle capable of hitting the U.S. So two years down the road because of one person we are being threaten with a nuclear strike. So yeah, I would say 173 cases, which is about 3 per year, is an important thing to combat.

[FairTalk]

This is a problem for all countries today.

[andalex]

Russians? Please! As a native and 21-year resident of Fredonia (N.Y.), I can say with some certainty that that's a world power we really have to keep our eye on.

[lucyring]

I'm staggered by the sheer number of Americans engaged in such activities. Treason aside, it is tragic that people I know might be acting by what they believe to be patriotism (on behalf of their ancestral homelands, etc.) only to be giving up the goods a slick SRV or Qaeda salesman.

What can be done to enemy spy agencies from recruiting in this fashion on our turf?

[Michale32086]

When you get right down to the brass tacks, spy agencies are simply reporting agencies. No different than the NY Times or CNN.. They deal in information and instead of reporting that information to the world, they report it to their governments.

As a matter of fact, history has shown that some of the best "spys" were journalists and news people. This was, of course, before news morphed into entertainment, complete with ratings and such.

As to what can be done? Beyond educating the public about the dangers of these false flag approaches, nothing much. Most false flag approaches are based on ideology. These are notoriously ineffective over the long term, as an ideologue makes the WORST kind of covert operative. Operatives who are based in greed and money are much more effective (to the bad guys) and those agents are usually the hardest to ferret out..

Michale.....

[who38]

Idealogues make the worst kind of covert operative? Is that why Pollard was caught?

[vigilantwarrior]

Was this "lapse" "forgiven" as a "boon to our national security"?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/movers-and-shakers/

[Michale32086]

@FearlessFreep

}}}
John Walker Lindh is serving 10 to 20 years, and was never accused of spying.
{{{

I would also put forth that he was very unlikely to possess any "state secrets" that he could have given to Al Qaeda

Michale.....

[Michale32086]

@Expatessa

}}}}
Um, 173 people in 60 years? Not so much a burning problem as an excuse for a column perhaps?
{{{{

When one considers the amount of damage that just ONE person could do, the "burning problem" becomes very VERY hot indeed..

Michale.....

[LeftRight]

Granted, that one person (or two in the case of the Rosenburgs....) can cause quite a bit of damage, and it's something to be concerned about, but seriously, that's 0.000037% of the population!!!! It's not really something I'm going to worry myself about that much!

[FearlessFreep]

The Soviets would have got the Bomb anyway. The Rosenbergs were scapegoats. (So's John Walker Lindh, BTW.)

[Expatessa]

Um, 173 people in 60 years? Not so much a burning problem as an excuse for a column perhaps?

[FearlessFreep]

John Walker Lindh is serving 10 to 20 years, and was never accused of spying.

[JohnFromCensornati]

Apparently, he will be executed for spying before his release date.

[Michale32086]

Cite??

Michale.....

[LMPE]

It appears that all countries spy on each other.

[lucyring]

To an alarming extent. It seems, to borrow from sports, we need to play better defense.

[who38]

Probably true. We really need to stop calling countries our friends and refer to them as our allies.