Incompetence Displayed in Russia.

 

'Fogle had been trying to recruit a Russian intelligence services officer responsible for fighting Islamist terrorists in Russia's Caucasus region, the Federal Security Service said. The agency, known as the FSB, also alleged he had been carrying a Russian-language recruitment note explaining how to set up a secure Gmail account and promising "up to $1 million a year with the promise of additional bonuses" for information. The State Department confirmed that a U.S. diplomat had been detained and released by Russian authorities but declined to say for which agency Mr. Fogle worked. U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said only that he was "an American staff member of the embassy." Pressed to say if that meant he may not be a foreign-service officer, he said, "right, I just don't have any more information, one way or another.""  WSJ

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Ho Hum.  This is a game that the US and Russia have played with each other for a long time.  There is no danger to bi-lateral relations and no admissions are expected. Nor should any be made.

Why does this "spying" continue?  Simple - Countries cannot be trusted to tell the truth in negotiations.  Therefore, a prudent course of action is to find people on the other side of issues who will tell you what your negotiating "partners" really intend. We should continue to do this kind of thing but we should do it better.  

Wigs, concealment devices, a letter of instruction for an "asset" who might be recruited in a meeting, this is absurd.  Why not hang a sign around your neck?  The "Game of Nations" must be played by adults, not by post-adolescent fantasists who want theatrical "dress-up" as part of their lives.

Presuming that we know who this fellow worked for I must say that I remember an occasion when his group wanted to bring someone to my home overseas in disguise.  I told them that this was unacceptable. The meeting went smoothly.

However, if they are still "into" this kind of thing I might suggest this costume.

pl 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323716304578482660056321772.html

Comments

[r whitman]

I got the impression that this was some sort of preview for a new comedy series on NBC called "My Inept Spy".

[The Twisted Genius]

"To say the least, we are surprised by the extremely crude and clumsy recruitment" said Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov.

I concur with Yuri's observation. I remember when "Moscow Rules" referred to the most sophisticated and advanced art of tradecraft. The norm was recruiting an asset outside the Iron Curtain and just running them in country through impersonal contacts, cutouts and brief encounters. These million dollar cold pitch attempts seem to be more common over the last decade. Crap! A shaved ape could make those attempts... probably with the same level of success. Where are the case officers with the patience to conduct a nuanced development of a lead before a carefully tailored recruitment pitch? I blame the bureaucrats interested only in immediate gratification and the next promotion. They don't know their ass from a hole in the ground about the art.

[CK]

They never tell you what they think you want to hear do they? I want da troof da hole troof and nuttin butt the troof from you the paid agent willing to sell your loyalty for mere shekels or mere pussy. Never in the history of spycraft have any "recruits" just decided to fuck with the handler's mind. Except maybe that one in Afghanistan last year who took out a whole CIA substation?

[twv]

Sir:
Speaking of espionage, have you seen the series on FX- "The Americans"?
If so, opinion please?

[turcopolier]

TWV

I have not. I have been enjoying "House of cards." pl

[turcopolier]

CK

Been in the business, or some other kind of intelligence? That sounds like something SIGINTERs or CI people say. In fact this kind of work is an art, an art not doable by other than deeply empathetic, well educated people who can appeal to prospective source while still holding these people under constant suspicion. This is not like running police informants. Recruited sources must be constantly tested in a variety of ways that are available. Both the source and the information must be tested. Normally, what is wanted from such a source is a single key element of information, often about intentions. Most of the operation should be directed towards establishing credibility in the source while remembering that the other side may be running him/her against you. There are not many people capable of doing this. Money should NEVER be a primary motivation for recruitment. pl

[William R. Cumming]

Try Roy Marsdaen in the early 80's BBC series "The Sandbaggers"!

[Tunde]

Sir,
Is there any significance to the timing of this disclosure to Sec Kerry's hopeless pitch to Putin re Syria ?
Also having no experience in such matters, is it normal to be carrying all the tools of the trade to an agent contact ? Something does'nt seem right and I mean from the US end. Would the NCS blow a recruiting exercise having been alerted that the exercise has been compromised from another source ? Is this sloppiness in tradecraft a result of focussing too much on counter-terrorism as opposed to targeting for penetration our traditional opponents in the great game ?

[Alba Etie]

Col Lang,
Why was the asset at Camp Chapman allowed inside the security perimeter so that he could detonate his suicide vest , killing himself and several of his handlers? And has anyone at the Other Government Agency been held accountable for these deaths ?

[CK]

Most post world war II American turncoats appear to have been money motivated. If the published histories are to be believed, the many Soviets who turned were motivated by a "love of freedom" and a desire for "the blessings of democracy."
I have difficulty reconciling the difference.

[J]

We need better eye candy, maybe another Russian 'illegal' like the SVR's last lot that our FBI brought to the surface.

This latest has me scratching my head in wonder.

[Grimgrin]

Did you ever see the original? I'd be very interested in your take on Kevin Spacey's Francis Underwood vs. Ian Richardson's Francis Urquhart.

[The Twisted Genius]

Tunde,

Normally a lot of effort is made not to have any incriminating items when conducting clandestine agent operations. It's not always 100% possible, but what this clown was carrying in Moscow was over the top. Over the last decade, case officers have been repeatedly cycled through Iraq and Afghanistan. IMHO they picked up a lot of bad habits, or inappropriate habits, along the way.

[Tunde]

Thanks TTG.
Apparently to rebut the 'staged' accusation, Russian tv played a recording of Fogle calling his target requesting a meeting and being pinned down by none other than his target. The FSB has gone further and named the Moscow COS.
Crikey !

[The Twisted Genius]

Milt Beardon offers a more sympathetic view of Fogle's follies.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/05/17/the_moscow_rules_still_rule

He makes some reasonable points, but I can't be as sympathetic as Milt. After all, these CIA case officers have diplomatic immunity. I never had that luxury.

[turcopolier]

TTG

Milt Bearden? So what? pl

[Clifford Kiracofe]

Well, maybe a bit of lipstick and mascara would have helped young Fogle...and a dress and some cute flats, no heels, good quality perfume?

MICE - Money, Ideology, Compromise, Ego. Ideology...

[The Twisted Genius]

PL,

So what, indeed. He was more of a nemesis of mine in Germany. I was running our "Russia House" in Germany when he was in Bonn. (Yeah, I know, but we all had a Russia House after le Carré's novel came out.) It was the only time I was summoned to a meeting in an American Embassy. Gave me the willies and the meeting wasn't any fun , either.

[turcopolier]

TTG

MB was recruited out of the USAF where he was an enlisted intel or OSI man. Need I say more? there was a whole crew of people like him in the DO. In the main, they loved us not. pl

[turcopolier]

CK

The people in the east were captives of communism. What is so difficult to understand? our people were captives of nothing nut their own greed. pl

[turcopolier]

Grimgrin

The differences are mainly in the faithful representation of the two cultures. Spacy's Underwood artfully captures the "Snopes' in the man. pl

[turcopolier]

AE In re Chapman, the answer is incompetence brought on by using operational commands as rewards in affirmative action jobs game. the woman in charge there was an analyst with no significant field transition time. This is not an objection to her gender. pl

[Tyler]

I spent time at Chapman as a loaned QRF randomly throughout 03-04. There were various CIA types moving in and out of there. I never got the impression that what we were doing was anything but play acting to them in their 'sterile' DCUs and short barreled M4s.

In particular, the SF sergeant of the guard was very direct about one thing: everyone who came in through the gate was searched, no exceptions. They had problems with the CIA in this regard from what I understood through the rumor mill. Shame that security got worst.

[CK]

So many spies, Pulitzer prize winning journalists, educators, federal employees, and politicians; prior to Russia winning WWII, were captivated by communism ... If only Stalin had not been able to pull off Operation August Storm and thus crater America's plans for the American future of Asia; that whole "captives of communism" sloganeering would have been unnecessary. Captives do not make good armies, none have suggested that the USSR had poor armies, at least not until after the Gorbachev rot set in and the Afghans proved so inhospitable.

[turcopolier]

CK

Ah, a communist or at least a fellow traveler. Well, my friend if you think communism was a good thing, I am only sorry that I missed you. pl