Russian 'Secret Agents' Arrested in US

Ten alleged secret agents of the Russian government living in "deep-cover" in the United States and engaged in Cold War-style espionage have been arrested in a coordinated operation by the FBI.

From The Telegraph
By Toby Harnden

The FBI accuses the SVR, the successor organisation to the Soviet Union's KGB, of running a network of "illegals", described in court documents as Russians who received training in languages, codes and ciphers, invisible writing and counter-surveillance before living in the United States under false identities.

Each of the 10 was charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison on conviction.

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Comedian Sneaks into US State Department

Reminiscent of the Clinton Administration, when Chinese agents were given access to US nuclear laboratories and carried out the most serious espionage ever committed against the United States, a British comedian recently discovered that with a homemade pass which "could have been produced by a child," he had full access to the State Department.

But then, why should it matter if foreign nationals are given free access to our once most secure federal buildings, when the President of the United States shares national secrets with our deadliest enemies in press conferences and on the Internet? Let's open all the buildings and give foreign agents the opportunity to poke around the White House too. Or is the new regime only concerned with protecting themselves?

Comedian Armando Iannucci got past security guards at the US State department in Washington with a pass which "could have been produced by a child", in what he described as "probably international espionage".

The identification he had with him was an amateurish BBC pass with his face shown by a print out of a picture of him from the internet. Photo: PAUL GROVER

From The Telegraph


Mr Iannucci was researching his latest film, the US-British political drama 'In the Loop', when he visited the department's headquarters in the Foggy Bottom neighbourhood of the US political capital.

The identification he had with him was an amateurish BBC pass with his face shown by a print out of a picture of him from the internet.

He flashed the card at the guards in the main reception of the building, said he had an appointment and was waved through.

The comedian then spent an hour walking around the building taking photographs, which were later used to help with the set designs for the film.

The writer, who also created political satire-cum-farce The Thick Of It for BBC4, said: "I had a terrible, amateur BBC identity pass, with basically my face printed off Google and my name under it.

"A child could have produced it in 20 seconds. I wandered up to the front reception of the State department and said 'BBC. I'm here for the 12. 30.'

"They showed me in. I spent an hour wandering round the building with my camera taking photos for our designer.

"Part of me thought it was fun, another part thought it was probably international espionage."