Double life as a KGB agent
theguardian.com
Double life as a KGB agent
1–10 of 79 posts
Re: Double life as a KGB agent
#2In the end, it all seems so mundane. Secretive to be sure, but a talented life accomplishing nothing.
Well, maybe an improvement on East Germany in the 80s but that's it.
Re: Double life as a KGB agent
#3A fair number of sleeper agents like this have been outed over the years. Another example that comes to mind is the KGB agent couple on which the TV show "The Americans" was based: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/discovered-our...
FBI Operation Ghost Stories arrested 11 people back in 2010. https://vault.fbi.gov/ghost-stories-russian-foreign-intellig...
What I'm wondering is: how many other agents are out there and haven't been caught yet? Or were here and left without being caught?
I wonder if this type of agent is still in active use, in the sense of seeding more of them. Given the arrests just 7 years ago, I'd guess so. But perhaps not, since hacking and electronic surveillance can be so effective. You don't necessarily need an agent within a country's borders to penetrate a lot of their networks, email, and other communications.
But you never know ... what lengths would Russia go to to get an agent TS/SCI clearance and access to a SCIF?
Re: Double life as a KGB agent
#460 minutes produced a segment about him. Here is the transcript: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-kgb-spy-jack-barsky-steve...
Re: Double life as a KGB agent
#5In the end, it all seems so mundane. Secretive to be sure, but a talented life accomplishing nothing. Well, maybe an improvement on East Germany in the 80s but that's it.
The guy looks happy now, though. His kids tracked each other down, he spends his time dead-dropping cookies for later.
I wonder what might have become of him had he become a chemist. Nothing remarkable, maybe. Might have been even more mundane than the reality of spycraft.
Re: Double life as a KGB agent
#6Just like engineers, they think they are smart and they are changing the world and blablabla but it is actually all about billions and power going to the big guys
Re: Double life as a KGB agent
#7In the end, it all seems so mundane. Secretive to be sure, but a talented life accomplishing nothing. Well, maybe an improvement on East Germany in the 80s but that's it.
I remember reading a book about Gunther Guillaume, an east-german spy in Germany. The same feeling resonated throughout the book, the job is, as you said, secretive, but mundane. Interestingly, I would expect people that choose to go into this line of work to know this, since most all realistic books and media leave show how utterly lonely and boring it is. On the other hand, I guess there are spy handlers ane their life might be more... exciting?
Re: Double life as a KGB agent
#8A fair number of sleeper agents like this have been outed over the years. Another example that comes to mind is the KGB agent couple on which the TV show "The Americans" was based: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/discovered-our... FBI Operation Ghost Stories arrested 11 people back in 2010. https://vault.fbi.gov/ghost-stories-russian-foreign-intellig... What I'm wondering is: how many other agents are o…
One of the inefficiencies of embedding agents like this seems to be that they're subject to the same vagaries of chance as all of us.
What are the chances of an agent being hired and then promoted to have access to an SCI file you're interested in?
It seems a pretty poor bet compared to turning individuals already in relevant positions.
Re: Double life as a KGB agent
#9Just like engineers, they think they are smart and they are changing the world and blablabla but it is actually all about billions and power going to the big guys
This comment comes across as small minded and pessimistic without real evidence. Scientists and engineers typically help the world, with or without money. See Gates, Stallman, Page & Brin, Clair Cameron Patterson, etc
Re: Double life as a KGB agent
#10Just like engineers, they think they are smart and they are changing the world and blablabla but it is actually all about billions and power going to the big guys
This comment comes across as small minded and pessimistic without real evidence. Scientists and engineers typically help the world, with or without money. See Gates, Stallman, Page & Brin, Clair Cameron Patterson, etc
> Scientists and engineers typically help the world, with or without money
Of course they do, the actual change has always been done by engineers and scientists, however, history only remembers the rulers and recently entrepreneurs