Internet Unprotected from Spies: We Need Obama Ware Now

Regarding the arrests recently announced of individuals in a Russian spy ring, I was surprised to hear so many average Americans question why Russia needs to spy on the USA. Aside from being a naïve question in a world that has lately become so unstable, Russia (at least the Soviet Union) has never needed much of a reason. They have inquiring minds. Being nearly obsessed with current domestic political activities, my first response was that the Russians had forgotten how to do Communism so they were here to learn how to reinstate it back home.

To answer a few of the basic factual questions, consult the NY Times article from June 30, 2010, at:

 http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/r/russian_spy_ring_2010/index.html


This article states among other things:


"June 27, 2010, 10 people in Yonkers, Boston and northern Virginia were arrested and accused of being part of a Russian espionage ring, living under false names and deep cover ... scheme to penetrate ... American "policy making circles."
… identity borrowed from a dead Canadian, forged passports, messages sent by shortwave burst transmission or in invisible ink. A money cache
… cutting-edge gadgetry, deep knowledge of American culture and meticulously constructed cover stories.
…collect routine political gossip and policy talk...
… The court documents detailed what the authorities called the "Illegals Program," … to plant Russian spies in the United States to gather information and recruit more agents.
… used cyber-age technology, according to the charges ... embedded coded texts in ordinary-looking images posted on the Internet, and they communicated by having two agents pass casually with laptops containing special software flashed messages between them.
…They were directed to gather information on nuclear weapons, American policy toward Iran, C.I.A. leadership, Congressional politics and many other topics, according to prosecutors...
… agents often spend years just developing a fake life story, known in Russian as a "legend," ... the K.G.B. would often keep an agent in place abroad for years or even decades before he or she was able to gather useful information."


This should pretty much explain things, at least as well as we will ever know.

Russia has long been known for setting up “illegal," i.e. without diplomatic cover, spies and networks around the world, even in friendly countries, for future contingencies. A “legend” is like a cover story but more in-depth and for long term purposes. It is a complete false identity. A cover story is more of a task or mission oriented fake motive for being somewhere or doing something. These illegals may have no definite purpose. They might be placed where they would have access to financial executives, scientists, or military officers. Sometimes they might recruit agents with special access to confidential information. Sometimes they only keep taps on things. Setting up secret contacts and communications within the network are important steps because in emergencies or hostilities they need to be ready. There also are “agents of influence” who have media, industry, government, or other influential positions where they can promote US domestic policies helpful to their foreign masters. (Of course the British, French, US, Chinese, and everyone else does this to a certain extent.) Source of my information: the novels of John Le Carré (See his personal web cite for his readings and spy info.)

Returning to current domestic political shenanigans, my question is why has the government taken action now? Why have they “rolled up” this network, which the NY Times says has been in place for over ten years? References to the internet and “laptops with special software,” make me wonder if this is not part of the push for government control of the internet. It's such a threat, you know what they will be saying: "Look, This is unacceptable ... unsustainable .. a security crisis... With these simple security precautions in place, I will make you safe...blah, blah, blah."

We’ll just wait and see.