SpyTalk: June 27, 2010 - July 3, 2010

Nixon and Kissinger joked over Chile assassination

President Richard M. Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry A. Kissinger, joked that an “incompetent” CIA had struggled to successfully carry out an assassination in Chile, newly available Oval Office tapes reveal. At the time, in 1971, Nixon and...

By Jeff Stein  | July 2, 2010; 6:10 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (2)
Categories:  Intelligence, Politics  
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Anna Chapman the movie?

Has Anna Chapman finally met her cinematic metaphor? Headline writers can't resist turning tales like hers into throwbacks of movies, no matter how shopworn and ridiculous. This week it was "Spies Like Us" and "The Spy Next Door." Need I...

By Jeff Stein  | July 2, 2010; 6:00 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (21)
Categories:  Entertainment, Financial/business, Intelligence, Justice/FBI, Media  
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Marines use Anna Chapman photos to warn sailors of the danger of beauties in foreign countries

U.S. Marines preparing for shore leave in the Seychelles islands were having a standard security briefing this week when they were shown photos of a figure who's been in the news lately: Russian spy suspect Anna Chapman. The 28-year-old has...

By Jeff Stein  | July 1, 2010; 1:33 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (17)
Categories:  Homeland Security, Intelligence, Military  
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Anna Chapman's gig offered potential secrets

Tinker, tailor, soldier: which one would make the best spy? The answer is not as obvious as you might think. Many people have scoffed that the “cover jobs” held by the accused Russian spies -- real estate agent, financial planner,...

By Jeff Stein  | June 30, 2010; 9:30 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (5)
Categories:  Financial/business, Intelligence, Justice/FBI  | Tags:  Anna Chapman, Cynthia Murphy, Donald Heathfield, James Wedick, Mikhail Semenko, Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Tracey Ann Fole  
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Anna Chapman, accused spy, is Internet sensation

“Act naturally,” the Russians tell their espionage trainees before dispatching them to America. Boy, did she. Anna Chapman cut a wide swath in New York even before her arrest on charges of spying for Mother Russia, judging by the sultry...

By Jeff Stein  | June 29, 2010; 4:47 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (60)
Categories:  Intelligence, Justice/FBI, Lawandcourts, Media  
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Accused Russian spies lived perfect Boston lives

They were such a typical, 40-something Cambridge couple--he a clean-cut international consultant, she an attractive, vaguely European blonde selling real estate around the influential university town. Nice covers for Russian spies, according to the FBI. Perfect location, too: ground zero of the area’s academic-industrial-scientific-government complex.

By Jeff Stein  | June 29, 2010; 5:20 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (15)
Categories:  Foreign policy, Intelligence, Justice/FBI  | Tags:  Donald Heathfield, FBI, Russian spies. Russian spies arrestedi n Cambridge, SVR, Tracey Foley  
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Russian spy case reveals old espionage tricks

Moscow Center’s instructions were explicit: For the meeting in Rome, its American spy would approach a stranger and ask, "Excuse me, could we have met in Malta in 1999?" "Yes indeed,” the answer should be. “I was in La Valetta,...

By Jeff Stein  | June 28, 2010; 10:15 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (22)
Categories:  Intelligence, Justice/FBI  
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Anti-censorship leader Aftergood blasts WikiLeaks

Steven Aftergood, a leading opponent of government censorship, strongly denounced WikiLeaks Monday as an “enemy” of openness “because it does not respect the rule of law nor does it honor the rights of individuals.” “WikiLeaks says that it is dedicated...

By Jeff Stein  | June 28, 2010; 1:03 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (8)
Categories:  Intelligence, Lawandcourts, Military  
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Blackwater plunged into controversy again

Even as CIA Director Leon Panetta gave the security contractor formerly known as Blackwater a clean bill of health on Sunday, the firm was plunged into a new controversy over its past dealings, this time in Sudan. According to McClatchy...

By Jeff Stein  | June 27, 2010; 9:41 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (2)
Categories:  Financial/business, Intelligence, Justice/FBI  
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