Spy swap puts halt to fact finding

The Obama administration's rapid release of 10 Russian intelligence officers removed the prospect of a public trial revealing embarrassing facts about Russian influence operations, like the targeting of a key Democratic Party financier close to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Current and former national security officials critical of the speedy exchange with Moscow also said trading the 10 spies for four Russians less than two weeks after their arrest also limited U.S. counterspies from learning important details of Russian espionage and influence operations.

Questions about the handling of the case were raised Tuesday during a closed-door briefing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, questioned the unprecedented speed used by the administration in moving the spies out of the country.

"We gave up the opportunity," he said. "Now that these people are out of the country, it's game off, not game on. We will get no additional insights or information from them."

Mr. Hoekstra said the House intelligence oversight panel will be briefed on the case this week and "tough questions" will be raised about the swap. "Right now, it looks like this is one time the government should have been a little more deliberate and taken its time before acting in haste," he said.

The swap of the 10 "illegals," or deep-cover agents, last week — 12 days after their arrest — also prevented trial disclosures of other potentially embarrassing details, like the identities of what an FBI criminal complaint described as a "former legislative counsel for the U.S. Congress" and "former high-ranking United States government national security official" both of whom provided information to two Boston-based Russians in the case. Both officials' names were omitted from the complaint.

The Russians spies, according to the FBI complaint, were tasked with developing sources in government, the business community and academia who could provide secrets and other information useful to Moscow.

The criminal complaint stated that in February 2009 a New Jersey-based Russian, who posed as Cynthia Murphy and was later identified as SVR officer Lydia Guryev, met several times with a "prominent New York-based financier" who was active in politics and a "active fundraiser" for a "major political party, name omitted." He also was described as a "personal friend of [a current Cabinet official, name omitted]."

"We will get no additional insights or information from them," said Rep. Peter Hoekstra

This swap wasn't even approved by Obamah, but he was informed we were told.

There is something wrong when The President isn't the one making Spy-Swat decisions.

Obamah is a do-nothing President, prefers to delegate everything because he is an Havard Educated idiot!

“We gave up the opportunity,” he said. “Now that these people are out of the country, it’s game off, not game on. We will get no additional insights or information from them.”

That was exactly the point. Never forget that the Clintons are radical leftists. Obama is an in-your-face Marxist revolutionary, but the Clinton’s policies would not be much different than his.

ON THE INTERNET:

WASHINGTON TIMES.com: "SPY SWAP PUTS HALT TO FACT FINDING Public Trial of 10 Russian Agents Could Have Led to Revelations" by Bill Gertz (July 13, 2010)

NewYork.FBI.gov - DOJ Press Release: Washington - "TEN RUSSIAN AGENTS PLEAD GUILTY AND ARE TO BE REMOVED FROM THE UNITED STATES" (SNIPPET: "The defendants known as "Richard Murphy" and "Cynthia Murphy" admitted they are Russian citizens named Vladimir Guryev and Lydia Guryev and are agents of the Russian Federation. Defendants "Michael Zottoli" and "Patrica Mills" admitted they are Russian citizens named Mikhail Kutsik and Natalia Pereverzeva, and are agents of the Russian Federation. Defendants "Donald Howard Heathfield" and "Tracey Lee Ann Foley" admitted they are Russian citizens named Andrey Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova, and are agents of the Russian Federation. "Juan Lazaro" admitted that he is a Russian citizen named Mikhail Anatonoljevich Vasenkov and is an agent of the Russian Federation. The defendants Vicky Pelaez, Anna Chapman and Mikhail Semenko, who operated in this country under their true names, admitted that they are agents of the Russian Federation; and Chapman and Semenko admitted they are Russian citizens.") (July 8, 2010)

NewYork.FBI.gov - DOJ Press Release: Washington - "TEN ALLEGED SECRET AGENTS ARRESTED IN THE UNITED STATES Multi-year FBI Investigation Uncovers Network in the United States Tasked with Recruiting Sources and Collecting Information for Russia" (June 28, 2010)

Complaint - 1 - Link (pdf)

Complaint - 2 - Link

Link

THE SMOKING GUN.com: "FBI BUSTS RUSSIAN SPIES Feds: Covert agents caught using old school, high-tech spycraft" (June 28, 2010)

Link

POLITICO.com - blog: "CLINTON FRIEND MAY HAVE BEEN SPY'S TARGET" (June 29, 2010)

Link

THE SPEC.com - HAMILTON SPECTATOR WIRE SERVICES: Washington - "RUSSIAN SPY ASSUMED BURLINGTON MAN'S IDENTITY" (SNIPPET: "Investigators allege Heathfield assumed the identity of a dead Burlington man as part of his spy legend -- possibly using his actual birth certificate.") (June 29, 2010)

Link

THECRIMSON.com - THE HARVARD CRIMSON: "KENNEDY SCHOOL GRAD ARRESTED IN RUSSIAN SPY RAID" by Naveen N. Srivatsa (SNIPPET: "A graduate of Harvard Kennedy School was arrested yesterday for allegedly spying on behalf of the Russian government in order to infiltrate U.S. policymaking circles. The defendant, who is referred to in documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice as Donald Howard Heathfield, allegedly met with a U.S. government official involved with nuclear weapons research and was tasked with assembling data on U.S. foreign policy, including American policies regarding Central Asia, assessments of Russian foreign policy by Western nations, and the policies of the United States concerning Internet use by terrorists.") (Published June 28, 2010)

HOT AIR.com - Green Room: "ALLEGED SPY'S NEWSPAPER COMMENTARIES PRETTY MUCH WHAT YOU'D EXPECT" by Patrick Ishmael (June 29, 2010, 1:39 am)

Link

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