-Caveat Lector-

[This has some pretty bizarre stuff in it, e.g., "airborne
microphones," "slivers of metal and fiber optics, embedded in
window seals and furniture, serve as super sensitive listening
devices..."  I, for one, would like to know what the technical
principles involved in these could be.  Any help would be much
appreciated.  --MS]

Full article at:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/spy_thomas.html


        Trade Secrets

        America's Cutting-Edge Espionage Techniques at
        Risk

        By Pierre Thomas


        March 24 - Is America's top-secret
        spy tradecraft still secure?


        Miniature cameras placed in the headlights of
        vehicles of known Russian spies, to record their
        movements.

        Homing devices, and an extensive system of
        transmitters, to track them as they traveled
        throughout New York City.

        Slivers of metal and fiber optics, embedded in
        window seals and furniture, to serve as
        supersensitive listening equipment.

        Now, these surveillance techniques, among
        the best practiced by U.S.  counterintelligence,
        may be lost.

        ABCNEWS has learned that suspected Russian spy
        Robert Hanssen was in a position to reveal the
        techniques, called tradecraft, to his Russian
        and Soviet handlers, when he worked for the FBI
        in New York from 1985 to 1987.

        At that time, Hanssen was a counterintelligence
        agent, supervising a squad targeting Soviet spies
        in the home town of the United Nations and
        international finance, the prime domestic location
        for American espionage efforts against the Russians.

        "Hanssen would have had access and knowledge of
        all of the techniques that would be used against
        the Soviets," said Harry Brandon, who once
        oversaw the FBI's counterintelligence program.

        "I would assume everything is gone. Assume the
        worst," he said.


        Secrets from the Playbook

        Among the secrets that Hanssen may have revealed
        is the location of a supersecret counterintelligence
        center in New York known as MEGAHUT.

        That knowledge would allow the Russians to closely
        monitor undercover FBI operations.

        He might have also revealed a large scale real estate
        program maintained by the United States, that bought
        properties in expensive areas throughout New York
        City so they could be used for surveillance.

        Other secrets from the tradecraft playbook include
        an FBI system for photographing passengers coming
        in from Russia - to monitor for incoming spies.

        FBI officials are now reviewing failed covert
        operations from the period Hanssen was in New York,
        trying to see if the failures were because their
        tradecraft playbook had been given to the Russians.

        But the electronic snooping war continues to evolve,
        with more sophisticated devices that are increasingly
        difficult to detect.

        One new development is the airborne microphone.
        "Having no metallic content whatsoever makes it
        immune from X-rays," said surveillance consultant
        Martin Kaiser.

        "It makes it immune from known wire detection
        processes so it's really the ideal microphone."


        'Exceptionally Strong' Evidence

        Meanwhile, a federal judge recently ordered Hanssen
        to stay in jail on the grounds that the government's
        evidence against him was "exceptionally strong."

        Hanssen was arrested Feb. 18, charged with selling
        secrets to Russia and the Soviet Union since 1985,
        including the names of double agents and U.S.
        surveillance methods.

        The counts against him say he "compromised numerous
        FBI counterintelligence investigative techniques,
        sources, methods and operations, and operational
        practices and activities targeted against" Soviet
        and Russian agents in the U.S.

        He faces life in prison or death if convicted. His
        lawyers have said he is planning to plead not guilty.



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