5 ms·

Accused Russian spies lived perfect Boston lives

47 points by fady 16y ago

gaika 16y ago
Just a warning to anybody using Linked-In or Facebook - journalists are already calling all the "friends" they can find online for details. FBI will be calling soon too. This information is just too easy to find for anybody who has time to type in the name into a search box.
- sethg 16y ago
  Just for the hell of it, I searched for both Heathfield and Foley on LinkedIn, and I’m a third-degree connection to both of them. (I wonder if this is a sign of how incestuous the Boston high-tech community is.)
  - rdtsc 16y ago
    > how incestuous the Boston high-tech community is. Or how well the alleged spies have been planted...
    - sabj 16y ago
      Or how well the sleeper cells have had the programming subsumed into their consciousness... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spies_Reminiscent_of_Us#Plot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spies_Reminiscent_of_Us#Plot
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
huhtenberg 16y ago
Just read through this and look at the technical part. Why didn't they randomize their MAC addresses? Why the heck were they using standard protocols in the first place? Oh the glory days of spying when they had a transmitter in a shoe, a mike in the olive and the olive in the martini... http://www.justice.gov/opa/documents/062810complaint1.pdf http://www.justice.gov/opa/documents/062810complaint1.pdf
- fady 16y ago
  hahah..nice one
- redorb 16y ago
  I would have thought that the FBI would've had a harder time setting up meetings using their undercover guys... I always thought each spy dealt with very few handlers / I wouldn't have showed to a 'phone call' ~ but I also see they edited the document a lot; I guess the FBI was able to uncover some of their "signals of authenticity" and use them against them; ~ I think the main charge is the fake passport (which the FBI set her up with) ~ of course that charge leads to being a SPY which leads to? life or death in prison
  - necubi 16y ago
    > ~ I think the main charge is the fake passport (which the FBI set her up with) ~ of course that charge leads to being a SPY which leads to? life or death in prison Nobody's been charged with espionage, so neither of those sentences apply. Instead, they've been charged with far more minor things like failing to register as an agent of a foreign government.
  - dhimes 16y ago
    Taking the US/Russia relationship at face value, I doubt they'll have to serve prison time. But it does make me wonder: why the sting now? A good strategy for this game is that when you know who the spies are, you play along and let them "spy." Then when the game gets serious you're one step ahead as you already know who to watch and can possibly even feed them tainted information. Why did the US "fire all of its guns at once" here? Methinks there's more to this.
    - jeromec 16y ago
      >Methinks there's more to this. I was thinking the same thing. I just watched a RT interview with a "military analyst" here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9kwPr9PqG8&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9kwPr9PqG8&feature=playe.... I transcribed parts that stood out to me: "...but basically it just demonstrates it's not Obama who controls the foreign policy regarding the..., that somebody within the inards of the body politicking ... so the beltway bandits, I believe, has regained the initiative from the White House, and with their moles it is not the Russian moles or spies, it is the neo-conservative's moles in the White House who are trying to hijack the agenda and who are actively against resetting the Russian, American strategic partnership to deal with the common threat like counter-terrorism strategy, and counter drug strategy in Afghanistan and Paskistan." "...let me tell you something ... it's ludicrous from professional intelligence perspective, because in open society as America is definitely, it's open source intelligence data mining which becomes the main priority for all intelligence officers working openly in the United States, and in Russia, and everywhere else. The problem is why America is missing the analytical minds who can absorb and analyze the incoming threats ... real threats, not imaginary threats. "
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
sabj 16y ago
Growing up in Boston, all my russian friends would joke of such things as this, or other connections. And here I was thinking it was but schoolyard bluster!
- sethg 16y ago
  I have a biased sample, but almost all of the Russian expats I know are Jewish. Their connections probably involve being interrogated by the KGB.
  - sabj 16y ago
    Of course - and we all knew this. But that didn't make calling the russian math school a mob hideout any less fun.
splat 16y ago
Suddenly the 1977 movie Telefon sounds a lot more plausible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qg0w8qbBQo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qg0w8qbBQo
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

47 points by fady 16y ago

gaika 16y ago

Just a warning to anybody using Linked-In or Facebook - journalists are already calling all the "friends" they can find online for details. FBI will be calling soon too. This information is just too easy to find for anybody who has time to type in the name into a search box.

sethg 16y ago
Just for the hell of it, I searched for both Heathfield and Foley on LinkedIn, and I’m a third-degree connection to both of them. (I wonder if this is a sign of how incestuous the Boston high-tech community is.)
- rdtsc 16y ago
  > how incestuous the Boston high-tech community is. Or how well the alleged spies have been planted...
  - sabj 16y ago
    Or how well the sleeper cells have had the programming subsumed into their consciousness... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spies_Reminiscent_of_Us#Plot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spies_Reminiscent_of_Us#Plot
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]

huhtenberg 16y ago

Just read through this and look at the technical part. Why didn't they randomize their MAC addresses? Why the heck were they using standard protocols in the first place? Oh the glory days of spying when they had a transmitter in a shoe, a mike in the olive and the olive in the martini... http://www.justice.gov/opa/documents/062810complaint1.pdf http://www.justice.gov/opa/documents/062810complaint1.pdf

fady 16y ago
hahah..nice one
redorb 16y ago
I would have thought that the FBI would've had a harder time setting up meetings using their undercover guys... I always thought each spy dealt with very few handlers / I wouldn't have showed to a 'phone call' ~ but I also see they edited the document a lot; I guess the FBI was able to uncover some of their "signals of authenticity" and use them against them; ~ I think the main charge is the fake passport (which the FBI set her up with) ~ of course that charge leads to being a SPY which leads to? life or death in prison
- necubi 16y ago
  > ~ I think the main charge is the fake passport (which the FBI set her up with) ~ of course that charge leads to being a SPY which leads to? life or death in prison Nobody's been charged with espionage, so neither of those sentences apply. Instead, they've been charged with far more minor things like failing to register as an agent of a foreign government.
- dhimes 16y ago
  Taking the US/Russia relationship at face value, I doubt they'll have to serve prison time. But it does make me wonder: why the sting now? A good strategy for this game is that when you know who the spies are, you play along and let them "spy." Then when the game gets serious you're one step ahead as you already know who to watch and can possibly even feed them tainted information. Why did the US "fire all of its guns at once" here? Methinks there's more to this.
  - jeromec 16y ago
    >Methinks there's more to this. I was thinking the same thing. I just watched a RT interview with a "military analyst" here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9kwPr9PqG8&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9kwPr9PqG8&feature=playe.... I transcribed parts that stood out to me: "...but basically it just demonstrates it's not Obama who controls the foreign policy regarding the..., that somebody within the inards of the body politicking ... so the beltway bandits, I believe, has regained the initiative from the White House, and with their moles it is not the Russian moles or spies, it is the neo-conservative's moles in the White House who are trying to hijack the agenda and who are actively against resetting the Russian, American strategic partnership to deal with the common threat like counter-terrorism strategy, and counter drug strategy in Afghanistan and Paskistan." "...let me tell you something ... it's ludicrous from professional intelligence perspective, because in open society as America is definitely, it's open source intelligence data mining which becomes the main priority for all intelligence officers working openly in the United States, and in Russia, and everywhere else. The problem is why America is missing the analytical minds who can absorb and analyze the incoming threats ... real threats, not imaginary threats. "

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

sabj 16y ago

Growing up in Boston, all my russian friends would joke of such things as this, or other connections. And here I was thinking it was but schoolyard bluster!

sethg 16y ago
I have a biased sample, but almost all of the Russian expats I know are Jewish. Their connections probably involve being interrogated by the KGB.
- sabj 16y ago
  Of course - and we all knew this. But that didn't make calling the russian math school a mob hideout any less fun.

splat 16y ago

Suddenly the 1977 movie Telefon sounds a lot more plausible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qg0w8qbBQo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qg0w8qbBQo

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]