Russian espionage in the United States has occurred since at least theCold War (as the Soviet Union), and likely well before. According to the United States government, by 2007 it had reached Cold War levels.[1]
TheKGB was the main security agency for theSoviet Union from 1954 until its break-up in 1991. The main duties of the KGB were to gather intelligence in other nations, conduct counterintelligence, maintain the secret police, KGB military corps and the border guards, suppress internal resistance, and conduct electronic espionage. According to former KGB Major GeneralOleg Kalugin, who was head of the KGB's operations in the United States, the "heart and soul" of Soviet intelligence was "not intelligence collection, but subversion: active measures to weaken the West, to drive wedges in the Western community alliances of all sorts, particularlyNATO, to sow discord among allies, to weaken the United States in the eyes of the people of Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and thus to prepare ground in case the war really occurs."[2][3]
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the KGB was reorganized into multiple subsidiary organizations including theFSB (Federal Security Service).[4][5] The Soviet Union formed two other well known agencies: TheGRU (The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) and theSVR (Foreign Intelligence Service).
TheGRU (The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) is Russia's military intelligence. The GRU remained intact when the KGB partitioned into the FSB and SVR, and keeps the same abbreviation as theSoviet-era GRU.[6] According to the Federation of American Scientists, the GRU focuses on "gathering human intelligence (HUMINT) through military attachés and foreign agents". Other than gathering human intelligence, the GRU also maintains "significant signals intelligence (SIGINT) and imagery reconnaissance along with satellite imagery (IMINT) capabilities".[7] The modern GRU has been connected to multiple crises and interference actions, and the U.S. has charged it for major cyberattacks, related to disruption of the Ukrainian power grid, targeting organizations investigating the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, and hacking the DNC in 2016 as part of election interference.[8][6]
TheSVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) was formed in December 1991 after the fragmentation of the KGB. The SVR replaced the KGB's overseas arm. According to former SVR defectorSergei Tretyakov, in the 1990s, SVR agents were secretly scattered acrossNew York City to gather intelligence for theKremlin in Russia.[9]
After the transition from the Soviet Union to the Russian Federation, new discoveries were made about Soviet-era espionage. TheVenona project, declassified in 1995 by theMoynihan Commission, contained extensive evidence of the activities of Soviet spy networks in America,[10] as did theMitrokhin Archive revealed from 1992-1999.[11]
Active measures have continued in the post-Soviet era in theRussian Federation and are in many ways based on Cold War schematics.[2][12] Active measures, as first formulated in the Soviet KGB, were a form ofpolitical warfare, offensive programs such as disinformation, propaganda, deception, sabotage, destabilization and espionage.[2]
According to theMitrokhin Archives, active measures were taught in theAndropov Institute of theKGB situated atSVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) headquarters inYasenevo District of Moscow. The head of the "active measures department" wasYuri Modin, former controller of theCambridge Five spy ring.[13][14] The former Andropov Institute became the Academy of Foreign Intelligence and is now operated by the SVR.[15]
The improvement of technology and the world's interconnectivity has made it easier for Russian intelligence to interfere.[14][16] However traditional tactics of human espionage persist.[16]
ColonelSergei Tretyakov, otherwise known as Comrade J, was a Russian SVR officer who defected to the United States in October 2000.[9] Tretyakov grew up aware of the KGB in Russia, due to his mother's and grandmothers' involvement. As Tretyakov grew up in the Soviet Union, he worshiped the idea of being a part of the KGB. While he was a young man in the KGB, he was given the responsibility to be the leader of the Young Communist League for nearly three years. Tretyakov spent many years in the KGB until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and he became a colonel in the SVR. From 1995 to 2000, Tretyakov was responsible for all Russian covert operations in New York City and at the United Nations. According toPete Earley, in 1997, Tretyakov might have begun supplying United States officials with Russian information. Either at this point or after his official defection, Tretyakov explained to the United States how Russia was spying throughout New York City and the rest of the United States, as well as how Russian intelligence spread throughout Manhattan and the rest of America. Tretyakov became a US citizen in 2007 and then three years later died at the age of 53.[9]
From the end of the 1980s, KGB and later SVR began to create "a second echelon" of "auxiliary agents in addition to our main weapons, illegals and special agents", according to former SVR officer Kouzminov.[17] These agents are legal immigrants, including scientists and other professionals. Another SVR officer,Vasili Mitrokhin, who defected to Britain in 1992, described details about thousands of Russian agents and intelligence officers, some of them "illegals" who live under deep cover abroad.[11]
In 2000, the FBI learned of multiple sets of Russian spies in the U.S.[18] In 2010, the FBI arrested 10 Russian agents, whose deep cover operation was named theIllegals Program by the Department of Justice. Posing as ordinary American citizens, the Russian agents tried to build contacts with academics, industrialists, and policymakers to gain access to intelligence. They were the target of a multi-year FBI investigation called Operation Ghost Stories, which culminated at the end of June 2010 with the arrest of ten people in the U.S. and an eleventh inCyprus.[19] The ten sleeper agents were charged with "carrying out long-term, 'deep-cover' assignments in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation."[20][21][22][23][18]
Former CIA officerHarold James Nicholson was twice convicted[clarification needed] as a spy for Russia'sForeign Intelligence Service (SVR).[24] A combination of events in the 90s began the FBI's investigation into Nicholson. He met with SVR officials away from the embassy and what followed was a $12,000 transfer to his bank account. He failed three polygraphs that noted questions like "are you hiding involvement with a foreign intelligence service?" This limited his access to Russian intelligence officials and by 1996, the FBI were able to arrest him inside Dulles Airport.[25] On him was a computer disc containing classified CIA files and ten rolls of film showing top secret documents. Nicholson admitted to the passing of classified information to the SVR from 1994 to 1996 and was convicted of espionage.[25]
Maria Butina is a Russian who was convicted in 2018 of acting as an unregisteredforeign agent of the Russian Federation within the United States.[26][27] Butina tried to infiltrate conservative groups in the US, including theNational Rifle Association of America, as part of an effort to promote Russian interests in the2016 United States presidential election.[28][29][30] TheSenate Intelligence Committee later concluded that she attempted to persuade the Trump campaign to establish a secret communications back channel with Russia.[31]
In February 2020, U.S. officials charged Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, a Mexican citizen, inMiami for allegedly acting on behalf of a Russian agent who recruited him to collect information about the US government. The two met repeatedly in Moscow.[32][33]
In May 2021, the U.S. sentenced formerArmy Green BeretPeter Debbins to 188 months in jail for conspiring with Russian intelligence operatives to illegally provide them with U.S. national defense information.[34]
In July 2022, U.S. officials arrested couple Walter Glenn Primrose (alias Bobby Edward Fort) and Gwynn Darle Morrison (alias Julie Lyn Montague), charging them withidentity theft and conspiring against the government. Like theIllegals, both had assumed the identities of deceased U.S. children (Fort and Montague), though the couple appeared to have genuinely been born in and resided in the United States as Primrose and Morrison. As Fort, Primrose served in theCoast Guard as anavionics technician before becoming a defense contractor; he held asecret security clearance. In its complaint against the couple, the U.S. provided two images of them in KGB uniforms.[35][36]
Russian espionage occurred during the2016 US presidential election. There were numerous reports ofRussian interference in the election since the nomination ofPresident Trump occurred. According to theUnited States Intelligence Community and theDirector of National Intelligence, there was evidence of the Russian government interfering to hurt democratic nominee,Hillary Clinton. Starting May 2017, former FBI DirectorRobert Mueller investigated the evidence and released a largely redacted 448-page report on his findings.
TheMueller Report consists mostly of theTrump administration's involvement and evidence of Russia's involvement. Mueller notes that there was asocial media propaganda operation called the "troll farm," in whichRussia's Internet Research Agency created fake accounts online that "favored candidate Trump and disparaged candidate Clinton."[37] Russia targeted Clinton's emailsafter word from President Trump in which he's quoted saying, "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 missing emails that are missing." Five hours later, Mueller reports, members of a key Russian intelligence unit targeted for the first time Clinton's personal office. There was also what Mueller called "Russian hacking and dumping operations" in which Russian intelligence officers hacked into the accounts of the Clinton campaign and Democratic party organizations. The material was then posted online by Russia themselves, and the other information was distributed byWikiLeaks. Russia repeatedly reached out to the Trump campaign to establish a connection to theKremlin. Mueller writes, "The Russian contacts consisted of business connections, offers of assistance to the campaign, invitations for campaign officials and representatives of Russian government to meet, and policy positions seeking improved US-Russian relations.”[37]
According to Mueller, Russia's foreign election interference “wasn’t a single attempt. They’re doing it as we sit here.”[38]
Ex-spyYuri Shvets, who was a partner of the assassinatedAlexander Litvinenko, believes that the KGB cultivated Trump as an asset for over 40 years.[39] Yuri Shvets, a source for journalistCraig Unger, compared the former president to the Cambridge Five who passed secrets to Moscow. Shvets believes that Semyon Kislin was a "spotter agent" who identified Trump as an asset in 1980. Among other things Shvets highlights Trump's visit to the Soviet Union in 1987.[40] Yuri Shvets believes Trump was fed KGB talking points. For example, after Trump's return to New York, Trump took out full-page ads in major newspapers criticizing American allies and spending on NATO. Yuri Shvets claims that at the chief KGB directorate inYasenevo, he received a cable celebrating the ad as a successful "active measure".[40] Shvets described the Mueller Report as a "big disappointment" because it focused only on "crime-related issues" rather than "counterintelligence aspects".[40]
JournalistLuke Harding argued that Trump's visit to the Soviet Union in 1987 was arranged by the KGB as part of KGB overtures to recruit a wider variety of agents.[41]
In March 2018, the Trump administration ordered the expulsion of 60 alleged Russian spies from the United States following thepoisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, as part of a joint effort with European allies who also expelled 50 alleged spies. The White House also ordered the closure of the Russian consulate inSeattle, based on the belief that the consulate was serving as a key base of operations for the Russian intelligence operations in the U.S.[42] U.S. officials at the time estimated over 100 Russian spies posing as diplomats in the United States prior to the order.[43]
Cyber espionage has been more widely used after the Cold War.
During theIllegals Program up to 2010, Russian agents usedsteganography to exchange information, where concealed messages were inserted into otherwise innocuous files.[44]
In April 2015, CNN reported that "Russian hackers" had "penetrated sensitive parts of the White House" computers in "recent months." It was said that the FBI, the Secret Service, and other US intelligence agencies categorized the attacks "among the most sophisticated attacks ever launched against US government systems."[45]
The2020 United States federal government data breach has been blamed on Russian state-backed hacker groups by most sources.[46][47][48] The cyberattack and data breach were reported to be among the worstcyber-espionage incidents ever suffered by the U.S., due to the sensitivity and high profile of the targets and the long duration (eight to nine months) in which the hackers had access.[54] Within days of its discovery, at least 200 organizations around the world had been reported to be affected by the attack, and some of these may also have suffered data breaches.[46][55][56] Affected organizations worldwide includedNATO, the U.K. government, theEuropean Parliament,Microsoft and others.[55]
On July 1, 2021 acybersecurity advisory from theNSA,FBI,CISA, and BritishNCSC warned of aGRUbrute-force cyberattack campaign against American government andprivate sector organizations, as well as foreign and global organizations (particularly those inEurope), aimed at stealing data. Primary targets included the American government and military;defense,energy, andlogistics industries; and political organizations. As of the July 2021 advisory, the campaign, which started in mid-2019, is still ongoing.[57]
According to a declassifiedDNI report released on March 16, 2021, there was evidence of broad efforts by Russia (and Iran) to shape the2020 U.S. presidential election's outcome. However, there was no evidence that any votes, ballots, or voter registrations were directly changed. Russia's efforts had been aimed at "denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the US", central to Moscow's interference effort having been reliance on Russian intelligence agencies′ proxies “to launder influence narratives” by using media organizations, U.S. officials and people close to Trump to push “misleading or unsubstantiated” allegations against Biden.[58][59][60][61]
The report specifically identified individuals controlled by the Russian government as having been involved in Russia's interference efforts, such asKonstantin Kilimnik andAndrii Derkach.[62] The report said thatPutin was likely to have had "purview" over the activities of Andrii Derkach.[58] According to the report, Putin had authorized the Russian influence operations.[58][63] Following the publication of the DNI report,House Intelligence Committee ChairmanAdam Schiff issued a statement that said, "Through proxies, Russia ran a successful intelligence operation that penetrated the former president’s inner circle."[64]
According to a report byOxford Internet Institute researchers including sociologistPhilip N. Howard, social media played a major role inpolitical polarization in the United States, due tocomputational propaganda -- "the use of automation, algorithms, and big-data analytics to manipulate public life"—such as the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories. The researchers highlighted the role of the RussianInternet Research Agency in attempts to undermine democracy in the US and exacerbate existing political divisions. The most prominent methods of misinformation were "organic posting, not advertisements", and influence operation activity increased after the 2016 election and was not limited to the election.[65][66] Examples of efforts included "campaigning for African American voters to boycott elections or follow the wrong voting procedures in 2016", "encouraging extreme right-wing voters to be more confrontational", and "spreading sensationalist, conspiratorial, and other forms of junk political news and misinformation to voters across the political spectrum."[65]
The foreign arm is today known as the SVR, which is the actual successor of the First Chief Directorate; the Andropov Red Banner Institute, in fact, is now called the SVR Academy.
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