Even as fans of that uber-dashing British secret agent are trying to come to terms with the Bond franchise going into cash-strapped hibernation, there’s news of Russian moles crawling out of the thawed remains of the Cold War woodwork. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has, apparently, busted a network of Russian ‘illegals’ — spies that do not exist on the government’s payrolls — who were trying to pass off as your average Yank, complete with wholesome American names and Facebook profiles. It seems that not only are they off the books, but their ‘non-offences’ have thrown all spy manuals out the window. In a trend unleashed by India’s foreign service renegade in Pakistan, Madhuri Gupta, we could be seeing a spate of wannabe operatives willing to go undercover for cash or country, with little clue about the ‘mission’.
Because, if you’re wondering what these young men and women were actually supposed to be transmitting back home, you’re not alone. They were on a mission so secret that even the most cunning spymeisters are at their tricks’ end. This, in an era where the latest corporate or political babble can be had at the click of a button. But with the Chinese having cornered the market for hacking, the Pakistanis specialising in the delicate art of denial, and the Europeans still dazed from the global economic shakedown, one can’t blame the Russians for trying to keep themselves busy. They’re back to playing what they know best: the spy game, Le Carré-style.
Or it could well be that that the ex-Soviets have stumbled upon the greatest intelligence trick of all time: don’t know, don’t tell. It could also be that all this talk of espionage is merely a decoy to help a new wave of Russians buy up football clubs beyond Chelsea FC around the world. Or is it to infiltrate the global economy, one call centre at a time? Here’s an even scarier possibility: that somewhere deep in the bowels of the bureaucratic netherworld that is the Kremlin, a recruiting agent still doesn’t know that the Cold War is over.