Joe Navarro is a long-time FBI officer, engaged in catching Russian spies at National Security Division for 25 years, reported about dangers coming from these Russian criminals for the US, the world and humanity in American scientific magazine Psychology Today.
The American counterintelligence officer said:
"Nothing in Russia has changed. After all, the real leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was as a career KGB agent who came up through the ranks, and not by exhibiting democratic principles but rather by being a steadfast believer in communist ideology and the especially harsh methods of the Soviet regime with which we are all familiar.
In fact, let's not forget, no one presently in a senior leadership position in Russia came up through a nursery of democratic institutions, but rather through the vestiges of Stalin, Kruchev, Andropov, the NKVD and the KGB.
Putin, true to his breeding, has surrounded himself with trusted KGB cronies who believe as he does at all levels. So don't expect anything less from Russia than what they are: not our allies.
The KGB had illegals in the United States under the Soviet system and the SVR still does, according to most experts, under the Russian Federation.
How many are here? No one knows, but one thing we can be sure of, this is one of their favored ways to penetrate a nation and have a presence there and they are not giving up on this technique.
A Russian illegal that passes as an average American, can have access to things no satellite, phone intercept or diplomat can have access to-every day things, such as a car, a home, a library, neighborhood events, air shows on military bases, location of fiber cables, access to gasoline storage facilities, a basement to hide an accomplice, a neighbor's son serving in the military, and so on.
If you think like an intelligence officer, then you realize in an open society it's possible to obtain a lot of information. A mere walk in a neighborhood on a Saturday morning can give you access to vehicles parked at a garage sale that have stickers from government installations or high tech companies doing research.
These individuals can be tracked or befriended. Neighbors often watch each other's houses and may even have keys, which give an intelligence officer access to the house, or a car, or a gated community.
Øïèîíîâ íåëåãàëîâ ïðèãëàøàþò íà âå÷åðèíêè, îíè âñòðå÷àþòñÿ ñ ëþäüìè è ïîëó÷àþò äîñòóï ê ëèöàì, îáëàäàþùèì çíàíèÿìè, âëèÿíèåì èëè èíôîðìàöèåé.
Spies get invited to parties, meet people and gain access to individuals with knowledge, influence or information. And that is only the beginning.
The real danger and worth of an "illegal" manifests if hostilities should ever break out. In case of war, this is a fifth column, an enemy within that can serve to track activities, commit or assist in sabotage, conceal explosives, harbor other hostile individuals, serve as a communications medium or actually assist with espionage to the detriment of the United States.
So when I look at the latest roundup, my congratulations go out to the FBI for their hard work. But I also know that eternal vigilance must continue because Russia will continue to conduct espionage against the United Stated and gird up, in their own way, for the potential break out of hostilities with the West.
They do this because it is in their DNA, which was pounded into them by Stalin and those that followed. They do not trust the West and especially America, which they perceive as a hegemon and threat.
So while the use of "illegals" may be quaint, almost anachronistic, it is emblematic of Russian thinking and desires.
This will not be the last time we will catch them with their hand in the cookie jar, even if it's in Yonkers. Espionage is an old game, it requires little technology-all it requires is the right person, in the right place, at the right time".
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
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