A general from one of Russian's special services, sitting in Moscow, contemplates his order of battle in a secret war. It is a war of craft and cunning, involving millions of agents and thousands of intelligence officers worldwide. The general's subordinates have worked for years to link terrorists, criminals and intelligence officers in an effective, versatile campaign. The general's department further coordinates its efforts with Polish, Czech, German and Hungarian intelligence officers who are "officially" retired from defunct special services that somehow continue to operate.
For two decades the general's predecessors and colleagues managed to export Russian criminals to America and other Western countries. Under a communist regime that severely restricted emigration in the 1980s, the exit to America of so many criminals was undoubtedly a double expedient. In the first instance, the criminal was no longer a problem for Moscow; in the second, the criminal had become a thorn in the side of a rival power. The general's criminal networks (which include independent operators released for good riddance) regularly engage in narcotics trafficking, extortion, credit card and identity theft, fuel and insurance fraud, money laundering, loan sharking, prostitution, kidnapping and murder. The creativity and resourcefulness of Russian criminals far exceeds that of the traditional-minded Italian and Latin American syndicates. Take, for example, the 1$ billion false medical billing scheme of Michael and David Smushkevich. But Michael and David were not ordinary criminals. Michael had been a scientist at the Moscow Missile Construction Institute and David had been a doctor. Since David often traveled to Russia using a passport obtained from the Soviet consulate in San Francisco, his status as a "refugee" from communism during the mid-1980s is a little more than suspect. The general, sitting in Moscow, owed many favors to foreign ministry officials who were helpful over the years.
America is a rich country. There are so many opportunities in the land of opportunity. In Washington, D.C. the general's agents live off the fat of the land. In Washington there is plenty of greed, corruption, careerism and sexual licentiousness. All of these traits are helpful to secret work. Agents might pose as intelligence officers belonging to friendly powers (i.e., with regard to blackmail schemes). They might appear in the guise of entrepreneurs with elaborate financial plans (i.e., to cover influence-peddling and bribery). They might even be "legitimate" businessmen, like Moscow's long-time agent Armand Hammer, eager to enrich certain senators. (See, especially, Edward Jay Epstein's account, Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer). Three examples should serve to illustrate the logic of special operations in Washington: In 1968 Moscow Center had secretly offered to subsidize the Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey. (See The Sword and The Shield: The Mitrokin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB, p. 239.) Moscow's agents also sought compromising information on anti-Soviet politicians, like Democratic Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. Failing to dig up dirt on Senator Jackson, Moscow ordered Operation POROK in which Russian specialists forged a memorandum from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to the Justice Department stating that Jackson was a homosexual. Copies of the fabricated document were sent to the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Topeka Capital and President Carter's campaign headquarters. (Ibid, p. 240.) Another anti-Soviet politician targeted by Moscow was Ronald Reagan. In 1983 Moscow ordered active measures against Reagan's 1984 reelection effort. KGB residencies on every continent were ordered to promote the slogan "Reagan Means War!" KGB propaganda against Reagan was centered on five points, almost identical to slogans used today against President George W. Bush. These five points were: the president's military adventurism; his administration's responsibility for tensions with NATO allies; his support for repressive regimes in various countries; his opposition to "national liberation movements" in the Third World; his acceleration of the arms race (especially, ballistic missile defense).
The general and his colleagues in Moscow have won and lost at various games. The important thing, of course, is that the games continue. As Chairman Mao once wrote: "All the guiding principles of military operations grow out of one basic principle: to strive to the utmost to preserve one's own strength and destroy that of the enemy."
In California, the general's Polish lieutenants control a cemetery where the names of the living are placed upon tombstones and the names of the dead are switched to secret agents operating in America. The General's Polish subordinates run doctors offices where terminal patients are treated and insurance scams are perpetrated. Healthy agents impersonate the terminally ill. They acquire life insurance policies that name other agents as beneficiaries. With this money new business fronts are established for a wide variety of activities necessary to furthering espionage, complicated blackmail schemes, espionage and murder. From the shadows, the area's "associates" once ran a seafood business that imported rotten fish from abroad. They hired a convicted felon (recently out of prison) to be the company's head of security. He was tasked to deliver a brown paper bag full of cash to a Latin American "business man" whose services were never explained. The executives in this company were Americans chosen for their greed and stupidity; human bowling pins set up to be knocked down when the company's multifaceted illegal operations came to the attention of the FBI.
In Sacramento there was a "former" GRU captain who recruited, through subtle methods of extortion, Russian immigrants for the organization's political errands. Brown paper bags filled with cash were earmarked for individuals at certain state agencies. Immigrants were told that the Russian mafia had powerful "friends" in the state bureaucracies and local businesses. If anyone refused to cooperate, Child Protective Services might take their children away. But if an immigrant cooperated there might be a good job and a helping hand.
In Silicon Valley the general's Czech agents work diligently in the software business. Russian entrepreneurs are also making inroads. It is important to steal the best software and penetrate companies that provide sensitive information services. Moscow is eager to absorb the secrets of Microsoft. The Kremlin would also like U.S. software companies to use Russian programmers, providing Russia with the keys to the cyberspace kingdom.
In Mexico the general's agents effectively coordinate Mexican criminal groups. Information on the corruption of Mexican politicians, bankers, military officers and police are passed to and from Moscow with profitable results. Here information begets information as influence begets influence. From Moscow's point of view, Mexico is America's back door and the door is wide open.
In Italy the main Italian mafia groups are good friends and allies. As David Remnick explained in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Lenin's Tomb (p. 537): "Russia has bred a world-class mafia." Remnick quotes Luciano Violente, the chairman of Italy's parliamentary committee of inquiry into the mafia: "[Russia is now] a kind of strategic capital of organized crime from where all the major operations are launched." Ditto for the Colombian drug cartels. Ditto for Chinese organized crime, allied to Beijing.
But where is all this headed? What is the ultimate objective of so many agents, so many criminal schemes and so much intrigue? The general might pose the question to himself. But he suspects the answer. At the moment his boss and former KGB colleague, President Vladmir Putin, is engaged in "pre-election maneuvers"; large-scale nuclear war exercises are scheduled for mid-February and will be personally directed by the president. Official acknowledged as the largest nuclear war exercises in 20 years, the Russians plan to launch rockets from nuclear ICBM bases and ballistic missile submarines. Nearly the entire Russian strategic bomber force will be put into the air. Satellite launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan will simulate the emergency replacement of satellites lost in battle. Russia's early warning system will be tested along with Moscow's ABM defenses.
The general in Moscow understands the relationship between his agent networks and the February nuclear war exercise. After all, what country is the main target of the general's criminal syndicates and agents? What country is the main target of this month's nuclear war exercises? There is only one logical answer, and that answer explains the reason that some wars must be kept secret - even from the enemy.
