Spy swap

Anna Chapman

There has been a lot of speculation on the Russian – U.S. spy swap that took place last week. Some have speculated that the exchange of 10 seemingly-inconsequential Russian spies in America for 4 alleged U.S. spies in Russia produced no real winner.

I didn’t see how that was possible seeing how one, Alexander Zaporozhsky, allegedly helped the FBI capture two of our nation’s worst traitors: former FBI agent Robert Hanssen and former CIA agent Aldrich Ames. Those two spies did more harm to American intelligence than any in history, with Ames being directly responsible for the deaths of 10 secret agents working for the U.S. in Russia. It goes without saying that Zaporozhsky did the U.S. a huge favor by tipping us off to these two. Trading ten supposedly-bumbling Russian spies for Zaporoshsky is a bargain (though maybe we should’ve kept Anna Chapman).

Still, questions remain about the whole affair. Anyone who takes anything in the spy trade at face value is fooling themselves. Back-room deals are the name of the game. I find it hard to believe that the KGB could be so inept. Even Russian officials are incredulous. And how convenient that the alleged spies’ paymaster lands in and out of one of the most porous jails in Europe, only to promptly disappear? Mayberry’s Barney Fife could’ve done a better job! Was Metsos the real target of the FBI investigation? And did a back-room deal ensure his apparently-trivial escape? There are a lot of questions to be answered here.

Like most spy cases, it’s what we haven’t been told that really matters. It will be interesting to see what further details emerge from this not so cut-and-dried case. The spy swap itself may only be the beginning.