FBI released undercover surveillance video footage showing common espionage techniques used by Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Agents in the United States.
The videos released by the FBI show common spy techniques, like “brush passes” and “meets” (see video: FBI releases surveillance video of Russian spy Anna Chapman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LgbWDTgrOA ).
COUNTER INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS
The FBI have scores of people called special surveillance group or SSG’s, using ell established surveillance techniques the FBI was able to film the Russian spies (see: FBI Surveillance team reveal tricks of trade http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHy3bKYcnps&feature=related and RUSSIAN SPIES UNCOVERED: FBI releases footage of spookshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnhQvcVEq-I
See aslo: FBI releases Russian spy surveillance videoshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgW__b7_Me8
BRUSH PASSES
According to Wikipedia a “brush pass is not one but a wide range of techniques in which one clandestine operative passes a physical item to another operative.”
“Brush” implies that the two people “brush” past one another, typically in a public place and preferably a crowd, where random people interfere with any visual surveillance.
In a properly executed brush pass, the agents do not even stop walking; at most, they may appear to bump into one another.
During the brief contact, a common means of executing the exchange is for both to be carrying otherwise identical objects, such as a newspaper, shopping bag, briefcase, or magazine. The information being exchanged is in one of them. As the two people separate, they still appear to be holding the same object in the same hand.
More challenging versions are reminiscent of passing a baton in a relay race, and would be most commonly done with small objects such as a photographic film cartridge.
In this more dangerous method, the transfer is from hand to hand, or from hand into a pocket. While this technique obviously takes better manual dexterity and is more prone to error, it has the countersurveillance advantage that the operatives are not carrying anything after the transfer, and can blend into a crowd even more easily.
A variation of the brush pass is the live letter drop, in which one agent follows a predefined route, on foot, with a prepared report hidden in a pocket. En route, a second agent unknown to the first agent picks his/her pocket and then passes the report on unread, either to a cut-out or to an intelligence officer. This technique presents opportunities both for plausible deniability and for penetration by hostile agents.
The FBI video also shows Anna Chapman, the Russian femme fatale meeting her Russian handler, who was really an under cover FBI agents…
All part of secret surveillance video footage used in the indictment against the Russian under cover spies. (see also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8nhPtglL4w&feature=related)….
RUSSIAN FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
See article: Profile: Russia’s SVR intelligence agency http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10447308
THE USE OF “DEAD DROPS”
The FBI video also shows the use of “dead drops”. Dead drops are used to transfer intelligence information (See also: Spies dead drop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7F0mE2LTxw ).
A dead drop is basically a “container” not easily found, such as a magnetized box attached to a metal rack in an out-of-sight alley. The box could be loosely buried. It should be possible to approach the container to fill or empty it, and not be easily observed from a street or window.
Typically, a clandestine collector will put espionage material, perhaps in encrypted form, into the box, and use some prearranged signal to let a courier know that something needs to be taken out of the box and delivered to the next point on the route to the case officer.
Such a route might have several dead drops. In some cases, the dead drop might be equipped with a device to destroy its contents unless it is opened properly.
Signals to tell a courier, or a case officer if there is no intermediate courier, that the dead drop needs service can be as simple as a piece of colored tape on a lamp post or perhaps a set of window shades raised and lowered in a specific pattern. While “wrong number” calls with a predefined apology can be used, they are more vulnerable to surveillance if the phone in question is tapped.
The techniques used were very sophisticated and reveal the techniques commonly used by Russian SVR spies conducting espionage operations.
In this case dead drops were used to drop cash, as much as $60,000 dollars at a time. All part of the secret and covert funding effort being coordinated by spies working inside the US for the SVR intelligence services in Russia.