Joshua 6:23; And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brothers, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel

The United States Code Title 18, Part I Chapter 115 defines treason as follows:

“Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States”

“The full resources of the Justice Department will be devoted to ensuring that those persons who would betray their country and the people of the United States are prosecuted and severely punished.”-The United States Attorney commenting on the Robert Hanssen case.

The cold war is back. Federal prosecutors have accused 11 people of spying for the Russians. In true mole fashion sounding like something right out of the movie  “No Way Out” the FBI alleges that these spies were sent here by the Russian overseas intelligence service known as the SVR — the successor to the Soviet KGB — as early as the mid-1990s, and were provided with training in language as well as the use of codes and ciphers.

Spying is a time honored means of learning about our enemies even when they are formally no longer our enemy. Sometimes they are moles whose allegiances were never to the United States. Sometimes they are turned. What motivates people to turn against their country? “Treason” is a terrifying word. Any time it is invoked, a person has either successfully or attempted to sell out the United States to the highest bidder.  Treason is also one of the very few crimes on the Federal books that carry the death penalty without having to prove that the crime actually resulting in death.  So why do traitors turn when they are facing death? “

I was able to speak with an current FBI agent who has worked on the intelligence side. He wishes to remain anonymous. He stated that most traitors turn for the following reasons:

• Money
• Ideology (Political or religious)
• Sex / Drugs other dependencies

In the years since the Robert Hanssen case, it has been business as usual for those selling out our country both intentionally and unwittingly for the above reasons.

Robert Hanssen is considered the most damaging traitor in terms of lives, intelligence lost and dollars to repair the damage done to national security. That is quite a title in the company of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Aldrich Ames and Benedict Arnold. His case was dramatized in the move Breach. Hanssen consistently passed critical intelligence information on to the Soviets over 20 years. He divulged information such as Soviet double agents(resulting in their execution) and the United States continuity of government plan in case of nuclear attack.  Hanssen was spared the death sentence in exchange for his cooperation in undoing the damage he did. He is currently serving his life sentence at the Federal Supermax facility in Florence Colorado.

Has everything we learned since Hanssen prevented further “megaton” breaches in national security?  There is no question that counter Intelligence spending has increased dramatically post Hansen.   It was mistakenly revealed that in 2005 the United States spent 40 billion dollars on its’ spy agencies.  One would have hoped we had successfully “whack a moled” most Russian plants and disaffected government agents.  Who are some of the spies that have betrayed our loyalties and for what reasons?

Gregg William Bergersen was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to disclose national defense information to persons not entitled to receive it. Bergersen was a Weapons Systems Policy Analyst at the Arlington, Va.-based Defense Security Cooperation Agency, an agency within the Department of Defense.  While in this position, Bergersen provided national defense information on numerous occasions to Tai Shen Kuo, a naturalized U.S. citizen and a New Orleans businessman. Much of the information pertained to U.S. military sales to Taiwan and was classified at the Secret level.  Mr Kuo in return provided Bergersen with money, gifts and trips to Vegas. Tai Shen Kuo was sentenced to almost 16 years in federal prison.

The Bergersen case highlights the continuing tension with China with regards to their aggressive efforts to obtain United States military and technology data. This case was one of the more serious cases of espionage since Robert Hanssen. Interestingly, his handlers ran what intelligence professionals call a “false flag” operation. They made him believe that the information he was providing was going to Taiwan, an American ally.

In the end, the true motivation was far less altruistic. It was the second oldest temptation. Like 90 percent of the espionage cases that came before him, it was all about money. Mr. Kuo promised Bergersen that he would make him as a partner at 400k per year in a defense consulting firm after he retired from the Pentagon. This was in addition to the gifts and Vegas trips.

While the Bergersen case was a case of a planned attempt at espionage by the Chinese government, many more of these cases are in the Grey zone between breaches of national security and commercial espionage by foreign governments to gain a technology advantage.  An article in the New York Times highlights the concern the United States government has over very aggressive Chinese efforts to obtain classified information by conventional and unconventional means probing for openings at the lowest levels in areas we would never expect in the hopes that it will lead to the locations of weakness in our commercial and government intelligence defense systems.

The FBI recently investigated and obtained one of the 1st convictions under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, a software engineer born in China was sentenced to 24 months in prison for stealing a military source code from his employer and attempting to transfer it and other military technology he took to the Chinese Government.

In addition to China, the Middle East will undoubtedly be a fertile recruiting ground for moles, double agents and infiltrators. The Middle East scenario has already reared its ugly “two face” in the name of Nada Nadine Prouty, a former FBI agent who plead guilty in November 2007 to fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship and improperly accessing sensitive computer information about Hezbollah.   Prior to her resignation she was a CIA spy assigned to Middle East operations.  Prouty is an interesting case. There are those who feel she was a true spy treated much too leniently in receiving a $750 fine and no jail time for her actions.  There are those who feel she is a scapegoated patriot.

Ironically one of the more recent arrests of an accused traitor involved the Middle East but not with one of our enemies. In 2009, Stewart David Nozette, 52, rrested Monday on charges of attempting to pass along classified information to an undercover FBI agent he believed was an Israeli intelligence officer.

Speaking of Israel, In 2008, 85 year old Ben-ami Kadish a former U.S. Army mechanical engineer, was arrested and charged with four counts of conspiracy. The charges allege that Kadish passed classified documents to the government of Israel during the 1980s. His alleged spy activities have been linked to convicted spy Jonathan Pollard who also passed secrets on to Israel.  Kadish did no jail time but was fined 50k.

What about Jonathon Pollard?   Pollard, a former civilian intelligence analysis was convicted of spying for Israel. He received a life sentence in 1987 with a recommendation against parole.  The Pollard case has been a consistent source of  diplomatic tension between the State Of Israel, and the United States.  Israel granted Pollard citizenship in 1995 and would like to see him freed for return.  Pollard is in fact eligible for parole but has never applied for it.

Pollard  has denied spying “against” the United States. He said he provided only information he believed was vital to Israeli security and was being withheld by the Pentagon. This included data on Soviet arms shipments to Syria, Iraqi and Syrian chemical weapons, the Pakistani atomic bomb project and Libyan air defense systems.

If you take a look at the Victim’s Impact Statement filed by the Federal Government at Pollards sentencing, his activities and the damage done to our national security take a much more personal bent and even more so when the video below is viewed.  Video of Pollard in the actual act of stealing classified material from the United States. In effect stealing the security of every citizen of this country.

How much damage did Pollard do?   That is in dispute but he was certainly no Robert Hanssen.  In my mind that is irrelevant.  Once he put our vulnerabilities into the open he lost control over the material as to where it ended up and every American ,Jew and non-Jew lost control to a small degree over their future safety.  Not because he passed information to an ally but because we lost control of  every other place that information could end up.

Should Jonathan Pollard be released.  I would prefer not.  Those who steal my security and comfort in going to bed every night by putting our countries most protected secrets and  vulnerabilities into the open regardless of intentions should serve out their full sentence.

Pollard has many high profile supporters asking for his release.  Among them Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz who represented Pollard early in the case.  You can read his family’s  web site outlining why should be released and come to your own conclusions.

Moral of story? Old spies never die, they just blend into the masses. The other moral? When it comes to money and national security love is fleeting….