Tuesday, July 6, 2010

old-school spy

Have you been following the story about the Russian spy, Anna Chapman? It's old-school spy stuff, just like out of a Bond movie. She's a beautiful 28 year old divorcee, who has been living it up in New York, allegedly running an online real estate company worth $2 million.

She was instructed to hold a magazine a certain way to signal the other spy to initiate contact.

Following are among the phrases used by the alleged agents, their handlers and, deceptively, by U.S. counter-espionage officials in exchanges designed to verify the contact's identity.

"Excuse me, but haven't we met in California last summer?"

"No, I think it was the Hamptons."

"Could we have met in Beijing in 2004?"

"Yes, we might have, but I believe it was in Harbin"

"Excuse me, did we meet in Bangkok in April last year?."

"I don't know about April, but I was in Thailand in May of that year."

Chapman was arrested before her mission was complete.

(Gosh, they didn't even use my personal favorite code phrase, "the green grass grows all around, all around".)

Beginning as early as 2000, the accused spies were watched meeting on benches in Central Park and Brooklyn, plotting in a Queens restaurant, exchanging computer files wirelessly in a Times Square Starbucks, smoothly switching bags in the Forest Hills, Queens, Long Island Rail Road station and burying money in the ground upstate.

The old-school cloak and dagger techniques are still successful in the spy world. The top five espionage technologies that are still very much in use are invisible ink, shortwave radio, burst transmissions (a subset of radio transmissions), number stations (a broadcast of seemingly meaningless number sequences), and transposition ciphers (codes that systematically scramble the order of letters in a message).

70 comments:

  1. This story really IS amazing, isn't it! My sister used to live in Montclair, NJ, close to where the "Murphys" lived. I remember reading all about the Hanson story in the DC area. Spy stories always fascinate me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. She looks as though she wouldn't be shaken or stirred by her arrest. A cool individual, familiar with the 'cold'?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear readers of Life at Willow Manor, it is with great shock and consternationa that I must warn you that if you map the prime numbers (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17 ...) to the letters of willow's post, and compile all those letters into as many words as there are letters in the month of her birth, and read the resulting sentence backward, you get an absolutely diabolical message to all those foreign agents who were out busy this weekend spying on 4th of July barbecues across the country. Be warned!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My Ex and I once lived in Upper Montclair, NJ....I always thought some of the neighbours were a bit "odd"....of course, the neighbours could have been thinking the same things about us...

    Spies ARE fascinating....but these days, I think they do it more for financial gain and the "rush" of danger and intrigue rather than for political ideologies.

    Okay, Agent 004.3/8 Meet you at the Starbucks on Market Street to exchange our packages.... I will be wearing red.....don't forget the phrase: Me: "Didn't we meet at the Sunport Bar in Albuquerque last Summer"? You: No, I think it was Autumn and we were at "Joseph's Table" in Taos.."

    Secretive Hugs,

    ♥ Agent 009.25 ♥

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wouldn't think spies would still be necessary since we gladly blab everything anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I agree, this is quite a story...
    :) The Bach

    ReplyDelete
  7. There is a striking resemblance Ms Willow. Moonlighting?

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's real life stories like this that make the spy and conspiracy novels just believable enough to make them best sellers. It IS all very fascinating!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think she looks a lot like Jennifer Anniston. Let's start a rumor!

    ReplyDelete
  10. it really is fascinating...i grew up on Bond and this stuf just stirs up some great memories...

    ReplyDelete
  11. I had not thought about it as an old fashioned spy story. You are so right about it.

    Now I wonder if they caught all of the spies -- or, is their still a Kim Philby out there, perhaps serving as a deputy director of the CIA.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Please note: In future I wish to be(un)known as X.

    X.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Willow, how do you know so much about spying? I wonder!

    p.s. I love how you reinvent yourself so often! I mean your header, and settings on this blog, not your sleuthing, ah, ah!

    p.p.s. I see Lorenzo is getting the same idea!

    p.p.s. I knew you were too beautiful to just run a Manor!

    ReplyDelete
  14. It was indeed a strange story. But they seem such a feckless collection of would-be spies, it perhaps would have been better to leave them in place in case they were replaced by someone who could do the job.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think she looks a little like Jennifer Anniston!
    Had a letter this morning from a friend in Marrakesh
    who thought some mutual friend were/are CIA

    what fun it all is.........

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yes, I have been reading this and its fascinating isn't it. no doubt about it this woman could melt pretty much any straight man, I think, if she really wanted to. I have read an interview from her British ex who said she hated America , learned from her KGB father. Anyway, that back and forth reminds me a lot of "Duplicity" and what happens in that movie when spies meet.

    ReplyDelete
  17. It's all quite a story, almost sounds like someone made it up? I was wondering, I was born in the US, have lived here all my life, even worked at NASA once. If I was a spy, what secret could I tell? Do you have a secret?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Okay, I've been standing here on the Charles Bridge, in Prague, for the last three hours, waiting for one of you to ask me for a match!!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. And here's silly ole' me thinking the Cold War was over!

    UK media is likening this to the Profumo Affair when Christine Keeler in the 1963 scandal, had an affair with the then war minister John Profumo. Keeler was the mistress of a Russian spy.

    There is more. As then, (if this is indeed true)there are people in powerful places and in the House of Lords involved. Of course they're all denying it which is reminiscent of Mandy Rice-Davies' retort in court "well he would wouldn't he?' when Lord Astor denied having an affair with her or even having met her!

    London Daily Mail: "In Miss Chapman's five years living in Britain, from 2002 when she married British former public schoolboy Alex Chapman, she built up an impressive contacts book featuring the rich and powerful.

    Since last week, when she was arrested in the U.S. with ten others by the FBI, her extraordinary rise from penniless Russian student has been charted.

    New evidence has emerged that the Russian state was behind her growing business empire, with a £670,000 gift from Moscow to boost the flagging internet property company she set up in America after her marriage ended in divorce. The FBI believes the real purpose of the money could have been to fund espionage."

    Think I'll go off and write a book!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. If only we weren't doing the same thing. I was recently reading about ciphers when my mind shut down. Too much info and work.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Have you the pen of my aunt?

    No, I always use a lighter.

    Better still.

    (Exchanging copies of People Magazine with certain letters highlighted.

    ReplyDelete
  22. wild stuff...do they still hang spies? i wonder how many blog posts are actually coded messages!?

    ReplyDelete
  23. I thought you were summarizing a movie you would recommend. :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. I just keep wondering, what secrets were they trying to find out??? The settings and contacts seem rather mundane. It's a puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I thought the pic was you Willow :-)

    All countries still have spies don't they?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Like one of my writing instructors used to say in a memoir class, "You can't make that shit up!"

    ReplyDelete
  27. I just read this in the paper last night...fascinating stuff. Looking forward to further revelations!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I am still not over the Aldrich Ames affair! ;-
    What really is astounding (and new) is the "deep" cover that involved having kids. That really beats everything.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Oh, yeah... the Intel world is full of this stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Willow-

    Just when I thought it was safe to buy a latte again...I am going to have listen to the chatter as I am standing in line from now on--we live in the next town about 15 minutes from the Murphy's in Montclair---Anna Chapman does look like a Bond girl--Intriquing post! c

    ReplyDelete
  31. Dear Willow: Would she replace Octopussy? What would her code name be; Poutyschoolgirl? Rather young isn't she? So what is her punishment for her crime of holding up a magazine? A year subscription to Cosmo? Canada has the same thing (c'est la meme choice) happening too...they are coming out of the woodwork! Moles, moles everywhere moles! Now what does this mean? Big News Here and I mean B-I-G!How big?

    ReplyDelete
  32. There's no way I could keep all those globetrotting yuppy code-response phrases straight. I'd be like, "let's cut to the chase shall we toots?"

    "toots" is the universal password in espionage, for cutting to the chase!

    ReplyDelete
  33. I'm foreseeing an over-budgeted Hollywood depiction of Anna Chapman's exploits. The story is already written, all we need is her American look-alike Jennifer Aniston to hop on board.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I have been following this story, it is completely irresistable with its leading lady as a modern day Matahari.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Did we not meet in Naples in May?

    No, that was Selpan In June.

    NOTE: I know nothing of this story, but ya got me hooked, I'll look it up now.....a non-news junkie--WAIT a minute, I'm not a junkie, either!

    One week away from home, my grass has grown greener AND taller all around, all around!

    ReplyDelete
  36. she is so pretty! creepy that she is a femme fatale

    ReplyDelete
  37. A couple of years ago MOTH googled his real name (as you do). He got a shock when it came up as a British aircraft engineer who tried to sell defence secrets to the Russians. Usng the code name Piglet, he'd been nabbed after handing over documents in a plastic bag to a man in a pub whom he thought was a Russian agent but was in fact a British spy.

    After conviction & incarceration in Belmarch Prison, he attempted suicide by wiring his metal framed glasses to the prison cell electrical supply. He only managed to burn the outline of the frames onto his face. Those of us who know & love our MOTH were astonished at the similarities!!!
    Millie ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  38. We see so many spy stories, that when the real ones come along it almost seems ordinary.!

    ReplyDelete
  39. I believe that I exchanged some information with a spy disguised as a squirrel yesterday in Central Park.
    Those were pick-up lines at PJ Clarkes...who knew??

    ReplyDelete
  40. I was wondering, along with some of the others, how does willow know so much about this stuff? Your secret is safe with me. I get your coded message "wolliw."
    QMM

    ReplyDelete
  41. I have been following this real-life saga of modern day espionage...great makings of a movie.

    As it the group of spies settling in several suburban life styles.

    And I thought the days of spy stories was over...ws I ever wrong!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Half the time I can't remember where I'm going, so maybe the spy life isn't for me...but I'm all for intrigue...it keeps me mobile in my world...have you seen my glasses...

    ReplyDelete
  43. The story made me happy. There really are spies among us? Cool!!

    ReplyDelete
  44. Code: Did I dance with you at the Willow Manor Ball?

    Reply: ...and the green grass grows all around, all around...because WT's away...

    ReplyDelete
  45. The spies among us..passed some info to a spy disguised as a squirrel in Central Park yesterday...am being censored, can't post !!!help!!
    Can only post as Anonymous (but this is Lyn)!!!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Lyn, I know! We're sabotaged! Comments aren't posting to my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  47. Hmm....except for mine, that is. I'm not the mole, honest!

    ReplyDelete
  48. I posted two comments and now they have both disappeared. Oops, did I use that invisible blog spy ink again?

    I'll try posting anonymously, too, and see if that does the trick.

    Signed, willow.

    ReplyDelete
  49. CODE: Did I dance with you a the 2009 Willow Manor Ball?

    REPLY: ...the green grass grows all around, all around....WT needs to mow it!

    ReplyDelete
  50. CODE: Hey Woolly Socks, got a match?

    REPLY: No, my socks don't match. Send your best agent to the dryer!

    ReplyDelete
  51. CODE: Should I check the dryer in Prague or at W.M.?
    REPLY: Ask all Specters luking around WM.

    ReplyDelete
  52. I think she looks like Jenifer Aniston, too!

    ReplyDelete
  53. Sounds all rather "Allo, allo" don't you think, Willow?! Ordinary citizens who blend right in!!!

    I'm referring to the UK comedy series about the French Resistance operations in a small French town. Have you ever seen it? It was hilarious and one wondered how anyone remained undiscovered!

    ReplyDelete
  54. I feel sure that there is a movie coming! And it could very well star Jennifer Anniston...

    ReplyDelete
  55. All very exciting, willow - as you say just like a James Bond Movie.

    ReplyDelete
  56. She does look like Jennifer Aniston! It's in the eyes. Hey, Jennifer -- clear your calendar for next year. I think you have a spy movie to make.

    ReplyDelete
  57. WOOLLY SOCKS (on The Charles Bridge): The dryer always eats one this time of year, but dead men don't wear plaid socks.

    ReplyDelete
  58. She is the perfect Bond Girl - simply beautiful..are there pictures of the Real James??...bkm

    ReplyDelete
  59. CODE: Woolly Socks could dead men wear argyles?
    REPLY: Well ourgals should wear argyles with short skirts and look like modern schoolgirl agents....but only in Prague on the Charles Bridge.

    ReplyDelete
  60. CODE: Woolly Socks could dead men wear argyles?
    REPLY: Well ourgals should wear argyles with short skirts and look like modern schoolgirl agents....but only in Prague on the Charles Bridge.

    ReplyDelete
  61. I am seeing double or there is some definite Willow Manor ghostly duplicity going on here!!!

    ReplyDelete
  62. Willow,
    Just in the knick and Knora of time: fodder for David John Moore Cornwell.
    rel

    ReplyDelete
  63. I haven't been following this story at all, but you have intrigued me!

    ReplyDelete
  64. Wow. No, I have not seen this. She certainly IS beautiful.

    The old fashioned way is the best way huh? Better break out the old detective kit I got from Honey Combs when I was seven! HA!

    ReplyDelete
  65. I have been following it on TV. It's frighting it still goes on and how about the Terriorists here
    all the cells.. Yvonne

    ReplyDelete
  66. This is the post that has been in my head! I love, love the spies! I thought I could be a spy, too, until I realized I'd have to remember things like No, it was the Hamptons!

    My favorite quote on this was in the NY Times, where a neighbor of the spy in Montclair said "She couldn't have been a spy, look at her hydrangeas!"

    ReplyDelete

Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)