"Conversion of Russia" Update

Russian Spies? They’re Back!

by Christopher A. Ferrara

        While Premier Putin reassembles Soviet Russia back home, his spies are busily at work in the United States. That’s right — the "conversion of Russia" heralded by Father Robert Fox now includes a whole new crop of Soviet spies on American soil.

        It’s all reported in the Online Edition of Time magazine (January 30, 2005). Time says that "although the cold war is long over, Russia is fielding an army of spooks in the U.S. that is at least equal in number to the one deployed by the old, much larger Soviet Union." Time quotes a former senior U.S. intelligence officer’s assessment of the situation as follows: "They're baaaaack … They're busy as h---, but I don't think we've really got what it is that they're doing."

        According to the Time report "Russia runs more than 100 known spies under official cover in the U.S. … And those are just the more easily spotted spies working under the classic guise of diplomat. An unknown number of so-called nocs — who work under nonofficial cover as businessmen and -women, journalists or academics — undoubtedly expand the Russian spy force. The number of Russian spies in the U.S. is especially surprising, given that it was less than four years ago that the Bush Administration expelled 50 of them in retaliation for the humiliating discovery that FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Hanssen had been spying for Russia for 21 years."

        Well, what are the Russians after? What else? — our military and strategic secrets. As Time notes: "Officials say the Russians are after secrets about American military technology and hardware, dual-use technology such as the latest lasers, and the Administration's plans and intentions regarding the former Soviet states, China, the Middle East and U.S. energy policy, among other matters."

        And it isn’t just spies, folks. The Russians are using companies to pirate away military technology and turn it against us — yet another benefit of "free trade." Not only the Russians, but "China, Pakistan, Iran and any number of other countries, including U.S. allies" are using "hard-to-trace front companies, often run through third-party countries, to acquire secrets and dual-use technology."

        So, Premier Putin is the new dictator of Russia, and Russian spies are busier than ever on American soil. In short, it’s the Cold War all over again. This, Fr. Fox assures us, is the "miracle" occasioned by the "consecration or Russia" more than 20 years ago.

        But does even Fr. Fox really believe this any longer? It’s impossible to see how anyone in possession of his faculties could believe it. What seems more likely is that Fr. Fox knows the truth — that there was never really any consecration of Russia — but refuses to admit his mistake in saying otherwise for so long.

        It’s a question of pride, and humanly speaking it’s understandable why Fr. Fox would be reluctant to admit that he has been misleading the whole Church for years. But there is something more important than human pride at stake here: the fate of Russia, the Church in our time, and the world. Think it over, Fr. Fox.