So everybody is getting all wrapped up in yesterday’s Kommersant story, which purported to quote several anonymous Kremlin officials who leaked the identity of the turncoat spy responsible for exposing the deep-cover network of spies arrested in the United States last summer.  This double agent, named Colonel Shcherbakov, was reported to be the SVR officer in charge of Russia’s clandestine operations in the United States, and apparently defected to the U.S. just three days before the U.S.-Russia Summit.

But what really grabbed the headlines was the ominous quote from the Kremlin source, commenting that a team of Jason Bourne-esque hitmen had probably already been dispatched to take out Shcherbakov wherever he may be hiding out.  Unfortunately, with the Litvinenko murder as precedent, it’s a warning that security officials are actually going to have to take seriously.

Why the revenge plot?  You’d think they want to give Shcherbakov an award for exposing just how hapless and inept these agents were parading as desperate housewives and B-movie vixens.  But behind all the circus and comedy of the affair, it appears that the Kremlin may be making a transformational move to redefine and concentrate the state security services.