Spies Like Us

Things have been relatively quiet on the tit-for-tat spy games we saw going down last year, when the United States and Russia seemed to be going through some sort of strange ritual dance from the Cold War by presenting highly public awards to their best double agents.  Not wanting to be left out of a game they invented, even the UK got wrapped up in things.

Today’s news of a new father-son spy case in the United States might be enough to start a new exchange.  The son of the jailed ex-CIA officer Harold Nicholson has been arrested and accused of helping his father continue to sell state secrets to the Russians.  From the BBC:

Matthew Olsen, acting assistant attorney general for national security, said: “Today’s indictment alleges that an imprisoned spy recruited and trained his own 24-year-old son to travel the globe to collect on past spying debts and channel information to foreign agents.

“These charges underscore the continuing threat posed by foreign intelligence services and should send a clear message to others who would consider selling out their country for money.”