204 articles
Latest updates tagged Espionage on SOFREP.
Despite a fairly limited budget and access to resources, the past few years have been dominated by discussions of Russia’s covert and hybrid warfare efforts the world over. With a Gross Domestic Product that’s a bit more than 1/18th the size of America’s and a defense budget that’s roughly 1/10th that of the most dominant […]
While a great deal of discussion has been afforded to the U.S. military’s near two-decade long anti-terrorism and counter-insurgency efforts, it wasn’t the only facet of the American national security apparatus that saw a distinct shift in operational strategy following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. The CIA, America’s covert intelligence gathering service with […]
Swiss officials issued a clear demand to Russia’s Foreign Ministry to cease their illegal spying efforts within their nation on Sunday, following the revelation of another case of espionage carried out by Russian operatives within the past week. For the third time this year, the Swiss foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to answer for […]
Paris, France—The French government has accused Russia of space espionage. According to the French Defence Ministry, in 2017 a Russian satellite attempted to steal classified telecommunication information from a joint Franko-Italian satellite. The Russian Louch-Olymp spacecraft, a relay satellite responsible for transmitting imagery and telecommunication information to the earth, approached dangerously close to the Franko-Italian […]
The Lockheed U-2, which often goes by the name “Dragon Lady” is among the most legendary U.S. military aircraft. The development of the high altitude reconnaissance aircraft was a technological triumph of the era, and sightings of the mysterious craft being tested around locations like “Area 51” in Nevada undoubtedly informed crackpot theories about flying […]
In the months since President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to establish a sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces dedicated specifically to space defense, Russian officials have repeatedly issued statements seeming to suggest that this new U.S. endeavor would amount to an unprecedented militarization of space. America’s expansion into defending its orbital assets, Russia […]
On Thursday, the American Justice Department announced plans to charge a North Korean spy with hacking into the computers and servers of Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014. The hacking, which many believe occurred as retaliation for a film starring Seth Rogen and James Franco about a plot to assassinate the North Korean leader, reportedly wiped […]
The UK government announced this week that it had concluded its investigation into the attempted assassination of former Russian military intelligence officer turned double agent, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury, England, earlier this year. Skripal and his daughter were both exposed to a Soviet era nerve agent known as Novichok — a weapon devised specifically by […]
As a kid, I loved the Jack Ryan movies because they seemed like they offered more realism than Ryan’s British counterpart over at MI6. While Bond was bedding women and drinking martinis, Ryan was sitting at conference room tables, using Harrison Ford’s trademark pointing gesture or Alec Baldwin’s steely blue eyes to convey the drama […]
In March, a former Russian military intelligence officer that sold state secrets to the British government was attacked in Salisbury, England. While he and his daughter survived the ordeal, the international ramifications were swift once the nerve agent used was identified as one of specifically Soviet manufacture, suggesting to U.K. officials and their allies that […]
It sounds like a plot right out of a 1980’s action movie: Russian warships patrolling the surface of the Barents Sea, hunting for traces of their lost experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile that Vladimir Putin himself described as capable of out-maneuvering any missile defense system on the planet. Meanwhile, deep beneath the surface, a stealthy behemoth […]
In recent years, the results of Chinese espionage within the United States have become increasingly apparent within their growing defense industry. Fifth-generation fighter platforms based directly off of stolen plans for America’s F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the recent revelation that Chinese hackers made off with 600 gigabytes of classified data relating […]
