Russians Among Us tells the stories of Russia's espionage efforts against the US—not from the end of the Cold War as most of us suspect but from the Bolshevik revolution to the present. They were not just background characters in history, either. They helped eliminate Trotsky with an ice ax (points for memorability, if not for subtlety). They warned Stalin about Hitler’s impending attack (he ignored them). They handed Stalin intelligence about the H-bomb before Truman knew the details (a genuine intelligence coup). Despite periods of diplomatic warming, Putin has never abandoned his illegals. He ordered the program revitalized in 2004, three years before his Munich speech signaled the return of Cold War tensions. While America was busy declaring the “end of history,” Russia was quietly training a new generation of agents to live among us.
Join this SDG for a lively discussion of the illegals program as well as consideration of the essential question: Were the illegals worth the considerable investment Russia poured into them?
Coordinator: Sheri Ross
Format: Zoom
Week one: The Bolshevik Underground, The First Head of Soviet Foreign Intelligence; Dmitry Bystolyotov (the Fast Flyer) and Stalin's Purges
William J. Murphy, The Honeymoon Spies, Robert Gordon Switz and Marjorie Tilley, American Intelligence Journal, 2019, Vol 36, No. 1 29 pages, PDF to be supplied
Clay Risen, Spies among us, Scholar, December 2008 2 pages PDF to be supplied
Joe Weisberg, Why do governments bother to spy at all? Foreign Policy May/June no. 212, 3 pages, PDF to be supplied
Week two: The First Illegals in the US, the Assassination of Trotsky, Hitler invades the Soviet Union, and Nikolai Khokhlov
Week three: Early Infiltrations, the Mission to Kill Tito, and the Abel Trial
Week four: Recruitment and Training of Illegals, Matchmaking, Entering the West and the Prague Spring
Week five: On Assignment in Israel, Baron von Holensteine, The Cuban Missile Crisis, and Inducting the Children of Illeglas
Week six: Lower returns on investment, Kabul, Tomsk State, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union
Week seven: Rise of Putin, FBI Arrests of Illegals, Election Meddling and the Cult of the Illegals
Jonathan Bassett and Angela Tenga, Spies like us: Ideology and Futility in the FX Television Series the Americans, Studies in Popular Culture, Spring 2020, Vol 42 No.2, 25 pages. PDF to be supplied
And it is still going on:
Michael Schwartz and Jane Bradley, The Spy Factory, New York Times May 2025, 2 pages PDF to be provided
Graham Keeley, Renaissance of Illegals, Since the Start of the was in Ukraine, Russia relies more on bargain basement spies, VOA 8/31/25. 1 page PDF to be supplied
Core Book: Shaun Walker, The Illegals, Penguin Random House, 2025, 350 pages. Book available in all formats around $15-17
Jill Pearlman, The Spies who came into the Modernist Fold: The Covert Life in Hampstead's Lawn Road Flats, Journal of the Society of Architectural Histories, Vol 72 No 3, September 358-381. PDF available
There is a parallel story of Russian spies in the US covered in:
Gordon Correa, Russians Among Us, Sleeper Cells, Ghost Stories and the Hunt for Putin's Spies, William Morrow, 2020 348 pages. Available in all formats to $7 - 16. If you are DEEPLY interested in the topic you may want to look at this book.