Spies

Finally. Spies like us. After the series of Jason Bourne movies, in which even an amnesiac can defeat the best the spook world has to offer, and the impossibly hot Kevin Costner as a Russian plant in the U.S. Navy, and the volcanic spy couple of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. After the dweebs, nerds and religious nuts of the 1980s and 1990s — Aldrich Ames, the John Walker clan, Jonathan Pollard and Robert Hanssen — who sold secrets and their vacant souls for millions.

President Barack Obama's forthcoming trip to Israel affords him a special opportunity to mend political fences and guarantee a warm popular reception in that country, while at the same time ensuring that justice is served here at home. These are goals he should surely embrace - and he could achieve them by heeding the pleas of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, as well as many high-minded Americans, and freeing Jonathan Pollard from prison. Mr. Pollard was convicted in 1985 for having passed classified information to Israel.

On October 1, 2003, ELAINE M. SPIES, beloved wife of Paul Spies; loving mother of Bernadette Shea, Tina Gaimaro, and the late Michael Spies. Also survived by seven grandchildren and six siblings. Relatives and friends may call at the Ambrose Funeral Home of Lansdowne, 2719 Hammonds Ferry Road, on Friday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday at 11 A.M. at the St. Clement I Catholic Church. Interment following at Meadowridge Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the funeral home towards her funeral expenses.

Attention, Anglophiles: How's this for a cast? Charlotte Rampling, Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon, Michelle Dockery and Hayley Atwell? That's the lineup for "Restless," a two-night miniseries about World War II, betrayal and British spies that starts at 9 p.m. Friday on the Sundance Channel. Check out my review in the video above. And, yes, Dockery, who plays Rampling's daughter is indeed Lady Mary of "Downton Hall" fame. But where is Mr. Pamuk?  

On February 15, 2003, COURTNEY A., Sr.; loving husband of the late Ruth C. Spies; devoted father of Courtney A. Spies, Jr. and Jennifer S. Wolfe and her husband Henry; cherished grandfather of Alex and Katie Wolfe. The family will receive friends in the LEMMON FUNERAL HOME OF DULANEY VALLEY, INC, 10 W. Padonia Rd. (at York Rd.) Timonium/Cockeysville on Friday from 7 to 9 P.M. and on Saturday, February 22, from 10 to 11 A.M. at which time a funeral service will begin. Interment Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

WHY IS it that I am not at all distressed about Chinese spies among us and the "theft" of our nuclear "secrets?"I have scoured the black community -- not scientifically, of course -- and I have yet to find anyone shaking in their boots over the Cox Commission report.The general attitude seems to be: 1) more power to the Chinese, 2)that's what spies are supposed to do, 3) perhaps they should be commended because their spooks are better at their game than ours seem to be.And then there is the -- yep -- race angle.

MOSCOW -- Russia's spies may have come in out of the Cold War, but they have zealously taken up a new mission -- protecting the national interests of a nation that feels increasingly vulnerable.They were officially unrepentant yesterday over the furor in the United States caused by the Ames espionage accusation.The chief spokesman for the Foreign Intelligence Service, still popularly known by its former name KGB, commenting only indirectly on the uproar, called it strange that the United States began "a large-scale spy mania campaign over such an ordinary case."

IN the secret world, when I duly entered it, the law was the ghost at every clandestine feast.For how can you flout the law without first knowing what it is? You might as well try to commit adultery without the benefit of marriage.The very life blood of America's intelligence community has been drawn from the legal profession. Its heartland is in Boston, at Yale, in the pretty white mansions scattered up and down the coast.Historically, it was the American lawyers turned spies -- the good old boys of the East Coast legal Establishment -- who pushed and pulled the borders of American constitutional legality and sometimes just damn well kicked them down, for the purpose of defending it against the forces of darkness.

The Young American Bowling Alliance conducted its 11th annual Maryland Top Ten Invitational State Finals with 36 bowlers at County Lanes in Westminster last Sunday."

WASHINGTON -- I live among spies. Some of my neighbors are spies. Some of my co-workers are spies. I even know spies married to spies who had children who are now spies. Before you diagnose clinical paranoia, I should mention that I live in Washington and, according to the Bush administration, virtually everyone I know is engaged in either clear or possible acts of espionage. Two Washington lobbyists face criminal charges in Alexandria, Va., under the 1917 Espionage Act for receiving classified information in oral conversations with a former Defense Department employee, Lawrence A. Franklin.

Here's a harrowing case covered in the New York Times today : The Federal Trade Commission accused seven computer rental companies of using special software to record images (via webcam) and other personal information through computers their customers rented. The companies took pictures, video, screenshots and more from the computers of people who were renting their devices. People were recorded having sex. Children were recorded, too. On Tuesday, the companies agreed to a settlement with the FTC, the agency said . A company called DesignerWare designed the software, with a hidden feature called Detective Mode, and sold it to several rent-to-own stores.

Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis' mind is bound to race wildly today, consumed with deducing the moves of unpredictable, enigmatic and gifted Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick. As the play clock ticks down and Vick barks out signals, Lewis will peer across the line of scrimmage to glean hints of what Vick might do next. Vick's impact is seemingly limited only by his imagination.  As the Ravens square off with the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field, containing Vick is of paramount importance.

Three of County Executive John R. Leopold's top aides have threatened to sue a co-worker for libel after she accused them of sexual harassment, spying and destroying documents. An attorney for the three aides wrote two letters to the co-worker demanding an apology and calling the woman's claims "libelous" and "slanderous. " The letter also calls for her to retract her sworn affidavit, filed in two civil suits against Leopold. "The goal is plain and simple," attorney T. Joseph Touhey, who wrote the letter, said in an interview.

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold and his administration are facing new accusations that they destroyed documents, deployed spies to detect disloyalty and attempted to conceal misconduct in an office beset by sexual harassment. An affidavit by a current employee was filed Wednesday in a gender discrimination suit that has alleged that Leopold made unwanted sexual advances and retaliated against women who complained about his conduct. Carla Sagerholm, who has worked there for four years, described a sexually charged work environment where officials "appear very concerned that workers within the office will expose various practices and acts committed by these officials.

Improved technology is changing the spy game, merging once-disparate roles in the intelligence field and favoring an increased download of traditional spy roles to the private sector. This week, Canada's Postmedia News cited a speech by Richard Fadden, the head of Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, in which he acknowledged this new reality. "In today's information universe of WikiLeaks, the Internet and social media, there are fewer and fewer meaningful secrets for the James Bonds of the world to steal," Mr. Fadden said.

The Pentagon is creating a new intelligence service aimed at gathering information on terrorist networks, weapons of mass destruction and other emerging concerns, a senior defense official said Monday. The new Defense Clandestine Service will draw several hundred officers from the existing Defense Intelligence Agency, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the classified program. The officers - some military, some civilian - will work alongside CIA counterparts in places such as Africa, whereal-Qaida has grown more active, and Asia, where Chinese military expansion and North Korean and Iranian weapons ambitions are drawing increasing U.S. concern.

I am totally confused about us and Russia.So? Why should you be any different than the White House?I mean, are they are our friends or what?That is an interesting point. Technically speaking, Russia is neither our ally nor our adversary.So what is it?According to the State Department, Russia is our partner.What does that mean?We give them money.But they need the money, right?Desperately. Their economy is in a shambles. Their people need help.So what does the Russian government spend our dollars on?

In the coming days, we will celebrate the spectacular achievements, and honor the tremendous sacrifice, of D-day -- June 6, 1944. But the retelling of the massive invasion -- 5,300 ships, 20,000 vehicles, 150,000 soldiers on June 6 alone -- will be incomplete if we do not recall that D-Day's success was made possible by a counterintelligence operation so well-planned and coordinated that it remains to this day a standard of excellence.British security forces were remarkably successful in detecting German spies sent to infiltrate the United Kingdom.