The espionage case against Earl Edwin Pitts was one of the recent cases incriminating trusted agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In this case, it was reported that from 1987-1992, Pitts leaked classified and unclassified information to the Russian KGB in exchange for money. He also allowed the Russian intelligence service agents to use materials only meant for the FBI agents. When the FBI suspected his activities, a counterintelligence program was hatched to confirm the crime and determine the extent to which he had leaked the important information to the Russians.
The program was named ‘False Flag’ (Milton, 2001). It was disturbing how willing Pitts was to reveal important information to the Russian authorities in exchange for money. The spy, who posed as a KGB agent, was able to gather how far Pitts had gone to betray his country and to go against the oath he took when he was hired by the agency. He went as far as revealing how FBI recruits and trains his agents.
Russia, a foreign power, gained a lot from the spying. It took a long time before the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) realized that their agent was leaking classified information to a foreign country. The Russian KGB was able to learn about the operational strategies that the FBI uses to recruit and gather relevant intelligence. The position held by Pitts was strategic because he had access to some of the sensitive information about the security management of the country. At this time, there was a bitter rivalry between the United States and Russia as each country tried to develop its nuclear weapons in readiness for a possible war (Trahair & Miller, 2009). Actions of Pitts, therefore, left the country dangerously exposed to one of the worst enemies of the United States.
The time that it took for the United States forces to realize that an agent they trusted with classified information was leaking it to its top enemy was long. It is not clear how much he was able to reveal within this period through the counterintelligence program that was launched in 1992. However, it was apparent, based on Pitts’ actions during the time when he was being investigated, that he must have revealed a lot.
Operation False Flag revealed that he was able to do anything that the Russian authorities asked of him as long as he was given the payments that he demanded. He would go as far as allowing the enemies to access important frequencies that the top security agencies used to ensure that the country remained protected (Sulick, 2013). He was also willing to allow the enemies to access the training camps specifically meant for the FBI agents. It means that over a period of five years, he must have exposed the country to the enemy. It is possible that most of the information that he passed to the Russian spies stated how prepared the United States was in countering any threat from an enemy.
A critical analysis of the espionage case against Earl Edwin Pitts revealed a number of weaknesses within the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As an authority charged with the responsibility of investigating and countering any threats to the country’s security, five years is a long time for a spy to leak classified information to an enemy. It was an indication that the agency was not efficient enough to identify the potential threats within the right time (Smith, 2007). If these two countries were to go to war in this period, then the United States would have been disadvantaged because an enemy would have access to its plans in advance.
The counterintelligence that was conducted to investigate Pitts was a success. It was effectively planned and seamlessly implemented in a way that the suspect was unable to detect that he was under investigation. The team involved in this process ensured that they gave the suspect no reason to develop any doubt about the fact that they were KGB agents (Ross, 2012). Through this program, the FBI was able to gather the kind of information that Pitts would deliver to the Russian forces.
The agency was able to understand what the Russian authorities were interested in and how much this espionage enabled them to have access to what they desired. This primary aim was achieved, though it was not possible to determine all the details that he had given to the enemy in a span of five years. The investigators were also interested in finding proof that would be used in the court of law to convict Pitts as a spy and an enemy to the United States (Durham, 2014).
This second objective was successfully achieved. The investigators were able to confirm that Pitts was willing to do anything for the enemy, including putting the lives of all Americans at risk, as long as he was paid. He accepted payments from investigators who posed as KGB agents and the information he revealed to them was enough to send him to jail.
References
Durham, R. (2014). False Flags, Covert Operations, & Propaganda. New York, NY: Lightning Source.
Milton, P. (2001). In the blink of an eye: The FBI investigation of TWA flight 800. New York, NY: Random House.
Ross, J. I. (2012). An introduction to political crime. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Smith, J. (2007). Us military intelligence handbook. New York, NY: Intl Business Pubns Usa.
Sulick, M. J. (2013). American spies: Espionage against the US from the Cold War to the present. London, UK: McMillan.
Trahair, R. C. S., & Miller, R. L. (2009). Encyclopedia of Cold War espionage, spies, and secret operations. New York, NY: Enigma Books.