There was a media event recently FBI arrested 11 Russian Spies. Journalists got busy writing about the Cold War return, and meaning of the timing of the arrest. If you look into it, things are much simpler and prosaic.
Basically, FBI screwed up. They have been following these people for many years. Yet they did not have any evidence of "real" secret-stealing activities. (Everybody was charged with things like failing to register as a "foreign agent" and money laundering, but not spying.) Then FBI send their impostor to an urgent meeting with one of the spies, Anna Chapman. That meeting made her so suspicious, that she bought a new cell phone using a fake Russian name and a (fake) "99 Fake Street" address, a couple of calling cards and started to call Russia for confirmation. This is in spite of a good chance of being eavesdropped on. Then FBI decided that she's a "flight risk", and arrested everybody involved.
How exactly the FBI agent gave himself in? I don't know for sure. Although when asked for more information about himself, the guy managed to answer "My name is Roman, I work in the consulate." That sure sounds inept.
And this is how those (counter) intelligence operations work. You'd like to be proud of your country's special agencies, but they f*ck up. Regularly. I know, because I've read "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" :)
Anyway, those evil Russian Spies were looking pretty strange. Some had Russian accents. This Anna Chapman woman posted her photos on a Russian social network site odnoklassnike.ru ("classmates"), as well as on Facebook. The Young Turks have a pretty good funny review of the spies ineptitude.
And so it goes with those secret "supermen".
