SVR's Directorate "S". The man in charge of the illegals program here in the United States.

He is the top official in charge of the "illegals" program here in the U.S. Even his very name is a state secret!

He is known only as Directorate "S"of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Services (SVR). It was this un-named official that the 11 accused Russian spies were actually working for.

From what I understand Directorate "S" reports directly to the current director of the SVR, who reports only to the President of Russia and select members of the Russian Duma.

The SVR Director is appointed by and reports directly to the President of Russia, currently Dmitry MedvedevDmitry Medvedev.

The SRV Director's name is Mikhail E. Fradkov, according to their website (http://svr.gov.ru).

Not much is known about Directorate "S", apart from source material, news articles. But a little book entitled: "Biological Espionage: Special operations of the Soviet and Russian Foreign Intelligence Services in the west" by AlexanderAlexander Kouzminov in 1991, we get a rare first hand account of what goes on inside here.

DEPARTMENT 12 - DIRECTORATE "S"

Kouzminov is a former KGB officer, who worked in "Department 12" within Directorate "S", which carries out and directs all special operations in target countries, using "illegals".

He wrote this book after he retired from Russian intelligence, and gave us key insight into the SVR, we could never had gotten any other way perhaps.

"Illegals" are networks of Russian intelligence operatives who are secretly deployed to the west and operate covertly, using false identities, while at the same time masquerading as U.S. citizens (not to be confused with other classes of spies and agents, like sleepers cells).

In his book Kouzminov said:

"We prepare our illegals to work in target countries 15-20 years maybe more. Our key tasks in Department 12 was international biological espionage, running illegals, cultivating, development and recruitment of agents (usually citizens in target countries). We also planned and prepared for acts of biological terrorism and sabotage on the territory of target countries, carrying them out in an event of war or military conflict with the west. While supporting existing Russian biological programs..."

Which is consistent with what we know of the 11 Russian spy suspects, arrested, convicted and traded in an elaborate spy swap last week.

When asked in an recent interview what it means to run illegals or agents. Kouzminov responded: "It's about control!"

He continues: "Foreign intelligence services overseas has a so called 'Line N' meaning support of illegals. Their tasking was to support the operations of Directorate "S" that were carried out by illegals. That included logistical support, like arranging clandestine meetings, their surveillance, financial support, contacts, covers, legends and spy craft.'Line N' officers preformed tasks like approaching and cultivating potential agents and recruiting them..."

"I also assessed intelligence formation from our sources (illegals) in target countries."

Line N officers were the ones who met with the Russian spy suspects, and exchanged information with them using wireless communication devices and pre-paid cell phones for example.

One scary aspect of Kouzminov's book is something he calls: "Day X".

Day X is basically an evolving contingency plan for war, that the SRV maintains as part of it's mission and purpose.

He writes in his book:

"The formula Day X in our documents meant the beginning of a large scale war against the west. Our department 12 (together with department 8) was in charge of perpetrating acts of sabotage and terror on the enemy territory...to participate in so called: direct actions, which are clandestine acts of biological sabotage and terrorism against potential strike targets. These included: "Army targets and classified biological warfare ammunition, stockpiles, military garrisons, bases and military (and other) defense commands, like those which surveillance of biological weapons activities. Civil targets included public drinking water systems, food stores and pharmaceutical and biotechnological plants, also the economy."

He concluded by saying: "our tools for these actions included, first and foremost our illegals, whom we had planted in the target country. These were the most reliable, well trusted special agents."

His book gives us a sense of how very dangerous the 11 Russian spy suspects really were. I suspect Directorate "S" will be conducting debriefings with all the spy suspects to try and determine the amount of compromise in this case. He may also be the one responsible for assigning new "illegals" to replace them, if he hasn't done so already.

Robert Tilford *_*

http://mailto:roberttilford@gmail.com

see all related Robert Tilford articles,including:

"The Russians are not our friends", and "Russian Spies Targeted U.S. Policy makers and Government employees"