The Estonian Spy Case - Herman Simm

[Stan]

And NATO is stymied by Herman Simm's mega wealth

While every intelligence agency has grown, there are now more civilian contractors than the entire civil work force and even the penetration of hostile countries' intelligence is outsourced to giant corporations.

About 70 percent of the $60 billion a year spent on foreign and domestic intelligence goes to companies such as Blackwater Worldwide, DynCorp, SAIC, CACI International and the doyen of them all, Booz Allen Hamilton.

[Stan]

Mr. Kahar said Mr. Simm lacked access to critical streams of information

... including plans for a NATO cyber defense center based in Estonia, the identity of Estonian and foreign intelligence agents and details about plans for missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic.

A congenial man — the kind who never forgot to bring flowers when women in the office had a birthday — Mr. Simm was among the few officials who survived Estonia’s transition to independence. A graduate of a Soviet police academy in Moscow, Mr. Simm was in his 40s when Estonia left the Soviet Union, noticeably older than most of his government counterparts.

[jmm99]

you scooped me by 20+ minutes. Good work, C4 man.

This case keeps getter odder and odder. It is fast morphing into something we have seen before - passing off "info" to allies.

I got a kick out of this, from the NY Times article:

Aleksei Pavlov, a Kremlin spokesman, dismissed the notion that Russia was stepping up spying and said Mr. Simm “never had any connection with any type of Russian government agency.” He added that domestic considerations, including terrorism, were the priority for Russia now.

“It is not exactly the case where we will be activating our international network,” he said.

Pavlov is of course telling the truth since the SovCom-Russian network was never deactivated.

[jmm99]

of media reports, is found here.

18.01.200912:08 (GMT) - 007 News

Estonian newspaper Eesti Paevaleht, referring to data of the special parliamentary commission on supervision of activity of security services of Estonia, writes that the spy Herman Simm who was exposed in 2008 had worked for the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of Russia. He transferred secret data through a certain SVR officer with a nickname of Jesus.

According to the newspaper, during the investigation of Simm’s criminal case it was found out that the citizen of Estonia was supervised by an illegal who used cover as a citizen of Portugal and operated carrying out the SVR tasks.

It is said in the annual report on activity of the special parliamentary commission. According to the commission, Jesus was declared in the international search still on September 16, 2008, that is before arrest of Herman Simm and his spouse Heete Simm on September 21, Russian news agency Interfax reports.

Simm’s official duties included organization and coordination of protection of state secrets, participation in the international negotiations with the NATO and EU member-countries on protection of the classified information. So, he was a member of NATO and EU delegations on check-up of conformity of security systems in other countries.

Simm had the same access to confidential materials as the President, the Prime Minister, Ministers of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Commander of the Defence Forces of Estonia. According to mass media, NATO considers the Simm’s case the biggest intelligence failure after the USSR collapse.

Earlier it was the French press which reported on the agent nicknamed Jesus. According to magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, all the files with the index NATO Cosmic Top Secret, addressed to Estonia, passed through Simm and therefrom they got to Jesus. In particular, all documents of military character which were sent to Estonia from the countries with which it concluded treaties on exchange of classified documents were passed through Simm.

According to a NATO expert, the damage caused to Estonia and the alliance is huge; according to preliminary data, the damage could make about 100 million EEK (6.4 million Euro).

I Googled about (without success) to find the Eesti Paevaleht article, and the report of the special parliamentary commission. Stan, can you help out on this - i.e., did the report actually say what is asserted in the first three paragraphs quoted above.

Also, there are a number of alleged facts claimed in the quote; at least one of which has been disputed. E.g., this:

Simm had the same access to confidential materials as the President, the Prime Minister, Ministers of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Commander of the Defence Forces of Estonia.

Contra, Kahar quote in article cited in Stan's 25 Dec post above.

An indictment was projected for post-1 Jan - still waiting on that one.

[Stan]

Hei JMM,
Had merely gotten bored with this case in the local press and should have otherwise kept up with this thread. BTW, Google in Estonskie don't friggin work

I Googled about (without success) to find the Eesti Paevaleht article, and the report of the special parliamentary commission. Stan, can you help out on this - i.e., did the report actually say what is asserted in the first three paragraphs quoted above.

Also, there are a number of alleged facts claimed in the quote; at least one of which has been disputed. E.g., this:

Contra, Kahar quote in article cited in Stan's 25 Dec post above.

An indictment was projected for post-1 Jan - still waiting on that one.

Here in brief and chronological order, is what I came up with from EestiPäevaleht:


25 DEC 08
The Kremlin's representative Aleksei Pavlovi states that they are more occupied with internal problems and terrorism, and, have nothing to do with Simm. With that, Estonia's Special Commission Chairman Jaanus Rahumägi retorts that this part of the world (during that period) has always been in Russia's sights, and the prosecution believes that Simm passed information onto the Russian foreign spies.

29 DEC 08
Simm's Defense Lawyer hopes to get his land back. In attorney Sven Sillari's opinion, Simm's assets were confiscated illegally. Chief Prosecutor Lavly Lepp indicated in early November that the confiscation of Simm's property legally fell under two categories. The real estate in question was purchased with criminally-obtained monies or the individuals through criminal acts have considerably benefited from the consequential damages.

30 DEC 08
The Simms' land remains confiscated. Tallinn's district Court ruled that the Simms' confiscated assets remain legally confiscated and added that, assets belonging to Heete Simm could also be confiscated if she is found guilty of assisting her husband with treason.

12 JAN 09
Heete Simm, accused of assisting her husband with treason returned to work on Monday as a legal attorney for the police. Not much to this short article other than mucho legal jargon.

16 JAN 09
KAPO (similar to the USA's FBI, ATF, SWAT and Secret Service all rolled into One) Commission - Simm's contact was a Russian Officer
The (Parliamentary) Estonian Security Police Board Commission determined last year that Simm's contact was in fact a Federation foreign spy, who escaped (from being apprehended) just 3 days before Simm was arrested. In brief, the Commission determined that Simm's contact is in fact a third party illegal traveler (alien) and they are now at odds just how to proceed convicting Simm. Under Estonian law Simm could received 3 to 20 years, or life. Other Countries cited indicate that Simm, as a traitor, could receive the maximum such as in France, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Denmark. In the USA there's a possible penalty of death and in Russia, 12 to 20 years.


20 JAN 09
The Parliament of Estonia
(Don't for a second think that clicking on the ENG would instantaneously translate the viewed document into English... Because it does not )

In short (complete with sarcasm)
Heete Simm is found free these days... But what a surprise-surprise.

Sorry, I was unable to find anything that would indicate Simm had access to the same level of classified as say the President. I however doubt he had that level, ever.

Regards, Stan

[jmm99]

for the extensive update. No real breaking news - and many questions remain unanswered. If this case is settled (plea bargain), I suspect that many of those questions will remain buried.

Meanwhile, we have our own continuing problem, where the apple seems not to have fallen far from the tree.

The 27 Jan 2009 Nicholson indictment is here.

[jmm99]

This appeared in a few places:

Estonian In Russia Spy Probe On Trial By March: Official
Wednesday February 4th, 2009 / 15h44

TALLINN, Estonia (AFP)--A former Estonian defense ministry official who is accused of spying for the country's Soviet-era master Moscow is set to face trial within weeks, justice authorities said Wednesday.

"The case will reach court in a few weeks, in March at the latest," Gerrit Maesalu, spokesman of the state prosecutor's office, told AFP.
.....
The defense ministry said Wednesday that it was also planning to seek 21 million kroons ($1.72 million) in damages against Simm.
"The sum was calculated by taking into account the amount the defense ministry has had to pay to change the various communication and guard systems of various institutions," spokesman Peeter Kuimet told AFP.