The numbers compute, but ...
do not add up to what would be expected to turn someone. Herman was well above middle-class without the 15.6K (police pension looks huge = 4 middle class families).15,600 - alleged "spy pay"
18,000 - MOD salary
50,000 - police pension
I think we should indulge ourselves here in the presumption of innocence, until some better evidence turns up - e.g., Swiss bank account, ideology or an admission by Herman.
One wonders if Herman made some enemies when he was a cop ?
Der Spiegel Update
This article reviews the case, but provides little in new evidence other than the alleged radio mentioned in the second paragraph. The article also outlines the interest in the case by NATO Security - damage assessment time. So, if that part of the article is accurate, someone did something very bad.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...590891,00.html11/17/2008
WESTERN SECRETS FOR MOSCOW
Estonian Spy Scandal Shakes NATO and EU
By Holger Stark
For years an Estonian government official has apparently been collecting the most intimate secrets of NATO and the EU -- and passing them on to the Russians. The case is a disaster for Brussels.
Communications between the suspected top spy and his commanding officer seemed like a throwback to the Cold War. Investigators allege that in order to send messages to his Russian contact, Herman Simm, 61, used a converted radio which looked like a relic from yesteryear's world of consumer electronics. ....
....
Although Simm was arrested with his wife Heete in the Estonian capital Tallinn on Sept. 21, this spy story -- which has been largely kept under wraps until now -- primarily concerns the European Union and NATO based in faraway Brussels. Since Simm was responsible for dealing with classified information in Tallinn, he had access to nearly all documents exchanged within the EU and NATO. Officials who are familiar with the case assume that "virtually everything" that circulates between EU member states was passed on to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR -- including confidential analyses by NATO on the Kosovo crisis, the war in Georgia and even the missile defense program. Investigators believe that Simm was a "big fish."
.....
Meanwhile, a number of investigative teams from the EU and NATO have flown to Tallinn to probe the extent of the intelligence disaster. The investigation is being led by the NATO Office for Security, which is headed by an American official. As investigators pursue their work, they continue to unearth mounting evidence pointing to the enormity of the betrayal. A German government official has called the situation a "catastrophe," and Jaanus Rahumägi, a member of Estonia's national parliament who heads the parliamentary oversight committee for the government security agency, fears "historic damage."
NATO officials in Brussels are comparing Simm's alleged spying to the case of Aldrich Ames, a former CIA agent who for years funneled information to the Russian intelligence service, the KGB. However, the extensive fallout of the Estonian leaks makes this the worst espionage scandal since the end of the Cold War......
European Code procedure works a bit differently from our criminal procedure. The accused is detained (not necessarily under conditions of probable cause as we know that concept). The case is assigned to an investigative judge who has powers akin to a one-man grand jury. The time interval can be long between that assignment and the issuance of what is equivalent to our indictment. In some ways, the European procedures resemble the DTA and MCA procedures.
I was wondering why the EU or NATO allows that level of access to former Soviet era cadres. How did this guy get to this level?
This whole thing smells fishy to me.
Intel efforts are usually fishy on several levels.
not really enough known here to make any sensible determination and that is unlikely to change...
As I indicated above, I have little to no knowledge of him ever getting ahold of anything from the USG above EFTO (for you civilians that's Encrypted For Transmission Only).Originally Posted by jmm99
He was barely involved with anything PFP/MAP/NATO (he never even had user access to my server, satellite connection and traffic). When I left the MOD in 2003, his job was more of a building security manager than a classified holdings officer. I'm having a hard time remembering if I ever saw an approved document safe in his office.... where he was responsible for the secret coordination with NATO and the EU
The parliament member's statement is way off. The dude was already behind bars before Georgia happened. Even after Georgia's short war, the communications between MFAs were little more than various requests for assistance. Some of us responded faster than others to include open press releases - certainly not classified assistance.
I don't doubt for a second we have Russian spies recruiting here, but I have a real hard time with the potential for over access to what NATO calls sensitive. To echo Eric's comments, What ever happened to "a need to know" regardless of one's security clearance levels?
If you want to blend in, take the bus
Hei Stan, ...
I thought you'd chime in with some facts. Nothing I've seen so far causes me to leave my suggestion in post # 8:
We might see formal charges (akin to our indictment) next year. If that is filed (cf. the Aruba case, where the guy was detained twice and never formally charged), the parties will then be at issue.I think we should indulge ourselves here in the presumption of innocence, until some better evidence turns up.
That being said, I do plan on following this case wherever it leads. I have seen a lot of speculation on the Net about Herman, including some "conspiracy theories". I have not reported them because the sources are questionable.
Of one thing, we can be fairly well assured. We won't (shouldn't) see NATO Security's damage assessment report.
MI5 to unravel spy’s treachery
From The Sunday Times
Officers from MI5’s counter-espionage section are investigating possible damage caused to Britain and the West by Herman Simm, a high-ranking Estonian security official who has confessed to spying for Russia.
In an operation worthy of a 1960s spy novel, Simm is reported to have used an antiquated radio transmitter to send classified information to Russia.
He is accused of betraying Nato plans for Kosovo’s independence; the position of the alliance on last summer’s war between Russia and Georgia; and secrets from the American missile shield in Europe.
If you want to blend in, take the bus
Still no evidence,
until the confession shows in a court document, the transmitter is put on the table and the Swiss bank account with millions shows up.from Times article
.... who has confessed to spying for Russia. ...
.... reported to have used an antiquated radio transmitter ....
.... alleged to have received millions of dollars from the SVR ...
It may be all true (or all false); but I can sit back and be patient.
imagine what this would fetch on eBayantiquated radio transmitter
The suspense is killing me
If you want to blend in, take the bus
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