I've said this before when we've discussed this in email, but as long as there's a country called Russia and they're still running an illegals programme, I don't think it'll ever be possible for us to know what they feel they get out of that sort of spying (or for that matter what the Soviet Union got out of it) that they couldn't get equally well out of other kinds of spying. There are certainly people who agree with you that it's not worth the time and effort and expense (both Russians and Americans) and have written extensively about that. But they must get something out of it, or else they wouldn't still be doing it--even if it's just something like the psychological advantage of having a type of spy no one else has, or maybe pacifying conservative elements in their government that still have an emotional investment in the patriotism of the programme. (This interview in Foreign Policy with former Spetsnaz officer Boris Volodarsky after the U.S. illegals were arrested in 2010 gets at some of the other things they might think they get out of an illegals programme, for what it's worth.)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2014-04-01 12:38 pm (UTC)-J