The Anatomy of Russian Espionage: Surveillance, Strategy, and Statecraft

by Irina Tsukerman and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

How do Russia’s intelligence services use corruption, deep-cover illegals, operational deception, and surveillance tradecraft to wage a broader hybrid war against the West?

Irina Tsukerman interviews Sean M. Wiswesser about the enduring culture and operational methods of Russian intelligence. Wiswesser examines corruption and compartmentation within the Russian services, the long tradition of deep-cover “illegals,” the patient construction of false identities, and the use of maskirovka as a system of denial, deception, and manipulation. Their discussion also explores Russian active measures targeting democratic societies, competing narratives designed to intensify political polarization, and the integration of traditional physical surveillance with modern electronic monitoring. Wiswesser frames these practices through his book Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks: Russian Intelligence and Putin’s Secret War, which focuses on the methods and professional culture of Russian intelligence. The U.S. Naval Institute describes the book as an examination of the SVR, GRU, and FSB, including surveillance, active measures, sabotage, assassinations, and Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Sean M. Wiswesser is a former senior CIA operations officer and national security professional with nearly thirty years of experience across intelligence, foreign service, and defense organizations. He served multiple overseas tours, including war-zone assignments, became a CIA chief of station, and held joint-duty positions with other intelligence-community partners. A Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wiswesser earned a bachelor’s degree in history and Russian and Slavic linguistics and a Master of Strategic Studies from the Air War College in 2023, where he received the Russia Integrated Deterrence Award. He is the author of Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks: Russian Intelligence and Putin’s Secret War, published by Naval Institute Press on April 21, 2026.