Suburban Spies from Russia

Cold War flashback. Russian spies in deep cover in the U.S.

It sounded like something straight out of Cold War spy novel. Russian spies in deep cover in the U.S. They tended to their hydrangeas, chatted with neighbors about schools, and walked their own unsuspecting kids to the bus.

They were after intel on US foreign policy, the CIA— maybe nuclear secrets. They allegedly sent encrypted files and Mose Code transmissions back to Moscow.

The FBI watched them for years--and finally moved in this week. The arrests come on the heels of Obama’s "burger summit with the Russian president."

This hour On Point: The Russian spy ring next door.

Guests:

Jerry Markon, national reporter for the Washington Post

Svetlana Babaeva, bureau chief for RIA Novosti newswire

Frederick Hitz, Inspector-General of the CIA from 1990-1998. He teaches at the University of Virginia School of Law

Stephen Cohen professor of Russian Studies and History at New York University. He's author of  "Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalin to the New Cold War"