Getting rid of the Hanssen-tainted Russian personnel was an excellent move.
The Cold War supposedly has faded and America is expected to forgive and forget all the threats and intrusions the Russians posed in the past. But it's not that simple and not that easy.
For all its innumerable problems involving the economy, public health, deteriorating infrastructures and decimated armed forces morale, Russia remains as formidable an adversary as China, Iraq or any other nation. Russia still will do anything it can to exploit weaknesses or knowledge to its advantage and to the detriment of the United States.
Diplomats may decry the State Department's action to expel six Russian personnel suspected of spying and order 45 others to leave America. This is a retaliation for Moscow's apparent use of turncoat FBI agent Robert Hanssen to steal U.S. secrets.
For a long time now, it has been apparent that a good many "ambassadorial" personnel from Russia have been part of the old espionage network that flourished so effectively under communism. Things may have changed a bit, but when the Russian president himself has such a deep background in spying, we cannot expect any miracles.
Hanssen, of course, may have done us damage we haven't even begun to fathom. He was working through Russian personnel here and it's little wonder Washington wants to cut down on such activity and prevent new damage.
There will be reprisals, almost certainly. Russia is noted for that and president Putin will use his expertise to try to hurt us the most he can. He would be better advised to work on other things in his struggling country, but his ego and the bent for "public relations" won't allow that for a while.
Enough of the libertarian rhetoric about the damage this stern act of expulsion does to human relations. The Russians have been engaging in criminal activity (just as we have been doing against them). They have been caught and they need to be dealt with firmly, the same as we can expect the Russians to strike out at our people, guilty or not.
But the Hanssen travesty continues to indicate this is not the last action the United States needs to take against Russia. We should be comfortable that Secretary of State Colin Powell is well-acquainted with such matters and that security adviser Condoleeza Rice is well-versed on the subject.
There have been too many foxes in our henhouse and many probably remain. But at least we are trying to get rid of some of them and send the message that we won't back down in our espionage and counter-espionage.
That's good, unpleasant as it might be for some.
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