UPDATED 4:35 p.m., with quotes from the BBC documentary in question.
The FBI tells Danger Room that its top counterintelligence official was misquoted in a British newspaper about sexy Russian spy Anna Chapman attempting to sexually entice one of President Obama's cabinet officials.
The London Independent quoted C. Frank Figliuzzi, the assistant FBI director for counterintelligence, saying the Russian spy ring Chapman ran was "getting close enough to a sitting U.S. cabinet member that we thought we could no longer allow this to continue." Danger Room flagged the bizarre quote, which the Independent said was a summary of an interview Figliuzzi gave to the BBC – and which the FBI says were far from a faithful rendering of Figliuzzi's comments.
Judge for yourself. In one portion of the BBC documentary, Figliuzzi says, "We were getting very concerned. They [the Russian spies] were getting close enough to a sitting U.S. cabinet member that we thought we could no longer allow this to continue."
About 10 minutes later, in a conversation about Chapman, Figliuzzi adds: "She was getting closer and closer to higher and higher ranking leadership.... She got close enough to disturb us."
That senior FBI official's comments "were consistent with and confined to the information outlined in the criminal complaint [against the Chapman spy ring] that was filed nearly two years ago," FBI spokesman Paul Bresson tells Danger Room. "There is no allegation or suggestion in the complaint that Anna Chapman or anyone else associated with this investigation attempted to seduce a U.S. Cabinet official."
Which is true – Figliuzzi never says anything specifically about seduction in his BBC interview. He only mentions that a rather seductive agent managed to get "closer and closer to higher and higher ranking leadership." There's no direct talk of sexytime, with a cabinet secretary or anyone else.
According to the original June 2010 criminal complaint against Chapman's crew (.PDF) , one of Chapman's alleged spies, Cynthia Murphy – not Chapman herself – attempted to ingratiate herself to an unnamed "prominent-based New York financier" who was friends with a "current cabinet official," also unnamed. One of Chapman's Moscow handlers allegedly remarked, "maybe he can provide [Murphy] with remarks re US foreign policy, 'roumors' [sic] about White House internal 'kitchen,' invite her to venues."
That's a long, long way from saying that Chapman was out to seduce a member of the cabinet – and even further away from saying Chapman succeeded.
In other words, the Independent over-interpreted Figliuzzi, at best. And, in doing so, the paper pulled off the seemingly impossible: embellish one of the only spy stories that needs no sexing up.
