Veteran counterspy gets Obama green light

President Obama's top spook sent a message to the turncoat underground yesterday: We're coming after you.

But the question is, will the new chief counterspy have the resources needed to counteract the subversion of spies, moles and agents of influence? Certainly Robert Bryant, the new counterintelligence executive reporting to National Intelligence Director Dennis C. Blair, knows the ways of Washington and of spooks very well.

Bryant's counterspy credentials include the nabbing of CIA moles Aldrich Ames and Harold Nicholson and of FBI traitor Earl Pitts, according to Blair's office. As deputy FBI director, Bryant handled various matters, including national security, counterterrorism and counterintelligence.

Bryant, who returns from private life after serving some 40 years in the FBI, was named as part of the new national intelligence strategy, which elevates counterintelligence to a top mission priority, Blair's office said.

Previously, Blair's office has underscored national security threats from communist China and from Russia, which is in the grip of KGB veterans. It will be interesting to see whether Bryant's leadership results in a rolling up of networks of treason inside and outside of the federal government.