Grad School a Novel Way for Spies to Enter US

(July 2) -- Say that you're a foreign spy who needs to infiltrate the United States for a long-term deep-cover assignment? How do you sneak in legally?

Maybe you only need to enroll in graduate school.

It appears that's the route taken by at least one of the 11 suspects who were charged with spying for the Russians this week.

Many of the spies assumed false identities to infiltrate America as illegals rather than diplomats who use legal cover. But Mikhail Semenko moved to America legally in 2005. The multilingual, social-media-friendly alleged suburban spy worked as a travel agent and pursued a master's degree at Seton Hall University in Newark, N.J., before moving to Arlington, Va.

And Semenko may have exposed a vulnerable underbelly in America's counter-espionage efforts: If spies arrive in America toting textbooks, they are harder to turn away, and they may be able to infiltrate our country for lengthy periods of time without drawing much attention to themselves.

A spokeswoman for Seton Hall confirmed information posted on Semenko's LinkedIn page that indicated he received a dual master of arts in Asian studies and in diplomacy and international relations in 2008. He also received tuition remission and a small stipend for working in the school's IT Budget Office for two years.

"Because of Seton Hall's small class size and involved faculty, Mikhail was known to those who met him and taught him," the school's Jill Matthews said in an e-mail to AOL News. "These serious allegations against him have taken us by surprise."

Semenko was not the only member of the alleged ring who studied in America -- the Montclair, N.J., woman known as Cynthia Murphy attempted to spy on CIA-bound classmates at Columbia University's highly competitive business school, according to court documents. But unlike Murphy, Semenko did not need to infiltrate the U.S. under a risky false identity; he entered America legally under his own name with a student visa.

And according to Seton Hall, the government's thumbs up of the young man's bona fides are as far as the school can go in checking up on his background.

"Before entering Seton Hall, Mikhail underwent all of the clearances required by the U.S. government," Matthews said. "Assuming government clearance is granted and an international student can prove fluency in English, an international student's application would be considered through the same admission standards required for all students."

Other graduate schools of international studies contacted by AOL News confirmed that they also rely on federal authorities to clear a student as eligible to study in America.

Of course, after he completed grad school, Semenko couldn't stay in the country indefintely on a student visa. Foreign nationals who study at American universities can work in the United States using their student visa for a one-year period known as optional practical training after they graduate. When the year is up, their employer can apply for the worker to receive an H-1B non-immigrant visa as a specialty employee.

Semenko's employment record after his 2008 graduation from Seton Hall suggests that he used these elements of immigration law to stay in America. He worked for The Conference Board in New York through early 2009. Then he joined an Arlington travel agency where, according to The Associated Press, his fluency in five languages was "a big plus for ... dealing with many foreign clients." Semenko was employed by the agency, Travel All Russia, when he was arrested.

Foreign intelligence agencies like the SVR, Russia's successor to the Soviet KGB, may be taking note if immigration authorities and the State Department are failing to prevent spies from entering the country as students.

Peter Earnest, the executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., is a 36-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency. He said that Soviet spycraft always focused more heavily on infiltration of spies under assumed names than other intelligence services. And the Russians may see the utility in exploiting America's institutions of higher learning to plant their sleeper agents.

"When you're dealing with students, you're usually dealing with a younger category of person," Earnest said. "They won't list that they're intelligence officers, that they're illegals, and so the university doesn't have much recourse, except checking references. But if it's an illegal, their references are pretty good."

The ex-spy thought federal authorities at the Department of Homeland Security might want to consider additional steps for screening incoming foreign students, even though the world of academia might be sensitive to prospective students facing further checks to their backgrounds.

"I think your area of questioning is valid, I can see Homeland Security, or the FBI, taking an interest in someone they have reason to believe is not legitimate, and where there is an ongoing investigation," Earnest said.