Latest news with #MissionImpossible-style
Scottish Sun
17-06-2025
- Health
- Scottish Sun
Scots family's dream holiday turns to nightmare after dad is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer
A GoFundMe page was launched in a bid to cover medical expenses MEXICO HORROR Scots family's dream holiday turns to nightmare after dad is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A FAMILY'S dream holiday turned into a 'nightmare' after a dad fell ill and was unable to fly home. Dominika Ulatowska and her partner, Warren, from Paisley travelled to Mexico with their one-year-old son. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 A Scots family's dream holiday to Mexico turned into a nightmare Credit: EPA (stock pic) However Warren discovered that he had several tumours on both lungs and his prostate. The distraught couple were unable to fly home after the airline demanded a fit-to-fly certificate. Warren was diagnosed with stage four advanced prostate cancer. A GoFundMe page was launched in a bid to cover medical expenses. The online fundraiser reads: 'Our dream holiday turned into a nightmare. "In Mexico, the love of my life and father to our one-year-old son, unfortunately, ended up very unwell. "But we wanted to make the holiday special for our little boy. "We spent $4000 on CT-Scan and other tests and found out there were several tumours on both lungs. "Unfortunately, we couldn't fly home early as a fit-to-fly was required, and we couldn't get one as the Mexican hospital didn't let him fly. "We had to stay in Mexico, with my partner suffering in pain for ten days and not knowing if he would make it back home. We had to launch Mission Impossible-style hospital escape to bring my boy home to die – I won't get over the trauma "We then safely arrived home after a long 10 hour flight home with two doctors on the flight helping us and helping my fiancée to get to land safely." Upon arrival in Scotland, the dad was rushed to A&E, where several tests were carried out. Warren was then given the bombshell news that the stage four advanced prostate cancer had spread to the lungs. The fundraiser continues: "We are currently awaiting chemotherapy. 2 Dominika Ulatowska and her partner, Warren, from Paisley Credit: GoFundMe "It isn't easy, but we want to spend it as a family as long as we can. "I have decided to do this fundraiser to raise money for my fiancée to get the care he requires whilst on chemotherapy and then being at home and requiring further treatment." The money raised will also go towards a private nurse to allow Warren to receive care in the comfort of his own home. Dominika said: "[I want to] make sure that my fiancée is in safe hands."
Scottish Sun
15-06-2025
- Scottish Sun
We had to launch Mission Impossible-style hospital escape to bring my boy home to die – I won't get over the trauma
Teddie's mum is campaigning for more access to grief counselling - see her petition below CATCH ME IF YOU CAN CATCH ME IF YOU CAN We had to launch Mission Impossible-style hospital escape to bring my boy home to die – I won't get over the trauma Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A TEENAGER with just days to live was forced to evade security guards as he fled through a hospital, before jumping into a getaway car - just so he could die at home. Teddie Marks, 18, was wheelchair-bound, with his legs swelled up from cancer but was able to show off his athletic prowess one last time during the comedic mad dash. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 15 Teddie Marks died from a rare and aggressive cancer Credit: Jay Marks 15 Teddie with his heartbroken mum Jay Credit: Jay Marks 15 The teen was forced to flee the hospital Credit: Jay Marks Mum Jay - who is campaigning for more access to grief counselling for bereaved families - explained how everything had been put in place to allow her son to receive palliative care at the family's home in Braintree, Essex. However, at the last minute, as they left University College London Hospital they were confusingly told Teddie had to stay, against his wishes. Security was called and they were to be blocked from leaving - but the adventurous young man was having none of it. Mum-of-three Jay, 42, said: 'He's 18, they got all his paperwork ready, they gave us all his medication, they said to us he was going to be blue-lighted because from UCLH to Braintree it's a bit of a drive. 'Then they said they were going to get a normal ambulance but I would have to sign responsibility for him, which was fine… then we're told that's been cancelled.' Jay continued: 'In the end, the palliative care nurse fitted him up with a 24-hour pump so that we could get him home and hook him up to the machine.' 'That makes no sense' The family then got into a lift on the 15th floor with the palliative care nurse, alongside a 'bag of medication' and all of Teddie's things from weeks of being in and out of hospital - when they hit another speed bump. 'On the way down she had a call and she was like 'right okay', then she said 'they've called security',' explained Jay. 'We were like what? That makes no sense because she was with us and he'd been discharged. 'Teddie was an adult and sound of mind, and he'd told them he wanted to go home.' The symptoms of sarcoma cancer including tummy pain Not wanting to stick around to find out what was going on, Teddie, who was being pushed in a wheelchair, as well as his mum and dad Joseph, and two other relatives, bolted. 'When the lift doors opened on the ground floor we ran, we were gone,' said Jay. 'We were literally running through the hospital and the nurse was shouting 'stop!' 'They didn't catch up to us, and poor Teddie, he jumped in the car, bearing in mind his legs were all swollen, he had lymphedema where the fluid wasn't going back upwards because of where the tumour was sitting. You've never seen him move so fast. He jumped out of the wheelchair, jumped in the car and went 'drive!' Jay Marks 'You've never seen him move so fast,' continued Jay. 'He jumped out of the wheelchair, jumped in the car and went 'drive!'' Joseph's two aunts, who had been with them at the hospital, stayed behind and later told the family the nurse burst into tears. 'She was crying and she was saying 'I'm happy they got to go' because it wasn't her that had called security - it had been higher up,' explained Jay. 'They'd already given him his discharge papers and everything we needed, it made no sense. It's funny to look back on now, what everyone else must have been thinking.' 15 Teddie was just 18 when he passed away Credit: Jay Marks 15 Jay and Teddie as a toddler Credit: Jay Marks 15 Teddie (centre) with his sister Robyn and brother Harrison Credit: Jay Marks That was on July 12 2024 and on the 14th Teddie finally passed away. It had been a tough journey since his shock diagnosis at age 16 in 2022 with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of cancer that starts as a growth of cells in soft tissue. 'It's quite rare but quite aggressive, and it tends to come back even if you get rid of it,' explained Jay. 'He did have a six-month period when he got rid of the cancer, and then he relapsed in July 2023, and then we've had a long battle.' Trips to Germany The family was told there was nothing more the NHS could offer and so they spent tens of thousands of pounds, via GoFundMe, to travel to Germany multiple times - the last of which was days before Teddie died. 'We'd been seeing different professors that had tried different treatments,' said Jay. 'Unfortunately, the last professor we tried, he was having some success, and the month after that treatment, Teddie was feeling much better. 'All the swelling in his legs had gone down, he was feeling much better, but by that time the cancer had spread and we didn't catch it.' Teddie knew he was dying as he'd flown to Germany the last time, but didn't want to give up. 'His words were 'I'm not going to die without trying',' said Jay. 'He was fighting the whole time.' Asked if he'd been able to get alternative treatment sooner she believes her son could have survived, Jay said: 'I think so. The NHS will say 'no, no' but they are so ignorant to what is out there in Europe, it's unbelievable.' 15 Teddie was a talented footballer Credit: Jay Marks 15 Jay described him as the 'perfect' child Credit: Jay Marks 15 The teen was originally diagnosed with cancer in 2022 Credit: Jay Marks After Teddie relapsed in March 2023 he was given an operation and it was 'made clear' by the consultants that they'd 'tripled checked' with the surgeons that Teddie's cancer could be removed with 'clear margins', said Jay. 'Because if it couldn't they weren't going to touch it. They said 'the surgeons are really sure'.' 'After the operation, as soon as Teddie came round, he said 'did you get it with clear margins?' and they said 'we can't be sure'. 'It must not have been checked properly,' Jay said. 'When he had scans four to six weeks after the op, nodules had appeared. 'I think at that point if we'd gone to Germany, Teddie would have stood a better chance.' £100,000 in 24 hours The GoFundMe page set up to help the teen receive alternative treatments 'went over £100,000 in the first 24 hours', said Jay. 'GoFundMe got in touch to say they had never seen one go up that quickly.' All of that and more went on private testing and treatments abroad. 'I can't sit here and say don't listen to the NHS because overall they were amazing, but it's frustrating that there are these treatments out there,' said Jay. 'Don't get me wrong, the hospital was amazing, especially the nurses who go above and beyond.' 15 Teddie playing video games in hospital Credit: Jay Marks 15 He battled cancer bravely for two years Credit: Jay Marks 15 Teddie even passed his driving test while he underwent chemo Credit: Jay Marks But with all other hope lost, with the help of Farleigh Hospice, in Braintree, Teddie was able to die in the comfort of his own home. 'He knew what he was going home for,' said Jay. 'It was absolutely heartbreaking because you know you are saying bye to your child. 'We sat up every night. He had his family here, his aunts, his uncles and his cousins. 'Don't be depressed' 'At one point, Teddie said 'don't be depressed, put some music on',' she added, laughing. Teddie had always been the one to keep the family's spirits up, even throughout his illness. 'He was such a good boy,' said Jay. 'There were days after he got diagnosed where I couldn't get up, couldn't function and he would come in and say to me, 'up you get, Mum'. 'He had such strong faith, he was quite religious - even when Teddie was dying, he had all the family here and was cuddling his girl cousins and he said 'don't cry for me, I know where I'm going.' 'That boy was absolutely something else.' Teddie had first been getting pain in August 2021, and by November he was 'in agony' and 'was up three or four nights straight', said Jay, who took him to A&E multiple times. However, they were sent away again and again and told to take over the counter painkillers. 15 He didn't let cancer stop him from remaining positive Credit: Jay Marks 15 Teddie was even joking with his family on his death bed Credit: Jay Marks 15 University College London Hospital, where Teddie was treated Credit: The Sun Jay said Teddie was 'very robust', he was captain of Chelmsford City EJA, but even his pain threshold was being pushed to the limit. Eventually, the family paid for a private doctor and MRI scan, then an operation which found abscesses. The doctor sent off for a biopsy at UCLH and then a week later a phone call confirmed the worst. 'It was during lockdown so everything was a bit dodgy,' said Jay. 'I got told over the phone that Teddie had cancer and was given a treatment plan.' During his treatment Teddie refused to stop, and passed his GCSE Maths and English - the latter to an A* standard - while undergoing chemotherapy. And even passed his driving test. But while his memory lives on, Jay is still as heartbroken now as she was a year ago. 'You can't prepare yourself' 'You know it's coming but you can't prepare yourself,' she said of her son's death. 'I can't put it into words, it's coming up to a year but I'm still devastated every day. Me and his dad, brother and sister, and his nan. There's not a day that goes by that we don't cry.' She added, of her children: 'They'll always be my babies.' Taking up the baton left by Teddie, his mum is now campaigning herself to raise awareness about the wait times families must endure to receive grief counselling. After filling out a form she was told by the hospice the waiting list is nine to 12 months. Jay said: 'Last week I had an email from Farleigh saying they've got this session thing, it's not one to one counselling, there's other people there. 'There's 10 spaces and to get back to them if I wanted a place. 'I saw the email, 40 minutes later, by the time I got back they'd emailed me saying all the spaces had gone.' Jay said she had another email from the hospice asking since it was a 'considerable amount of time since I put my application in for counselling, have my circumstances changed?' 'They did get an email back saying 'my circumstances haven't changed, unfortunately my son hasn't risen from the dead, I'm still grieving and still in need of support'. She continued: 'It's not going to change. I just can't get my head round that it can take this long to sort… any grief is bad, but when you've lost your child, I can't explain it. It's unexplainable.' Jay went on to say: 'I said to my doctor, 'they're lucky I'm not suicidal'. If he was my only child maybe I would be suicidal but I have two other children who I need to look after. It's not going to change. I just can't get my head round that it can take this long to sort… any grief is bad, but when you've lost your child, I can't explain it. It's unexplainable. Jay Marks 'I carry the family's grief. My daughter, her and Teddie were 10 months apart - she's got ASD, so she's on the spectrum, and Teddie was her comfort blanket. 'She struggles really badly. Then my eldest son, who's 23 now, he will just struggle silently. 'I feel like I have to carry on because I don't want them to see my grieving and think they've got to carry my grief.' She added: 'I do feel passionately that there are parents going through this and you have to wait a year. We can't go privately. 'My husband sold his company when Teddie got diagnosed because we were backwards and forwards to UCLH. He's a caretaker now and I'm a support assistant in a school.' Jay said: 'I've lost people but nothing compares to losing your child, especially when you've watched your child go through what he did for two and a half years. 'You get a lot of flashbacks, I'm sure it's PTSD. You're replaying stuff continuously. It's traumatising when you hear your baby, though he was 18, in the night screaming in agony. 'It's traumatising to remember the running from the hospital, the taking him to Germany when he was in agony.' She described Teddie as 'my best mate', adding: 'I know parents say that about their kids but he was like my right arm. 'He was always with me, we were always together. We had the same sense of humour. We were always laughing. 'No one could get you in tears of laughter like Teddie could. For me, I'm still completely lost.' Michelle Kabia, Interim Chief Executive at Farleigh Hospice, said: 'Ensuring that the families of our patients receive the best quality support throughout their loved ones illness and afterwards is our absolute priority. "Our bereavement support services are offered free of charge to anyone within mid Essex. "As a result they are in incredibly high demand, as reflected in our current waiting lists, which we are actively working to reduce. 'We regularly stay in touch with people on the waiting list to check how they are, offer interim bereavement support options while they wait for one to one counselling, and check whether their circumstances have changed, as people may have accessed alternative support or moved out of the area. "We welcome all feedback and are continually looking to improve our services. We would be very happy to have a further conversation with the family.' The Sun has also approached University College Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for comment Click here to see Jay's grief counselling petition. Do you have a similar story? Email
Daily Mirror
07-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
'Even my kids stopped saying "I'm bored" on this school trip for families'
Whether you have a family that likes to be on-the-go, or you're a parent who'd love to be on your child's school trip – or even if you struggle to think of ways to tire the kids out in the holidays – this grand old building could be just right for you, Usually a destination for residential school trips, former manor house JCA Condover Hall in the Shropshire countryside also opens its doors in school holidays for active families to stay for two, three or four nights, leaving screens behind and taking part in loads of activities. My husband Rob and I have three high-energy children and enjoy a challenge ourselves, so when I heard about JCA's Family Adventure holidays, I was keen to give them a go. Our children range from five to 12 years old so finding something to keep all entertained can be difficult. But when I discovered Condover Hall offers activities ranging from abseiling to axe throwing (over eights only), via a Mission Impossible-style laser assault course, I knew the usual holiday choruses of 'I'm bored!' would be unlikely to follow us here. Once we had settled into our rooms and had lunch, we were introduced to instructor Skip, who looked after us on all the activities throughout our stay. He was knowledgeable, patient and encouraging, and by the second day the kids were treating him as part of the family. Accommodation is in modern blocks close to the old manor house, which were fairly no frills, but clean and comfortable, with tea, coffee, toiletries and towels provided. Our block had a lounge with sofas and a TV downstairs, but we didn't use it much as we were far too busy with all the activities. Meals are served canteen style, with a good amount of choice, plenty of salad and fruit with every meal, and all dietary requirements catered for. There is an indoor heated pool that families can book to use for an hour in the evenings, and also a bar with plenty of games to keep the kids happy while the grown-ups enjoy a relaxing drink once the activities are complete. The staff were all really friendly and because they are used to welcoming school groups, they were all brilliant with the children. Manager Fi made sure we had everything we needed and answered all our questions, including lots about the history of Condover Hall. The manor house was built in 1598 for Thomas Owen, a judge and politician in the reign of Elizabeth I. He died before it was completed and it passed to his son Roger, whose initials can be seen on the grand fireplace in what is now the reception area. In the nearby churchyard are tombstones and commemorative sculptures for some of Thomas and Roger's descendants, telling the stories of their lives and deaths. During the mid-20th century, the property was bought by the Royal National Institute of Blind People for use as a residential school and has also been used as a school for autistic children. JCA bought the property in 2010 and, after a huge refurbishment, it has been welcoming groups on activity holidays since 2011. And our family verdict? When asked what her favourite activity was, Hazel, five, said: 'I enjoyed swimming the most. And the zip wire. And Grid of Stones because everyone was a team. And the food, especially the lasagne. I learned that the safety rope can hold an elephant, so it can definitely hold me.' Sam, 10, said: 'My favourite activity was the aerial trek. I went round four times. The climbing was good too. And the food was yummy.' Libby, 12, added: 'My favourite activity was the aerial trek as me and Daddy were having a competition over who could go round fastest. The staff were all really nice and made sure everyone was included and having fun.' And Rob, 43, was at least as enthusiastic as the kids – particularly about the axe throwing – and is already angling to go back. My favourite thing was spending so much time with the family and seeing the kids challenge themselves and come away beaming, eyes sparkling as they achieved more than they thought they could. I would thoroughly recommend JCA Condover Hall to any family that likes their holidays adventurous and packed with fun.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
‘We've Got a F--king Spy in This Place': Inside America's Greatest Espionage Mystery
On the night of March 10, 1986, Michael Sellers parked his car on a dark Moscow street and peeled off his disguise: a Mission Impossible-style prosthetic mask that made him look like a Black colleague who worked at the embassy. He'd used it to slip past the guards watching the diplomatic compound where he lived. But he'd still have to be careful. On paper, Sellers was an ordinary American diplomat, but the KGB had identified him as a CIA officer and kept him under heavy surveillance. Sellers quickly changed into another disguise — a typical Soviet overcoat, glasses and a fur-lined Russian chapka hat with built-in hair extensions — before ditching the car to blend into the crowd. He took a circuitous route to shake anyone who might be following him. His mission was to meet a valuable asset the agency had cultivated inside the KGB. About a year earlier, in June of 1985, the Soviets had begun foiling dozens of sensitive American operations and rounding up agents working for the CIA and FBI. A few were lucky enough to escape. Some were sent to the gulag. Most got a 9mm bullet to the back of the head. The bloodbath was part of what the press dubbed the 'Year of the Spy,' but the losses continued long after 1985. 'There was a gut-wrenching sense of free fall,' Sellers writes in his forthcoming book, Year of the Spy, which chronicles the agency's turbulent Cold War battle with the KGB in Moscow. 'We didn't know what had caused this disaster.' Sellers hoped his agent, whom the agency codenamed 'COWL,' might have information about how the Soviets were catching so many of their assets. But if the KGB unmasked COWL, he would be the next to die. COWL had been acting erratically and missed a scheduled meeting four months prior. His behavior led many in the CIA to worry he'd already been exposed, but the agency was desperate for information; it felt like the risk was worth it. Two hours after he'd left the embassy, Sellers changed into a third disguise — a wig and mustache — then arrived at the pre-arranged meeting site: the parking entrance to an apartment building in Moscow's tree-lined Lenin Hills district. But when he spotted COWL, Sellers sensed something was wrong. The once strong and confident man had lost weight and was cowering like a beaten dog. COWL had clearly been arrested and tortured. Sellers knew exactly what was coming next: a half-dozen vehicles descended. A group of KGB officers burst out of them, grabbed Sellers, threw him into a van and sped off towards Lubyanka, the KGB's neo-baroque headquarters. After hours of interrogation, the Russians released Sellers and expelled him from the Soviet Union. COWL fared far worse — he was tried and executed. To this day, his fate makes Sellers wonder: How did the KGB unravel the agency's network of spies in Moscow? The intense, decades-long investigation to answer that question would ultimately involve counterintelligence experts at both the FBI and the CIA. Among them: Paul Redmond, an abrasive, literary savant with a penchant for bowties and F-bombs, who became the head of CIA counterintelligence in the mid-1990s. His FBI counterpart was David Szady — the 'Z-man,' as his peers called him — a charismatic, driven former chemistry teacher who, like Walter White in reverse, traded in his beakers and Bunsen burners for the rush of chasing spies at the bureau. He eventually became the FBI's head of counterintelligence after 9/11. Between 1985 and 2006, both Redmond and Szady played key roles in mole hunts that uncovered three high-profile Soviet spies responsible for the deaths of more than a dozen American assets. These investigations were among the most extensive and grueling in U.S. history. Hundreds of U.S. intelligence officials came under suspicion — a top spy hunter would become one of the prime suspects — disrupting or destroying some of their careers. 'These are painful investigations,' Szady said. 'They take a long time. But you have to run them to the end.' In a series of exclusive interviews with POLITICO Magazine, Szady and Redmond — along with dozens of other former intelligence officials — revealed new details about their work together and the controversies that developed between their agencies as the FBI tried to solve what is arguably America's greatest espionage mystery. Was there was yet another Soviet mole — a so-called 'Fourth Man' — at the highest levels of American intelligence? That crucial search may now be imperiled by Kash Patel, the MAGA diehard and director of the FBI, who has expressed his desire to reorient his bureau away from intelligence work. In September 2024, Patel appeared on The Shawn Ryan Show and lambasted the FBI and its leaders, claiming they're part of a Deep State conspiracy against Trump, going back to the Russia investigation that dogged his 2016 campaign and his first years in office. 'The biggest problem the FBI has had has come out of its intel shops,' he said. 'I'd break that component out of it. I'd take the … employees … and send them across America to chase down criminals.' The FBI says it's committed to catching spies. But if Patel follows through on this idea, he might weaken or even eviscerate the Bureau's counterintelligence capabilities, making it easier for America's enemies — China, Russia, Iran and others — to infiltrate the U.S. government and private companies. 'We're going to catch fewer spies and only know about the spies when it's too late,' Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, said. 'That's really dangerous.' The prospect that the hunt for the 'Fourth Man' — and other longstanding, deadly, spy vs. spy cases — might be ignored, is an affront to those who suffered and died from the betrayal, according to former counterintelligence officials. 'If there's someone out there who was the 'Fourth Man,'' Sellers said, 'there's blood on their hands.' For the Americans, the devastating compromises didn't end with COWL. As 1986 dragged on, the KGB nabbed four more CIA assets. In October, the FBI learned that two agents they'd cultivated inside the Soviet embassy in Washington were dead. Months earlier, the KGB had lured both men back to Moscow to face trial and execution. At CIA headquarters in Langley, Redmond, then the head of counterintelligence for Soviet and Eastern European operations, was deeply involved in the agency's effort to find out what had happened. At first, they blamed Edward Lee Howard, a disgruntled former CIA officer who had been fired in 1983 for drug use, deception and theft. A KGB defector fingered Howard as a mole in August of 1985, but he fled to Moscow before the FBI could arrest him. The CIA quickly realized, however, that Howard couldn't explain all their burned ops and dead assets. The agency was still losing people in Moscow, most of whom Howard had no knowledge of. To complicate matters, the KGB had been sending a stream of disinformation and double agents — fake defectors, fake scientists, even a fake priest — to try to dupe the CIA. 'Nothing in this business,' Redmond recalled, 'is what it fucking seems.' As the Soviets were rounding up and killing U.S. assets in 1985, some of Redmond's colleagues had a thought: What if a mole wasn't the culprit? What if, for instance, their communications were compromised and that's how the KGB had done so much damage so quickly? To test the theory, Milt Bearden, the CIA deputy division chief, along with Redmond and a small group of other high-level CIA officials, launched a clever cloak-and-dagger operation to find out. Bearden flew to Kenya, Redmond said, while another officer went to the CIA's Moscow Station. Both sent cables falsely claiming the agency had recruited loyal KGB officers in Nairobi and Bangkok. If Moscow recalled their officers in either city, the CIA would know the Russians were listening. The KGB took no action against the officers mentioned in the cables, leading Redmond and his colleagues to conclude the Russians hadn't tapped into their communications. A few months later, however, as the KGB continued to foil CIA operations, the Soviets launched another, more elaborate, deception of their own. Beginning in March of 1986, around the time of Sellers' arrest, they sent the agency a series of letters from a fake volunteer calling himself 'Mister X.' These letters cast aspersions on a CIA officer, but perhaps most tellingly, they also warned that the KGB had penetrated the agency's encrypted communications. This was a cunning lie, as the CIA already knew from their false cable operation. And for Redmond, the elaborate nature of the Mr. X deception was a clue. 'They were trying to protect something really big in the CIA,' he told POLITICO Magazine. 'That helped me get attention from upstairs that we've got a fucking spy in this place.' Soon, Congress started paying attention as well. Paul Joyal, director of security for the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence at the time, recalls that the committee was 'horrified by the [CIA's] stable of Soviet assets wiped out in such a short period of time.' But initially, CIA leadership was reluctant to admit they might have more traitors in their ranks. Endless Soviet mole hunts had paralyzed the agency during the 1960s and 1970s. Senior CIA officials had seen the damage those investigations had done to operations as well as the lives and reputations of those who'd fallen under suspicion. Despite the lack of enthusiasm, Redmond and a small team of trusted CIA colleagues launched a series of investigations, some in conjunction with the FBI. These mole hunts continued for more than three years as Redmond moved into a management position in the CIA's Soviet and Eastern European division. But when he returned to spy hunting as the deputy chief of the agency's newly created counterintelligence center in 1991, he realized they had made little to no progress. Redmond quickly pushed for a new mole hunt and added two FBI investigators to the team. Together, they built momentum and finally homed in on a second spy, CIA officer Aldrich Ames, who was flaunting his wealth. He drove a Jaguar and paid cash for an upscale house in Arlington, none of which he was seemingly able to afford. They turned the case over to an FBI squad led by Special Agent Les Wiser, who found the evidence they needed to prosecute Ames. Investigators pinned at least 10 dead assets on Ames' treachery. Rudy Guerin, one of the FBI agents who debriefed the spy, described him as a 'suit and tie serial killer.' In 1994, a judge sentenced Ames to life in fact that it took the agency nearly a decade to nail Ames ignited outrage on the Hill. In response, CIA director James Woolsey reprimanded 11 top CIA officials. Yet he praised Redmond for keeping the investigation going, calling him the '[lone] voice crying out in the wilderness,' The New York Times reported. Woolsey soon promoted Redmond to be the associate director of operations for counterintelligence. But it didn't take long for the FBI and the CIA to realize Ames didn't account for all the blown agents and operations. Another spy was still out there, still passing secrets to the Russians and still putting lives at risk. Among the dozens of compromises the FBI felt Ames couldn't explain was the case of Oleg Gordievsky. He was the KGB's head of London spy operations, while living a double life as a British agent in 1985. Shortly after the CIA learned that Gordievsky was secretly working for the U.K., the KGB recalled him to Moscow, a clear sign they suspected him of being a traitor. Realizing that someone uncovered his espionage, Gordievsky alerted his British handlers at the MI6 spy agency, and they smuggled him out of the U.S.S.R. in the trunk of a car. During Ames' debrief, FBI interviewers determined he couldn't have compromised Gordievsky. 'We pulled all the dates for the timing and they just didn't seem to work,' said Wiser, the FBI squad leader. It couldn't have been Howard either — he was long gone by the time the CIA learned Gordievsky's identity. Wiser hopped on a flight to London to interview the KGB turncoat in person. The FBI's takeaway: another spy was out there, maybe even more than one. And so, starting in 1994, the FBI expanded its mole hunt. Dozens of FBI agents and analysts, led by supervisor Mike Rochford, worked with their counterparts in the CIA to catch the spy or spies who were still passing secrets to the Russians and getting American assets killed. Their target's codename: GRAYSUIT. The investigation started with a pool of over 200 potential suspects. By 1996, Rochford's team had whittled it to just over 10. Both FBI and CIA investigators felt rising pressure from their leadership to wrap up the investigation. Agents and analysts at the Bureau conferred with the top analysts in the CIA and they all agreed that the most likely suspect was an officer working in counterintelligence for the agency named Brian Kelley. 'They had me convinced,' remembered Szady, who became the FBI executive in charge of the CIA's analysts in its counterespionage group at Langley shortly thereafter. As the hunt dragged on, FBI investigators surveilled and interrogated Kelley and even members of his family. Kelley was suspended from the agency, as was his daughter, Erin, also a CIA officer. His oldest son Barry recalls FBI investigators telling him his father's arrest was 'imminent.' For months Kelley's children lived in dread of the day they would pick up a newspaper to read their father was 'the worst spy since Benedict Arnold,' recalls Barry. The arrest never happened. The FBI never found any hard proof Brian Kelley had betrayed his country. But it feared more people would die unless they quickly wrapped up the case. As the decade came to a close, more than 19 agents working for U.S. intelligence had been killed, captured or disappeared. Then, in 2000, Rochford and the FBI recruited an ex-KGB source who had exactly what they were looking for. He'd hand-copied GRAYSUIT's entire KGB file and even pilfered a tape-recording of the spy speaking to his Soviet handlers from a phone booth in Fairfax County decades earlier. The catch? The source was in deep debt to the Irkutsk Mafia over a caviar deal gone bad and wanted a lot of money to give up the material. The FBI compensated the source with cash and benefits valued at $7 million and orchestrated a brazen operation to smuggle the mole's top-secret KGB files out of Moscow. Those files arrived at FBI headquarters in November 2000. Most of the investigators expected they would contain proof of Kelley's treachery. The moment they heard the voice on the tape, however, they knew it was someone else. (Kelley was reinstated at the CIA in 2001, but neither the bureau nor the agency could undo the damage they had done to his life and career. He died in 2011.) At first, the actual spy's hushed speech, along with the poor recording quality, made it difficult for the bureau to identify him definitively. But FBI investigators pulled together key clues from the files that pointed unequivocally not toward Langley but someone inside their own building: Robert Hanssen, who'd run the FBI's Soviet analytical unit in the 1980s and was now a liaison to the State Department. It was a shocking, demoralizing moment for the bureau, especially after they'd been wrong about Kelley. Even worse, as the FBI prepared to gather evidence to arrest Hanssen, it realized that even he didn't account for all of the dead agents and ops gone bad going back to 1985 — including the case of Gordievsky. That and dozens of other clues pointed to someone beyond Howard, Ames and Hanssen — a 'fourth man.' The FBI realized it would have to start all over, looking for yet another spy. There was always a chance the FBI investigators were wrong — that no such mystery mole still lurked inside the highest echelons of the American government. But the mere possibility of it was a national security nightmare. In addition to threatening the lives of agents working for U.S. intelligence, such a high-level spy might also have access to military secrets, making it easier for America's adversaries to kill U.S. or allied soldiers. Perhaps the most chilling possibility, though, was that this Russian asset had recruited a network of spies capable of undermining America for generations. Outside of the FBI, and across other intelligence agencies, rumors spread about another Russian mole. Was it a man? A woman? Multiple people? Or was it all a mirage in the murky world of counterintelligence? Sporadic mentions of a mole leaked to the public. In their 2003 book, The Main Enemy, Bearden and James Risen first dubbed the alleged spy 'the Fourth Man.' 'I'm absolutely certain it was a CIA guy,' said Bearden, who was the deputy in charge of Soviet Bloc operations in 1985. 'I didn't come to that conclusion easily.' Decades later, Robert Baer, a CIA officer turned best-selling author, dove into the mystery with his 2022 book, The Fourth Man. It's about a secretive CIA unit composed of three women who began to review the agency's blown cases in 1994. The evidence led them to create a profile of a possible spy or spies. Some of the leads would later turn out to match Hanssen, the FBI turncoat, though the women were instructed to disregard suspects in the bureau. Other leads, they told Baer, appeared to match one of their own bosses — Redmond, the senior CIA officer who had hunted down Ames. But after a series of conflicts with senior management, Baer writes, their superiors cut the three women off from access to the files they needed to pursue their leads. The only copy of their work disappeared, leaving them to fear someone had tampered with the investigation. The book provoked intense backlash inside the intelligence community, in part because Baer named Redmond, who has never been charged with a crime. 'Robert Baer's book is hogwash, filled with mistakes and misinformation,' Redmond said in a written statement after its release. In an unprecedented public rebuttal, a cadre of former senior CIA officials came to Redmond's defense. They pointed out numerous alleged errors in Baer's book, disputed the conclusions and credibility of the three CIA investigators, and one even questioned whether the FBI seriously investigated anyone after Hanssen's arrest in 2001. But the FBI's commitment to the hunt should not be in dispute, according to Szady. The bureau took the possibility of a 'Fourth Man' seriously enough that it had profiled some of the CIA's high-level officers. Szady, who became the FBI's assistant director for counterintelligence in 2002, oversaw a series of probes and investigations during this period. All of them, he said, were based on credible leads and sources. 'There was never a let up,' he said. In the mid-2000s, the FBI received new intelligence reinforcing the idea that the KGB had a fourth mole in the highest ranks of the CIA. By 2005, the bureau had enough evidence to open a full, codenamed investigation into the new leads, and was trying to narrow the pool of suspects. But investigators ran into Washington politics when the director of national intelligence, John Negroponte, began considering one of their targets to head the National Counterintelligence Center. Szady had no choice but to inform Negroponte that the bureau was scrutinizing this senior intelligence official as a potential Russian spy. 'The [FBI] Director agreed he should be briefed, [but] we weren't saying anything about guilt' said Szady. 'We told him 'These are the facts' and left it up to Negroponte.' (Negroponte was unavailable for comment.) In an interview with POLITICO Magazine, Redmond — for the first time — confirmed that he was a subject of this FBI investigation and that he withdrew from the nomination so as not to taint the position. 'I passed a message through one of [Negroponte's] assistants that [he] should take me out of consideration,' Redmond said. '[I told him] I am damaged goods because there is this investigation of me.' The ordeal pitted Szady's FBI counterintelligence officials against Redmond, his former CIA counterpart — a man he liked and respected. It also exacerbated the lingering hostility from the Kelley investigation. Yet after months of aggressively chasing every possible lead, the FBI never found any hard evidence that Redmond had ever been a spy. They closed the investigation into him in 2007. 'You can't depend just on analysis,' like looking at compromised cases and source reporting, Szady said. 'I learned my lesson on that with Kelley.' Szady doesn't believe Baer should have named Redmond in his book. Until there's an indictment, he said, the bureau doesn't want the subject or the public to know there's an investigation. If something leaks, it could taint an innocent person's reputation. The timing of Negroponte's decision to consider Redmond, he added, was unfortunate. But investigating the veteran CIA officer was the only responsible thing to do, Szady maintained, based on the bureau's leads and Redmond's high-level access to sensitive operations. Even Redmond said he agrees: 'I'm not pissed that the FBI investigated me. I would've investigated me. We lost a lot of cases and not all of them can be explained.' Sellers, meanwhile, remains haunted by the mystery of the 'Fourth Man.' In the decades since his arrest in 1986, he's imagined what it was like when KGB executioners shot COWL and dozens of others like him in the basement of a Soviet prison. 'It played like an unwanted movie in my mind,' he said. While researching his book during the 2000s, a period of detente with Russia, Sellers connected with many of the KGB men who had worked against the CIA back in the '80s. He acquired thousands of pages of documents and dozens of hours of interviews. In one, a former KGB investigator hints that crucial information they used to identify COWL came from a source beyond Howard, Ames or Hanssen — seemingly evidence of a 'Fourth Man.' Yet this clue, Sellers warned, could simply be part of an ongoing deception by the Russians. 'Ninety-eight percent of what they tell you is true,' he said. 'But it's the other two percent that can get you in real trouble.' Redmond said Russian intelligence is likely still spreading disinformation about the matter. During his debrief in 1994, Ames told one of the CIA's key investigators, Jeanne Vertefeuille, that he and the KGB had planned to frame her as the spy in order to protect him. If the Russians were protecting yet another mole, a 'Fourth Man,' Redmond said, they would have a good reason to frame him, too. The CIA did not respond to a request for comment. Today, 40 years after the 'Year of the Spy,' the mystery of the 'Fourth Man' remains. 'All of the evidence, when taken as a whole picture, leaves too many compromises that can't be attributed to known spies,' Szady said. 'That's my opinion, yes, there was a 'Fourth Man.'' And the FBI and CIA won't know what damage this spy may have done to ongoing U.S. intelligence operations until they are caught and questioned. 'That's why there's no statute of limitations on espionage,' Szady added. Szady retired in 2006 but the bureau remained so concerned about another spy that two FBI special agents interviewed a former CIA officer in 2019 about the matter, according to the officer. Three years later, before Baer's book came out, officials from the bureau interviewed him as well, making the trek to his mountain home in a remote part of Colorado. The FBI investigators gave few details about what they were looking for and never mentioned anyone by name. 'What their visit definitely did,' Baer said, 'is tell me the FBI's interest in the 'Fourth Man' is ongoing.' Or it was. After several months of chaos and trepidation at the bureau, Patel has yet to publicly set a clear course for counterintelligence. The FBI appears to be moving to a regional command structure, according to The New York Times, but hasn't announced further changes to its capacity to thwart spies, other than to suspend an analyst involved in investigating Russia's 2016 election meddling. 'The FBI remains committed to counterintelligence investigations,' the bureau said in a statement to POLITICO Magazine. 'Our adversaries continue their efforts to steal sensitive and often classified U.S. government and private sector information. The FBI will continue to be aggressive in detecting and disrupting their efforts.' The Trump administration, meanwhile, continues to make friendly overtures to Moscow — reportedly halting the Pentagon's offensive cyber operations against Russia, for instance. But few intelligence officials expect the Kremlin — let alone China or Iran — to suddenly stop spying on America. 'They're going to double or triple their efforts,' said Frank Montoya Jr., a retired FBI agent who was head of counterintelligence across all federal agencies from 2012 to 2014. 'We could be leaving the door wide open.' Szady is more optimistic. He agrees with Patel that the bureau needs to change to overcome perceptions of political bias after the investigations of Trump. Yet he says weakening counterintelligence or splitting it into another agency would be a mistake. 'The bureau is still in the best position to be the lead agency to counter national security threats' alongside partners like the CIA, Szady said. As a law enforcement entity — and not a spy agency — the FBI is designed to make cases that are prosecutable in court while respecting the rights guaranteed in the Constitution. Redmond, his former colleague — and former target of the investigation — concurs. Splitting out or weakening the FBI's counterintelligence capability, he said, would be 'fucking crazy' and a detriment to the type of long and intensive investigations that are so vital. It took nine years of digging to arrest Ames and seven to get Hanssen. In the U.K., it took nearly 40 years to publicly unmask the last of the Cambridge Five, a network of spies that ravaged British intelligence at the height of the Cold War. Many of the key clues that helped cut through disinformation and deception to identify them came from Russian sources. Solving the mystery of the 'Fourth Man,' former intelligence officials say, will likely hinge on another Russian source coming forward with new information. But if Patel weakens or cripples the FBI's counterintelligence capability, he'll do the same to its ability to recruit, vet and protect such assets. '[The FBI and CIA] recruit sources all over the world,' said William Murray, a former CIA station chief and senior operations official. 'They know what the penalty is going to be if they get caught. They're going to get shot right in the back of the fucking head.'
Scottish Sun
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Tom Cruise, 62, climbs onto the nose of a plane as he joins glam stars at Mission Impossible premiere in London
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) TOM CRUISE has pulled off another daredevil move - but this time on the red carpet. The Hollywood superstar, 62, climbed onto the nose of a plane at the global premiere of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning – the eighth and final film in the series. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 11 Tom Cruise waved to the audience as he climbed on a plane on the red carpet at the Global Premiere of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning at Leicester Square Gardens Credit: AFP 11 Model Kimberley Garner stunned in a plunging blue dress Credit: Getty 11 Myleene Klass posed on the mock Mission Impossible set Credit: Getty 11 Actress Pom Klementieff stars in the movie Credit: Getty 11 Showbiz royalty Sir Rod Stewart and wife Penny Lancaster rocked up in glam attire Credit: Getty Tom stunned onlookers, striking poses atop two vintage biplanes in front of photographers and fans. Dressed to kill in an all-black suit, Cruise looked every inch the action hero as he smiled and waved from the wings. One red aircraft saw the superstar casually perched on its nose, with a mountainous backdrop making it look like a scene straight out of the blockbuster. Later, he hopped onto a yellow-and-black striped plane, again climbing right on top. READ MORE ON TOM CRUSIE CONTROL Tom Cruise to do Mission Impossible-style stunt for Olympic closing ceremony It's all in honour of his latest and possibly final outing as Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible Franchise. The film stars Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, and Esai Morales — but as always, it was Cruise stealing the spotlight before a single frame rolled. The premiere attracted a string of stars including Sir Rod Stewart and his wife Penny Lancaster, model Kimberley Garner and presenter and pop star Myleene Klass. Last night, Tom posed with his Mission Impossible co-star Hayley Atwell at a showing of the movie in Cannes. The pair, who once dated, were joined by castmates including Hannah Waddingham and Pom Klementieff. And Simon Pegg and Angela Bassett also hopped in for a selfie taken by director Christopher McQuarrie. Tom Cruise & Ana de Armas: The new Hollywood power couple heats up The action thriller is in UK cinemas from May 21. Yesterday, The Sun revealed that lead Cruise clambered onto the roof of the 82ft BMI Imax cinema — home to Britain's biggest screen — in a stunt to promote his latest film. Wrapped around the building in Waterloo, South London, was a giant advert for the movie, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, which is set for release next week. The 62-year-old Top Gun star was in the capital to receive an honorary British Film Institute Fellowship, the organisation's highest award. It was also revealed that Tom had been splashing the cash to impress his new girlfriend, 37-year-old Bond actress Ana de Armas. He spent £8,662 just taking her to Heathrow Airport at the weekend so she could catch a flight to New York. Read our review for the film here. 11 Kimberley twirled for the cameras Credit: Getty 11 Tom entertained the crowds in London tonight Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 11 He jumped up onto a second plane Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 11 Tom pictured last night with co-star Hayley Atwell on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival for the showing of The Final Reckoning Credit: Getty 11 Castmates pause for a selfie Credit: Getty
