Russians Among Us tells the stories of Russia's espionage efforts against the US—not from the end of the Cold War as most of us suspect but from the Bolshevik revolution to the present. They were not just background characters in history, either. They helped eliminate Trotsky with an ice ax (points for memorability, if not for subtlety). They warned Stalin about Hitler’s impending attack (he ignored them). They handed Stalin intelligence about the H-bomb before Truman knew the details (a genuine intelligence coup). Despite periods of diplomatic warming, Putin has never abandoned his illegals. He ordered the program revitalized in 2004, three years before his Munich speech signaled the return of Cold War tensions. While America was busy declaring the “end of history,” Russia was quietly training a new generation of agents to live among us. Join this SDG for a lively discussion of the illegals program as well as consideration of the essential question: Were the illegals worth the considerable investment Russia poured into them?