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Back in the early '90s, Russia's President Boris Yeltsin cut the number of U.S.-based spies in a show of goodwill. The U.S. cut its Russian operations too, all but closing down its Moscow shop, according to retired CIA officers. But as U.S.-Russian relations cooled in the mid-'90s over NATO expansion, U.S. intervention in the Balkans and Russia's brutal war in Chechnya, both sides gradually reverted to their old ways. By the time current President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer himself, settled into office early last year, the number of Russian spies...
...this has led to an abrupt reversal of the cutbacks of the early '90s, when buyouts and attrition from crumbling morale brought down staffing at the CIA more than 20%. But since 1996, there has been a concerted recruitment effort aimed at boosting numbers. The CIA's clandestine branch, the Directorate of Operations, is now believed to have more than 5,000 employees...
...fault? There's plenty of blame to go around. Start with Washington. Even though tens of thousands of working stiffs have seen their nest eggs decimated, no one is stepping up to fix the one-stock scourge. In the mid '90s, Senator Barbara Boxer of California championed a bill to limit employer stock to 10% of plan assets. But companies opposed it. Boxer won a watered-down version with no teeth. She has moved on to other issues, and no one else has taken up the cause...
...chosen alternative is Big Apple, produced by David Milch, creator of that other seminal '90s drama, NYPD Blue. The premise: the FBI's New York City office is investigating the Russian mob (and perhaps persons much higher) when it runs into a snag--dogged N.Y.P.D. cop Mike Mooney (Ed O'Neill, who almost makes you forget he's Al Bundy and the 1-800-COLLECT guy). When Mooney, looking into a stripper's murder, steps on the FBI's case, the bureau folds him and his partner into its team. But the two cops find themselves steered wrong...
...this need abated, the titanium industry promoted its other uses. Up to four times as strong as steel and half the weight, titanium is ideal for tennis rackets and skis. More cost-efficient ways to cut the metal were developed after golfers clamored for titanium clubs in the mid-'90s, and now you can buy titanium binoculars, phones and strollers. The metal encases the new IBM ThinkPad X Series and the Macintosh PowerBook G4, which besides making both look sleek is thought to protect against data loss, since titanium is almost nonmagnetic. Alas, Gehry may have moved on. Asked...