The other funny element of this is a different neighbor somehow got wind of the FBI investigation a couple of weeks ago and posted on a town forum that the feds were investigating and staking out the house.
How the heck did he figure that out? OPSEC down?
Apparently, they started canvassing the neighbors for general information about any suspicious activity on the street, they had the place staked out 24/7 from down the street, and they had unmarked vehicles doing drive-bys all the time. The person put two and two together and thus posted that something was about to go down. Not sure how they got more details or what exactly they posted, but my wife saw it when it showed up on the town forum and laughed it off. Another question would be how the feds missed that someone had posted about it, and how they didn't get the post taken down. The only thing I can think of is the feds played their trump card a while ago and the media didn't get wind of it until yesterday. That would make the most sense.
Huh. A couple of suits approached me in front of my house a few years ago and asked me if I knew the guy across the street from me. I told them not really and we had a short conversation about how nobody knows their neighbors anymore. I didn’t really know the guy much, but I also wasn’t diming him out to some suits that didn’t identify themselves.
Now I’m wondering if I didn’t enable Russian spies or something.
I always wondered when the authorities go door-to-door asking about someone that lives nearby what the point was. "Now that you mention it, I DO remember my next-door neighbor driving a beat-up van, hearing lots of women screaming, looking out the window and seeing girls getting dragged out of the van and into the basement by their hair. Come to think of it, I can't say I ever remember seeing any of them leave. Thought I saw some bloody footprints a few times, but that was probably nothing."
I get that they have to ask around and sometimes they might get some leads or added info, but I doubt people have signs on their lawn saying: "Discounted pharmaceutical drugs sold here," or in this case, the residents hanging a Russian flag outside their door or having people over for a slide show of their trip to the Kremlin.
If I did have some interaction with these folks, I don't see any scenario or conversation where I would say, "So Alexey, you seem to get a lot of deliveries, what on earth are you getting sent to you constantly?" Where I live, delivery drivers constantly leave packages meant for my neighbors, and I just walk them over. They order stuff all the time, never asked them what they get, never even dawned on me to ask, and more importantly, I don't really care. And they never offered up what they ordered either. I guess now I should probably ask them if they are building any explosive devices in their garage.
