two elementary school-aged children who quite possibly could be left behind in this if their parents end up in prison, and there has to be some sort of an amazing mindset to have children, to build such a life and discard it, because your operational profile is to be a spy and recruit spies. >> reporter: eric o'neal is a former fbi operative who helped to take down russia's operative mole robert hanson. he says it is unusual to have this many suburban families. the spy craft, some of it say it is the stuff of novels, like invisible ink and traditional methods of exchanging information and money, and dead drops, and brush passes. the brush pass happens when you pass by this blackberry like eric o'neal and i will do, and what is the object here,er aric? >> the objective is to exchange