saifer worked in moscow. >> u.s. case officers intelligence officers in moscow were strategic assets meant to meet strategic russian sources. whether it's a short meeting or whether there's other means to exchange information be it technical means or what have you. >> i think they may know about you. >> reporter: experts say the scenes depicted in popular spy shows like "the americas" with dead drops, clandestine meetings and fake identities are not that far off from real life. >> dead drops and signal sites and brush passes and clandestine meets, spies still use those because they work. but more and more we're seeing a massive transition from the old spy methods to cyber espionage. >> reporter: it's always been a dangerous game in moscow. >> the kgb owned the city, and they followed everyone everywhere. >> reporter: martha peterson was a covert cia officer in moscow in the '70s. featured in the cnn series