APPARENTLY, THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS SECURITY ANYMORE: Red flags in NAVSEA case: Experts cite espionage patterns in engineer’s acts.

The case of the Navy engineer’s alleged double life seems as though it was ripped from the pages of a spy novel.

An Iranian-American engineer, naturalized in 1985, gets a job with the Navy and holds a secret clearance. All the while he’s allegedly maintaining a sophisticated web of intermingled identities to shuffle money from foreign bank accounts, hold addresses in at least four states and lie about hisIranian passport. And elements of that scheme evaded detection for 30 years.

James Robert Baker is alleged to have lied to the Navy about his continuing ties to Iran during his entire career, which started in 1985 at the Naval Surface Warfare Center and was suspended last summer when U.S. Marshalls raided his small Springfield, Va., home. He was indicted on fraud charges in early February.

Security experts said they were troubled by authorities’ repeated failure to thoroughly investigate Baker, especially after red flags like his return to Iran only days after Navy officials told him to prove that he had turned it in. Facts about what motivated Baker’s alleged three-decade ruse remain unclear, but several experts who reviewed the case said it bore hallmarks of espionage.

One big difference between this story and a spy novel: In spy novels, people are generally competent.

UPDATE: From the comments: “When the FBI was called for a comment on this article, a recorded message said that no one was available since all agents were out of the office surveilling and photographing attendees at a Tea Party rally…”