( CNN ) -- The Obama administration 's rush to sweep the recent Russian spy scandal off the table as quickly as possible with this swap is a bad move on several counts . It is understandable and correct that President Barack Obama values the overall U.S.-Russian relationship above the question of whether a few Russian spies spend years in jail . The `` reset '' campaign was an excellent idea ; too bad no one in our Department of State knew how to correctly spell the word in Russian when Secretary Hillary Clinton presented the `` button '' to the Russian Foreign Minister . However , there is a line between seeking a mutually beneficial relationship and delusional pandering . The history of U.S.-Russian relations shows that dealing respectfully but firmly is what works best . Most importantly , Moscow only agrees to anything that it perceives to be at least 50 percent in its self-interest , not because we 've been nice guys . The only thing releasing all of these deep-cover Russian intelligence officers within a matter of days is going to teach Prime Minister Vladimir Putin , an old KGB officer , is that Obama is a pushover -- overly focused on making sure not to offend Russia . Aside from sending the wrong political message , the quick swap also tells the leadership of the Russian government and the SVR , its intelligence service , that there is really no downside to being caught carrying out espionage in America . Any intelligence service in the world , including Russia 's , when deciding whether to carry out a particular espionage operation looks at the `` risk factor . '' What will be the blow back if this becomes known ? Running `` illegals '' -- that is , Russians posing as citizens from a third country and who have no overt connection to the Russian embassy or consulates in America -- would usually be considered a high-risk operation by Moscow because those Russian citizens do n't have diplomatic immunity if caught . It 's bad press and it 's bad for morale within the SVR if one , much less 11 , of your deep cover officers get caught and are facing decades in prison . But Obama has now just told the SVR , `` Hey , there is no penalty for spying in America . If we catch you , we 'll just let you go so as not to damage 'big picture ' relations . '' We did show Russia certain appropriate courtesies in these arrests , which would have indicated we did n't want to harm our political relationship with Russia . We waited until Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had made his visit to America . We waited until after the G20 meetings in Canada . We have n't even publicly named or expelled the Russian diplomats who were apparently observed being involved in the communications with these illegals . ( Hopefully , the Department of State has at least told the Russian ambassador that certain of his diplomats should quietly leave America . ) And speaking of morale , what message does this send to the hundreds of FBI special agents who spent thousands of hours working these cases ? According to various press accounts , the number of Russian intelligence officers in America and Western Europe has already returned to Cold War levels . Obama has now told the Russians , there is n't even a problem if we catch you . Try anything you want . Normally , when any intelligence service has a major flap as this was , it would order an immediate stand down of other operations in that country for perhaps several months while it tried to figure out what had gone wrong . By immediately sending these SVR officers back to Moscow , they will be available to assist in that investigation . Not knowing what all they were involved in -- it was certainly more than `` penetrating the local PTA '' -- I do n't necessarily advocate having kept these people in prison for decades , but a year or two in prison before offering a swap would have sent a strong message to Putin and the SVR . And if the press accounts are accurate , getting four people out of Russian jails in return for these 10 does n't seem like much of a bargain either . ( An 11th suspect detained in Cyprus remains on the loose after being released on bail . ) Obama is no doubt an intelligent fellow , but he certainly did n't get very good advice from his intelligence community or Russian experts about how to handle this spy caper . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gene Coyle .
Ex-CIA Russian expert says the quick spy swap will be seen as sign of U.S. weakness . He says it sends the message that there 's no risk for Russia to spy on the U.S. Coyle : U.S. is right to try to maintain good relations with Moscow . Comment: