Recent reports call out the silent presence of a Russian Akula class submarine in the Gulf of Mexico as a failure of American national defenses. The matter naturally adds fuel to the running Internet memes that Vladimir Putin is among the most bad-ass of all Russians. In reality, the activity is nothing new per se, the Russians and Americans have parked submarines near each others coasts or flown sorties across each others land masses for decades. The proximity of this particular Akula class submarine and the duration for which it went undetected sets it apart from the others. American officials commented, “The Akula was built for one reason and one reason only: To kill U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarines and their crews. It’s a very stealthy boat so it can sneak around and avoid detection and hope to get past any protective screen a boomer might have in place.”