Spy operations still cost a ridiculously large amount of money to conduct.
Consider this: Though the decease in the cost of spies was appreciated, to conduct an actual operation will cost (on average) about 3x the amount for a full two operations per day.
Decreasing these operations by a factor of 10 would solve the problem of excessive costs while encouraging Spy Ops and broadening the field for gameplay strategy, in my opinion.
Current Ex.:
CIA cost = $14,500
2 Spies = $100,000
2 Spy Ops ≈ $225,000
TOTAL = $339,500
Offered change:
CIA cost = $14,500
2 Spies = $100,000
2 Spy Ops ≈ $22,500
TOTAL = $137,000
One last offering: It might be nice to increase the maximum number of spy ops allowed by a nation in one 24 hour period to three, not two.
Keep the limit of two attacks on a nation though. No need to bully people too badly. Players will still have to pay for the operations so if they can afford three ops, great. Let the cash be the limit this early in the game, but as the round progresses, that three times in a day limit will be beneficial to strategy and fairness.