Soviet Pirates go BOOM!! - U.S. Intelligence Success Declassified
Bill Safire had an article a few days back that described a clandestine operation back in the 1980's. Seems the Brits and the Germans were selling all sorts of equipment to the Russians, a lot of it to do with pipelines. The French were against this as were the Americans. The Soviets were circumventing embargoes by buying U.S. equipment off-the-shelf and sending it back home. During an official visit to France Mitterand supposedly pulled Reagan aside and told him they had an inside man in the KGB.
This agent provided information on most all of the transactions and the people involved. Instead of busting the operation wide open, it was decided to help the Soviets acquire the things they were after; computer chips, pirated pipeline operation software, that kind of stuff. They engineered the computer components to pass the Soviet's quality checks, but left inherent flaws in their designs that would fail under full load. Similarly they altered the software that the Soviets were stealing, making it so that valves and pipes would be under pressures that exceeded their design capacity, wigging out at critical moments.
They knew they'd succeeded when NORAD spotted a 3 kiloton explosion in Siberia (I think that's where it was), basically freaking out until they saw that the accompanying electro-magnetic pulse never happened (meaning it wasn't a nuke). The intelligence community scored a touchdown that could only be disclosed many years later.
Don't have any links, somebody might want to Google it....my fingers are tired~
This agent provided information on most all of the transactions and the people involved. Instead of busting the operation wide open, it was decided to help the Soviets acquire the things they were after; computer chips, pirated pipeline operation software, that kind of stuff. They engineered the computer components to pass the Soviet's quality checks, but left inherent flaws in their designs that would fail under full load. Similarly they altered the software that the Soviets were stealing, making it so that valves and pipes would be under pressures that exceeded their design capacity, wigging out at critical moments.
They knew they'd succeeded when NORAD spotted a 3 kiloton explosion in Siberia (I think that's where it was), basically freaking out until they saw that the accompanying electro-magnetic pulse never happened (meaning it wasn't a nuke). The intelligence community scored a touchdown that could only be disclosed many years later.
Don't have any links, somebody might want to Google it....my fingers are tired~
Comments
Originally posted by drewprops
They knew they'd succeeded when NORAD spotted a 3 kiloton explosion in Siberia (I think that's where it was), basically freaking out until they saw that the accompanying electro-magnetic pulse never happened (meaning it wasn't a nuke).
Sounds interesting but I don´t get this sentence.
Originally posted by Anders
Sounds interesting but I don´t get this sentence.
The gas pipeline blew with such force that one would think that it was a nuke. But the signature EM pulse was not found.
Originally posted by billybobsky
i am sure the soviets pulled similar stunts.
On who? The Cubans?
Originally posted by billybobsky
i am sure the soviets pulled similar stunts.
Yeah; afterall, it's a Windows world now, isn't it?
Sorry. Couldn't resist.
Death to the Soviet Union! Ahhh, the good old days....
Aries 1B
Originally posted by shetline
If it had to be done this way, it was awfully clever in a strategic sense, but this trick probably killed and maimed many innocent people who had nothing to do with pirating the equipment -- something to consider before gleefully gloating over the success.
Probably....
Then again, probably not.
Aries 1B
Originally posted by shetline
If it had to be done this way, it was awfully clever in a strategic sense, but this trick probably killed and maimed many innocent people who had nothing to do with pirating the equipment -- something to consider before gleefully gloating over the success.
Apparently not. The op-ed it mentions that the explosion was in a remote area and apparently no one was hurt.
Here
Farewell stayed secret because the blast in June 1982, estimated at three kilotons, took place in the Siberian wilderness, with no casualties known.
But don't stop looking for that sinister spin on anything the US touches.
Originally posted by Scott
Apparently not. The op-ed it mentions that the explosion was in a remote area and apparently no one was hurt.
Here
But don't stop looking for that sinister spin on anything the US touches.
Thank you very much. That's good enough for me.
Resume Gloating!
Gloat, gloat, gloat!
Aries 1B
Originally posted by Scott
The op-ed it mentions that the explosion was in a remote area and apparently no one was hurt.
How many other accidents were caused by faulty equipment?
Originally posted by bunge
How many other accidents were caused by faulty equipment?
I don't know but I would estimated that at least 3 to 4 billion innocent fluffy puppies and starving babies were killed by the great satan with this act.
The naked truth is that when the SU was unable to manufacture a product, whatever it was, they indeed did their best to steal/buy/get a sample somehow, reverse-engineer it and put it to mass production. Soviet PCs, audio and video players, and many other 'simple' things went the way of secret technologies. Intelligence was very busy all over the world: East to West. Industrial espionage has always been a profitable 'business'.
Originally posted by bunge
How many other accidents were caused by faulty equipment?
The Soviet Union was an OSHA nightmare. I remember an episode of "Cops" (Bad boys, bad boys; whatchagonna do when they come for you?) in Moscow near the end of the Cold War. There was some disruption/problem at a high school for machinists but what really stuck out in my mind was that many of the boys in the schools seemed to be missing one or more fingers (!).
Quality control in the USSR was terrible. The 'accident' on the pipeline probably didn't even raise eyebrows.
Aries 1B
Originally posted by costique
This is most likely only partly true. I heard the vague rumours back in 80s, but most of them proved to be the tricks of Soviet propaganda. Basically, they said you cannot trust these miserable capitalists because they do everything they can to sell you faulty stuff.
The naked truth is that when the SU was unable to manufacture a product, whatever it was, they indeed did their best to steal/buy/get a sample somehow, reverse-engineer it and put it to mass production. Soviet PCs, audio and video players, and many other 'simple' things went the way of secret technologies. Intelligence was very busy all over the world: East to West. Industrial espionage has always been a profitable 'business'.
History channel had a great episode of how the USSR reverse engineered a B-29 bomber that they got a hold of.
Read 'Atlas Shrugged' for further details
Aries 1B
This makes for a good story (if you are amused by things blowing up and the bigger the explosion the better) but I'm sure there are far more interesting stories in spying history.
edit: in fact the most interesting angle to this story, as others have pointed out, is probably the look on Microsofts's international sales team's faces. This can't go over well with their government clients.