Cold War Espionage - The Walker Spy Ring (1989) [video=youtube;hccc-t-ZumQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hccc-t-ZumQ[/video] Anyone interested in this will find FX Network's top rated show, The Americans, to be a fascinating dramatized look into this clandestine war between the USA and the USSR in the 1980's.
I like The Americans, but it is not dramatized, it is pure fiction. Almost nothing about it is real, other then throwing in a few real life cases and trying to tie it to the spies in the show to give it a sense of context. The real operation that was the inspiration of the show was the "Illegals Program", a program from 2001-2010 run by the Russian SVR (formerly KGB First Directorate). The spies involved were from at least 2 countries (Russia and Peru), and all operated as emigrants (not as fluent accent-less US natives like the show). And while they did try to make "friends" inside of government circles (primarily by trying to infiltrate such organizations as the Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign, the World Future Society), and by trying to become journalists and professors at colleges. In the end, it was a very clumsy attempt by the SVR, did nothing of importance, and were thrown out of the country. Many who knew them were puzzled at who they thought they were fooling. A fake birth certificate from Pennsylvania, but a thick accent and actions of a recent immigrant from Russia. They were only smart in which the groups they tried to infiltrate were generally "liberal", and that they hoped would eventually give them information in things like arms reduction treaties and negotiations.
April 3, 2013 3:00 p.m. Ask a Cold War Expert: How Realistic Is The Americans? By Gwynne Watkins THE AMERICANS -- Safe House -- Episode 9 (Airs Wednesday, April 3, 10:00 pm e/p) -- Pictured: (L-R) Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings, Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings. Photo: Craig Blankenhorn/FX Most TV spy shows don't exactly strive for realism, which is one thing that makes The Americans so intriguing. The FX drama, about undercover KGB agents masquerading as American suburbanites, was directly inspired by the Russian spy ring bust of 2010. But instead of crafting a present-day thriller, creators Joe Weisberg (a former CIA operative) and Joel Fields chose to set their show in 1981, placing agents Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell) in a minefield of Cold War tensions with nary a cell phone in sight. Unlike, say, Homeland, the show's events feel like they could actually happen in our universe. But did they? To find out how closely Phillip and Elizabeth resemble actual KGB, we spoke with Dr. John Prados, a historian of intelligence and a senior fellow of the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C. http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/fact-checking-the-americans-with-a-spy-expert.html We won't quibble over the use of the word, "dramatized." PK
The squadron I was with in the military had to destroy and dispose of a lot of encryption gear because of those (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)s!!! It cost a lot of money to modify military equipment to new standards after it was discovered they sold the info to the old stuff. We went through a lot of training on protecting military information following those events and discoveries, and many of those safeguards have been enhanced to be even stronger today. I will have to check out the show and see if I like it.
Yea, I remember the Walker case very well. I still think he should have been charged with the torture and imprisonment of 82 sailors and the death of one of them for the USS Pueblo incident. The number of people killed by his turning over such critical information to the Soviets is impossible to determine. And even more amazing is that he was able to get others (both who he served with as well as family members) to assist him in this.
