1 00:00:06,872 --> 00:00:09,546 One of the CIA's greatest spies, 2 00:00:09,608 --> 00:00:11,417 Dmitri Polyakov, 3 00:00:11,477 --> 00:00:13,150 is caught by the KGB 4 00:00:13,212 --> 00:00:16,557 and strip searched. 5 00:00:16,615 --> 00:00:19,027 His head is held in an arm-lock 6 00:00:19,085 --> 00:00:22,862 to prevent him taking poison. 7 00:00:22,922 --> 00:00:24,868 [man speaking German] 8 00:00:24,924 --> 00:00:26,870 INTERPRETER: The invisible front, 9 00:00:26,926 --> 00:00:29,634 that's what it was in the Cold War, 10 00:00:29,695 --> 00:00:33,643 and for us it was war. 11 00:00:33,699 --> 00:00:36,475 The soldiers may have been on alert, 12 00:00:36,535 --> 00:00:39,982 but for us and the others who went out into the cold, 13 00:00:40,039 --> 00:00:42,918 it was actual war. 14 00:00:46,512 --> 00:00:51,723 15 00:01:26,519 --> 00:01:30,661 NARRATION: Dawn on the 16th of July, 1945. 16 00:01:30,723 --> 00:01:32,999 Allied scientists at Los Alamos leave 17 00:01:33,058 --> 00:01:35,299 for the New Mexico desert, 18 00:01:35,361 --> 00:01:40,276 to watch the test of the first atomic bomb. 19 00:01:40,332 --> 00:01:42,642 They have been working for years 20 00:01:42,701 --> 00:01:47,207 under a blanket of total secrecy. 21 00:01:47,273 --> 00:01:50,152 Ted Hall, at 19, 22 00:01:50,209 --> 00:01:53,019 was the youngest scientist on the project. 23 00:01:53,078 --> 00:01:55,058 HALL: I was there. 24 00:01:55,114 --> 00:01:58,425 Or at least I was there in a truck or lorry 25 00:01:58,484 --> 00:02:00,486 some distance away. 26 00:02:00,553 --> 00:02:02,760 It was considered to be a safe distance away. 27 00:02:02,822 --> 00:02:04,768 I can't remember if there was 28 00:02:04,824 --> 00:02:06,770 any signal circulated 29 00:02:06,826 --> 00:02:08,772 that the test was about to be made. 30 00:02:08,828 --> 00:02:11,672 But anyway, the damn thing went off, 31 00:02:11,730 --> 00:02:15,041 and it was a rather awesome sight. 32 00:02:20,472 --> 00:02:22,418 NARRATION: For Ted Hall, 33 00:02:22,474 --> 00:02:26,012 the Cold War had begun the year before. 34 00:02:26,078 --> 00:02:28,024 I decided to give atomic secrets 35 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:29,855 to the Russians 36 00:02:29,915 --> 00:02:32,828 because it seemed to me that it was important 37 00:02:32,885 --> 00:02:35,058 that there should be no monopoly, 38 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,066 which would turn one nation into a menace 39 00:02:37,122 --> 00:02:39,659 and turn it loose on the world 40 00:02:39,725 --> 00:02:43,195 as Nazi Germany developed. 41 00:02:43,262 --> 00:02:45,173 There seemed to be only one answer 42 00:02:45,231 --> 00:02:47,973 to what one should do. 43 00:02:48,033 --> 00:02:51,708 The right thing to do was to act 44 00:02:51,770 --> 00:02:55,513 to break the American monopoly. 45 00:02:55,574 --> 00:03:00,023 NARRATION: Others thought the same way. 46 00:03:00,079 --> 00:03:03,026 The KGB had several sources inside Los Alamos, 47 00:03:03,082 --> 00:03:05,255 unknown to one another. 48 00:03:05,317 --> 00:03:07,923 The scientist Klaus Fuchs and Ted Hall 49 00:03:07,987 --> 00:03:09,933 both passed on details 50 00:03:09,989 --> 00:03:12,902 of how to detonate nuclear weapons by implosion -- 51 00:03:12,958 --> 00:03:15,564 a principle so new to Soviet science 52 00:03:15,628 --> 00:03:19,132 that there was no equivalent word in Russian. 53 00:03:22,668 --> 00:03:24,341 In 1949, 54 00:03:24,403 --> 00:03:27,213 the Soviets exploded their first atom bomb. 55 00:03:27,273 --> 00:03:29,219 Triggered by implosion, 56 00:03:29,275 --> 00:03:31,255 it copied key elements of the American bomb 57 00:03:31,310 --> 00:03:33,916 that destroyed Nagasaki. 58 00:03:33,979 --> 00:03:36,391 The atom spies had saved the Soviet Union 59 00:03:36,448 --> 00:03:39,918 perhaps two years of research. 60 00:03:39,985 --> 00:03:42,693 Ted Hall was questioned by the FBI 61 00:03:42,755 --> 00:03:44,962 in March, 1951, 62 00:03:45,024 --> 00:03:48,096 but not charged, for lack of evidence. 63 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:50,333 A month later, 64 00:03:50,396 --> 00:03:54,105 KGB agents Julius and Ethel Rosenberg 65 00:03:54,166 --> 00:03:55,770 were sentenced to death. 66 00:03:55,834 --> 00:03:58,747 Amid the anti-Soviet fervor of the time, 67 00:03:58,804 --> 00:04:01,375 they became the only spies ever executed 68 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:03,613 in peacetime America. 69 00:04:03,676 --> 00:04:05,883 HALL: It was gruesome. 70 00:04:05,945 --> 00:04:08,585 And certainly brought home the fact 71 00:04:08,647 --> 00:04:12,060 that there were flames consuming people, 72 00:04:12,117 --> 00:04:16,691 and that we were pretty close to being consumed. 73 00:04:16,755 --> 00:04:20,168 NARRATION: The intelligence war was lopsided. 74 00:04:20,225 --> 00:04:22,432 The KGB operated in the West, 75 00:04:22,494 --> 00:04:26,840 but the CIA confronted a closed world. 76 00:04:26,899 --> 00:04:30,904 Trains crossing the Finnish border into Russia 77 00:04:30,970 --> 00:04:34,543 were sealed by steel shutters. 78 00:04:34,606 --> 00:04:38,315 The United States faced a long famine of information. 79 00:04:40,446 --> 00:04:42,392 MAN: This lack of understanding 80 00:04:42,448 --> 00:04:45,122 of how the Soviet system functioned, 81 00:04:45,184 --> 00:04:48,688 would dog us in CIA 82 00:04:48,754 --> 00:04:51,428 throughout the entire Cold War, 83 00:04:51,490 --> 00:04:54,369 whether it was the Soviet Union itself 84 00:04:54,426 --> 00:04:56,872 or the carbon copies of the Soviet Union 85 00:04:56,929 --> 00:04:58,533 in East Germany and in Cuba, 86 00:04:58,597 --> 00:05:00,770 and you name it. 87 00:05:04,536 --> 00:05:06,607 NARRATION: Most early infiltration operations 88 00:05:06,672 --> 00:05:08,481 into the Soviet Union 89 00:05:08,540 --> 00:05:10,918 were doomed from the start. 90 00:05:13,178 --> 00:05:16,182 Western agents were betrayed by KGB spies, 91 00:05:16,248 --> 00:05:18,194 like the British intelligence officer 92 00:05:18,250 --> 00:05:20,662 Kim Philby. 93 00:05:20,719 --> 00:05:22,596 Philby came to public attention 94 00:05:22,654 --> 00:05:24,258 because of his association 95 00:05:24,323 --> 00:05:26,269 with fellow double agents Guy Burgess 96 00:05:26,325 --> 00:05:29,101 and Donald Maclean. 97 00:05:29,161 --> 00:05:31,266 NARRATOR: Philby, on the right, holds a press conference 98 00:05:31,330 --> 00:05:33,276 to deny charges that he was involved 99 00:05:33,332 --> 00:05:35,812 in the disappearance of Burgess and Maclean. 100 00:05:35,868 --> 00:05:37,472 REPORTER: Well, if there was a third man, 101 00:05:37,536 --> 00:05:39,015 were you, in fact the third man? 102 00:05:39,071 --> 00:05:40,345 No, I was not. 103 00:05:40,406 --> 00:05:42,010 Do you think there was one? 104 00:05:42,074 --> 00:05:43,985 No comment. 105 00:05:44,043 --> 00:05:45,647 Well, Mr. Philby, the disappearance 106 00:05:45,711 --> 00:05:47,657 of Burgess and Maclean is almost as much 107 00:05:47,713 --> 00:05:49,886 of a mystery today as it was when they went away 108 00:05:49,948 --> 00:05:52,394 about four years ago or more. 109 00:05:52,451 --> 00:05:54,522 Can you shed any light on it at all? 110 00:05:54,586 --> 00:05:56,623 No, I can't. 111 00:05:56,688 --> 00:05:59,362 [ Man speaking Russian ] 112 00:05:59,425 --> 00:06:02,531 INTERPRETER: Philby told us a lot about those missions. 113 00:06:05,798 --> 00:06:07,937 He told us about the numbers of people. 114 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,139 He told us about the coordinates, 115 00:06:10,202 --> 00:06:13,115 where and how the operations would be carried out, 116 00:06:13,172 --> 00:06:15,243 whether they would be parachuted in 117 00:06:15,307 --> 00:06:17,583 or sent in by sea. 118 00:06:17,643 --> 00:06:20,283 Those areas were of course surrounded 119 00:06:20,345 --> 00:06:22,291 by Soviet counterintelligence 120 00:06:22,347 --> 00:06:24,452 and they were caught. 121 00:06:26,885 --> 00:06:28,831 The normal routine was 122 00:06:28,887 --> 00:06:33,700 that the agents were interrogated. 123 00:06:33,759 --> 00:06:37,571 Some were very hostile and kept silent. 124 00:06:37,629 --> 00:06:39,575 In doing so, 125 00:06:39,631 --> 00:06:42,771 they signed their own death warrants. 126 00:06:42,835 --> 00:06:45,406 NARRATION: In 1953, 127 00:06:45,471 --> 00:06:47,883 Soviet émigré Mikhail Kudriavtsev 128 00:06:47,940 --> 00:06:49,715 parachuted into Russia 129 00:06:49,775 --> 00:06:53,621 to spy for the CIA. 130 00:06:53,679 --> 00:06:55,454 [speaking Russian ] 131 00:06:55,514 --> 00:06:57,619 After we were dropped in, we were tied up 132 00:06:57,683 --> 00:06:59,993 and taken off to the KGB. 133 00:07:02,754 --> 00:07:05,325 When the investigator from Moscow arrived -- 134 00:07:05,390 --> 00:07:08,394 and he arrived suspiciously quickly by nightfall... 135 00:07:10,596 --> 00:07:12,542 I got the impression that they had been 136 00:07:12,598 --> 00:07:14,544 waiting for us, 137 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:19,276 that somehow the KGB knew we were coming. 138 00:07:19,338 --> 00:07:22,410 NARRATION: Kudriavtsev saved his life 139 00:07:22,474 --> 00:07:24,579 by telling the KGB everything 140 00:07:24,643 --> 00:07:27,419 and agreeing to parrot a prepared statement 141 00:07:27,479 --> 00:07:30,926 at this heavily stage-managed press conference. 142 00:07:30,983 --> 00:07:32,929 [ Kudriavtsev speaking Russian ] 143 00:07:32,985 --> 00:07:35,966 INTERPRETER: This is me. 144 00:07:38,524 --> 00:07:40,663 Before we spoke at that conference, 145 00:07:40,726 --> 00:07:42,672 we were given scripts 146 00:07:42,728 --> 00:07:45,402 that we had two days to learn by heart. 147 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:51,745 NARRATION: Kudriavtsev told the world of his great error 148 00:07:51,803 --> 00:07:54,511 in ever thinking ill of the Soviet Union -- 149 00:07:54,573 --> 00:07:56,985 let alone trying to topple it. 150 00:07:57,042 --> 00:07:58,988 [speaking Russian ] 151 00:07:59,044 --> 00:08:02,287 It was hard for me to say those things -- 152 00:08:02,347 --> 00:08:04,384 very hard. 153 00:08:04,449 --> 00:08:07,521 But I had to do it, 154 00:08:07,586 --> 00:08:11,398 in order not to be taken back to the Lubyanka. 155 00:08:11,456 --> 00:08:13,800 You begin to believe 156 00:08:13,859 --> 00:08:15,702 that this was a service 157 00:08:15,761 --> 00:08:17,763 that really had enormous coverage 158 00:08:17,829 --> 00:08:19,775 and that everything we did -- 159 00:08:19,831 --> 00:08:22,209 you know, not a sparrow could fall 160 00:08:22,267 --> 00:08:25,214 without this enormous KGB finding out about it 161 00:08:25,270 --> 00:08:28,149 because in terms of our own individual experiences, 162 00:08:28,207 --> 00:08:31,017 we know -- or we knew -- 163 00:08:31,076 --> 00:08:33,215 that the operations we were involved in 164 00:08:33,278 --> 00:08:37,522 had been betrayed by people like Kim Philby. 165 00:08:37,583 --> 00:08:40,587 NARRATION: The KGB put vast arrays 166 00:08:40,652 --> 00:08:43,656 of captured CIA equipment on show. 167 00:08:43,722 --> 00:08:46,066 The West had suffered failure abroad 168 00:08:46,124 --> 00:08:48,126 and betrayal at home. 169 00:08:48,193 --> 00:08:51,766 It was back to the drawing board. 170 00:08:51,830 --> 00:08:55,437 [explosions] 171 00:08:55,500 --> 00:08:58,242 The Korean War provided further blows 172 00:08:58,303 --> 00:09:00,249 to the CIA's self-confidence, 173 00:09:00,305 --> 00:09:02,410 highlighting gaps in forecasting 174 00:09:02,474 --> 00:09:04,818 and assessment. 175 00:09:04,876 --> 00:09:07,823 MAN: The CIA was wrong about the start of the war. 176 00:09:07,879 --> 00:09:11,088 They were wrong about the Chinese involvement 177 00:09:11,149 --> 00:09:13,425 and intervention in the war. 178 00:09:13,485 --> 00:09:15,431 And they were wrong about the capabilities 179 00:09:15,487 --> 00:09:19,162 of the North Korean forces. 180 00:09:19,224 --> 00:09:20,931 I think the Korean War, 181 00:09:20,993 --> 00:09:23,405 in terms of its intelligence failures, 182 00:09:23,462 --> 00:09:26,534 left a lot of lessons for the policy community 183 00:09:26,598 --> 00:09:28,600 and the intelligence community. 184 00:09:28,667 --> 00:09:30,647 And one of those lessons was 185 00:09:30,702 --> 00:09:32,113 that indeed, we would have to get 186 00:09:32,170 --> 00:09:33,672 better technical intelligence 187 00:09:33,739 --> 00:09:35,946 and make more of a commitment 188 00:09:36,008 --> 00:09:40,081 to signals intelligence and communications intelligence. 189 00:09:40,145 --> 00:09:43,149 And with this, you get resources put 190 00:09:43,215 --> 00:09:45,126 with the National Security Agency, 191 00:09:45,183 --> 00:09:46,890 under the Pentagon, 192 00:09:46,952 --> 00:09:49,023 in order to develop a capability 193 00:09:49,087 --> 00:09:52,091 to intercept messages around the world. 194 00:09:52,157 --> 00:09:55,297 And this produced extremely vital information 195 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:58,204 to the intelligence community. 196 00:10:00,599 --> 00:10:03,671 NARRATION: Berlin was a communications nub, 197 00:10:03,735 --> 00:10:07,308 where countless Soviet Bloc phone and teleprinter lines 198 00:10:07,372 --> 00:10:11,787 cries-crossed beneath the city. 199 00:10:11,843 --> 00:10:13,789 To intercept them, 200 00:10:13,845 --> 00:10:15,916 The Americans and British drove a tunnel 201 00:10:15,981 --> 00:10:18,860 deep into the Soviet sector. 202 00:10:18,917 --> 00:10:21,363 MURPHY: The purpose of the Berlin tunnel 203 00:10:21,420 --> 00:10:24,492 was to tap the communications lines 204 00:10:24,556 --> 00:10:27,036 of the Soviet forces in East Germany, 205 00:10:27,092 --> 00:10:28,901 in Poland, 206 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:31,167 and their links with Moscow, 207 00:10:31,229 --> 00:10:33,266 in order to provide current intelligence 208 00:10:33,332 --> 00:10:35,778 on those forces, 209 00:10:35,834 --> 00:10:40,908 and also early warning. 210 00:10:40,972 --> 00:10:43,009 The lines from the taps 211 00:10:43,075 --> 00:10:46,022 would come down into the tunnel itself, 212 00:10:46,078 --> 00:10:48,217 and first they would be amplified, 213 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:50,590 because then we had to run the lines up 214 00:10:50,649 --> 00:10:52,458 into the area of the warehouse 215 00:10:52,517 --> 00:10:55,020 where we had hundreds and hundreds of recorders 216 00:10:55,087 --> 00:10:57,465 that operated day and night 217 00:10:57,522 --> 00:11:00,594 and recorded every single bit of this stuff. 218 00:11:00,659 --> 00:11:03,230 [ Overlapping conversations ] 219 00:11:03,295 --> 00:11:05,241 NARRATION: From the start, 220 00:11:05,297 --> 00:11:07,971 this operation was betrayed to the KGB 221 00:11:08,033 --> 00:11:10,377 by a source inside British intelligence -- 222 00:11:10,435 --> 00:11:12,676 George Blake. 223 00:11:12,738 --> 00:11:15,412 I was secretary at the meeting 224 00:11:15,474 --> 00:11:18,944 at which this tunnel was being planned, 225 00:11:19,010 --> 00:11:22,423 and so I was able 226 00:11:22,481 --> 00:11:24,586 to draw a very simple sketch 227 00:11:24,649 --> 00:11:28,825 which showed how the tunnel was going to run 228 00:11:28,887 --> 00:11:33,597 and what cables it was intended to attack. 229 00:11:35,660 --> 00:11:37,936 NARRATION: Blake had served as a British intelligence officer 230 00:11:37,996 --> 00:11:39,532 in Seoul. 231 00:11:39,598 --> 00:11:41,942 Captured by the North Koreans, 232 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,174 he witnessed the West's bombing of civilians. 233 00:11:45,237 --> 00:11:49,083 BLAKE: When I saw these enormous 234 00:11:49,141 --> 00:11:51,849 American flying fortresses 235 00:11:51,910 --> 00:11:54,914 flying low over what seemed to be 236 00:11:54,980 --> 00:11:57,620 defenseless Korean villages, 237 00:11:57,682 --> 00:12:02,495 I felt a feeling of shame. 238 00:12:02,554 --> 00:12:05,228 I felt very acutely 239 00:12:05,290 --> 00:12:07,236 that I was on the wrong side 240 00:12:07,292 --> 00:12:10,432 and that I should do something about it. 241 00:12:12,831 --> 00:12:14,868 Blake went home to Britain 242 00:12:14,933 --> 00:12:16,708 in the first group of POWs 243 00:12:16,768 --> 00:12:18,372 released from Korea 244 00:12:18,437 --> 00:12:21,043 after the 1953 armistice. 245 00:12:21,106 --> 00:12:23,052 How did you find the food out there, Mr. Blake? 246 00:12:23,108 --> 00:12:25,054 Well, the food was adequate but monotonous. 247 00:12:25,110 --> 00:12:27,056 It was monotonous, was it? 248 00:12:27,112 --> 00:12:28,853 - Very monotonous. - Anything special? 249 00:12:28,914 --> 00:12:30,825 I mean, any odd things they gave you to eat? 250 00:12:30,882 --> 00:12:33,362 No, just rice and turnips, mainly. 251 00:12:33,418 --> 00:12:35,329 Pretty impressive diet, isn't it? 252 00:12:35,387 --> 00:12:37,060 Three times a day. 253 00:12:37,122 --> 00:12:39,261 NARRATION: Blake slipped back into British intelligence, 254 00:12:39,324 --> 00:12:44,467 only now he was a KGB spy. 255 00:12:44,529 --> 00:12:47,100 I was given a Minox camera, 256 00:12:47,165 --> 00:12:50,942 and I carried that Minox camera with me 257 00:12:51,002 --> 00:12:53,881 whenever I went to work... 258 00:12:56,107 --> 00:12:58,485 like I carried my wallet with me. 259 00:12:58,543 --> 00:13:01,251 And the reason was that I never knew 260 00:13:01,313 --> 00:13:03,554 what important documents 261 00:13:03,615 --> 00:13:05,925 I might find on my desk 262 00:13:05,984 --> 00:13:08,988 which were worthwhile photographing. 263 00:13:09,054 --> 00:13:12,092 NARRATION: Blake's warning about the tunnel 264 00:13:12,157 --> 00:13:14,467 gave the KGB a problem. 265 00:13:14,526 --> 00:13:19,566 To move against it risked exposing him. 266 00:13:19,631 --> 00:13:21,907 [speaking Russian ] 267 00:13:21,967 --> 00:13:24,345 This was an argument not to take 268 00:13:24,402 --> 00:13:26,382 any measures against the tunnel, 269 00:13:26,438 --> 00:13:29,112 not to send any disinformation down the tunnel, 270 00:13:29,174 --> 00:13:32,485 not to show that we knew anything about the tunnel. 271 00:13:34,513 --> 00:13:36,493 This was a very important consideration 272 00:13:36,548 --> 00:13:38,585 because as long as Blake remained 273 00:13:38,650 --> 00:13:40,630 inside British intelligence, 274 00:13:40,685 --> 00:13:44,098 we knew he'd be of great value to us. 275 00:13:44,155 --> 00:13:45,862 [ Overlapping conversations ] 276 00:13:45,924 --> 00:13:47,870 NARRATION: So the Berlin tunnel operated 277 00:13:47,926 --> 00:13:49,769 courtesy of the KGB, 278 00:13:49,828 --> 00:13:54,402 and the CIA basked in a signals intelligence bonanza. 279 00:13:54,466 --> 00:13:58,039 We got military order of battle 280 00:13:58,103 --> 00:14:00,549 on the Soviet forces in Germany 281 00:14:00,605 --> 00:14:02,551 and in Poland. 282 00:14:02,607 --> 00:14:04,712 We got information 283 00:14:04,776 --> 00:14:07,450 which came from Moscow -- 284 00:14:07,512 --> 00:14:09,150 for example, on the whole reorganization 285 00:14:09,214 --> 00:14:10,716 of the Ministry of Defense. 286 00:14:10,782 --> 00:14:13,558 But the real, real kicker in all this was 287 00:14:13,618 --> 00:14:15,859 the fact that we got something 288 00:14:15,921 --> 00:14:17,764 we never expected to get -- 289 00:14:17,822 --> 00:14:23,101 we got all kinds of personality data, 290 00:14:23,161 --> 00:14:25,732 operational data on the operations 291 00:14:25,797 --> 00:14:28,607 of the Soviet military counterintelligence. 292 00:14:28,667 --> 00:14:30,806 So that we were, at that point, 293 00:14:30,869 --> 00:14:33,577 totally on top, we thought, 294 00:14:33,638 --> 00:14:35,311 of the counterintelligence picture 295 00:14:35,373 --> 00:14:38,047 in Berlin. 296 00:14:38,109 --> 00:14:41,647 NARRATION: But the KGB was just choosing its moment 297 00:14:41,713 --> 00:14:45,058 to pull the plug on the tunnel. 298 00:14:45,116 --> 00:14:46,493 They warned me beforehand 299 00:14:46,551 --> 00:14:48,428 that it was going to happen, 300 00:14:48,486 --> 00:14:50,932 so I was rather on tenterhooks, 301 00:14:50,989 --> 00:14:52,969 and you can imagine, 302 00:14:53,024 --> 00:14:55,368 what the outcome would be. 303 00:14:58,430 --> 00:15:01,343 NARRATION: Heavy rain one April night in 1956 304 00:15:01,399 --> 00:15:03,401 caused a cable failure, 305 00:15:03,468 --> 00:15:05,607 giving the KGB the excuse it needed -- 306 00:15:05,670 --> 00:15:08,810 turning the West's intelligence feat 307 00:15:08,873 --> 00:15:11,353 into a Soviet propaganda victory. 308 00:15:13,545 --> 00:15:15,456 Obviously, there -- 309 00:15:15,513 --> 00:15:18,426 I mean, there was a feeling of, you know, 310 00:15:18,483 --> 00:15:20,554 of great unhappiness. 311 00:15:20,619 --> 00:15:23,259 On the other hand, you know, 312 00:15:23,321 --> 00:15:25,130 you just sort of shrugged your shoulders 313 00:15:25,190 --> 00:15:28,399 and said, "Well, we were lucky it lasted that long." 314 00:15:28,460 --> 00:15:30,406 NARRATION: Five years later, 315 00:15:30,462 --> 00:15:32,840 George Blake was himself betrayed, 316 00:15:32,897 --> 00:15:35,571 and sentenced to 42 years in prison. 317 00:15:35,634 --> 00:15:37,910 He had given the KGB the names 318 00:15:37,969 --> 00:15:40,449 of nearly 400 agents working for the West, 319 00:15:40,505 --> 00:15:44,248 supposedly on condition that they wouldn't be harmed. 320 00:15:44,309 --> 00:15:46,346 BLAKE: During my trial, 321 00:15:46,411 --> 00:15:49,255 which was held in camera, 322 00:15:49,314 --> 00:15:52,022 so everything could be said there, 323 00:15:52,083 --> 00:15:55,292 there was no mention at all -- 324 00:15:55,353 --> 00:15:58,300 it wasn't part of the prosecutor's case -- 325 00:15:58,356 --> 00:16:02,168 that I had been responsible for the death 326 00:16:02,227 --> 00:16:06,471 of any number of agents. 327 00:16:06,531 --> 00:16:09,637 NARRATION: But armed with Blake's names, 328 00:16:09,701 --> 00:16:11,647 Moscow simply waited 329 00:16:11,703 --> 00:16:15,344 until they had sufficient additional evidence. 330 00:16:15,407 --> 00:16:18,513 MAN: George Blake had that innocent mind in a sense. 331 00:16:18,576 --> 00:16:21,580 He's still a very naive man. 332 00:16:21,646 --> 00:16:23,592 He didn't want to know 333 00:16:23,648 --> 00:16:26,891 that many people he betrayed 334 00:16:26,951 --> 00:16:29,727 were executed. 335 00:16:29,788 --> 00:16:32,064 And I think 336 00:16:32,123 --> 00:16:35,195 we even discussed this subject at one point, 337 00:16:35,260 --> 00:16:36,864 and he wouldn't believe it. 338 00:16:36,928 --> 00:16:38,373 He would say, 339 00:16:38,430 --> 00:16:40,376 "Well, I was told that this would not happen." 340 00:16:40,432 --> 00:16:43,003 It did happen. He was not told. 341 00:16:48,506 --> 00:16:50,452 As the Cold War intensified 342 00:16:50,508 --> 00:16:52,283 through the 1950s, 343 00:16:52,343 --> 00:16:54,448 pressure on the CIA increased. 344 00:16:54,512 --> 00:16:56,287 The West was desperate for detail 345 00:16:56,347 --> 00:16:58,827 about the size and strength of Soviet forces, 346 00:16:58,883 --> 00:17:00,829 glimpsed and photographed 347 00:17:00,885 --> 00:17:04,458 at Moscow air shows or May Day parades. 348 00:17:08,460 --> 00:17:10,770 It was the Soviet missile force 349 00:17:10,829 --> 00:17:13,070 which worried the CIA the most, 350 00:17:13,131 --> 00:17:15,611 and about which they knew the least. 351 00:17:17,802 --> 00:17:21,306 There was limited human intelligence 352 00:17:21,372 --> 00:17:23,648 about the missile deployments 353 00:17:23,708 --> 00:17:25,585 in the Soviet Union. 354 00:17:25,643 --> 00:17:27,919 There were some communications intelligence 355 00:17:27,979 --> 00:17:29,925 which would suggest 356 00:17:29,981 --> 00:17:31,722 that this facility or this town 357 00:17:31,783 --> 00:17:34,389 may be involved in missile activities, 358 00:17:34,452 --> 00:17:37,228 because of communications with known missile sites. 359 00:17:37,288 --> 00:17:39,199 But what we were missing 360 00:17:39,257 --> 00:17:41,328 was any firm, hard evidence 361 00:17:41,392 --> 00:17:44,202 of actual deployment of missiles. 362 00:17:44,262 --> 00:17:46,640 NARRATION: From 1956, 363 00:17:46,698 --> 00:17:50,111 American technical superiority started providing answers. 364 00:17:50,168 --> 00:17:53,115 The CIA's own reconnaissance plane, 365 00:17:53,171 --> 00:17:54,809 the U2, 366 00:17:54,873 --> 00:17:57,717 flew high over Russia to photograph Soviet bases. 367 00:17:57,776 --> 00:18:00,347 But in four years of searching, 368 00:18:00,411 --> 00:18:01,754 found no operational 369 00:18:01,813 --> 00:18:05,522 intercontinental ballistic missile launch sites. 370 00:18:08,620 --> 00:18:10,566 Then in 1960, 371 00:18:10,622 --> 00:18:12,158 the Americans successfully launched 372 00:18:12,223 --> 00:18:14,169 a satellite fitted with a camera. 373 00:18:14,225 --> 00:18:16,102 After 17 orbits, 374 00:18:16,161 --> 00:18:17,868 the film capsule was ejected, 375 00:18:17,929 --> 00:18:19,306 caught mid-air, 376 00:18:19,364 --> 00:18:21,970 and brought back to earth for analysis. 377 00:18:22,033 --> 00:18:24,980 A subsequent flight confirmed the existence 378 00:18:25,036 --> 00:18:29,678 of just one Soviet ICBM launch site. 379 00:18:29,741 --> 00:18:32,449 The rest of the puzzle's pieces were provided 380 00:18:32,510 --> 00:18:36,185 by perhaps the greatest spy of the Cold War. 381 00:18:36,247 --> 00:18:39,524 MAN: This is a photograph of Oleg Penkovsky, 382 00:18:39,584 --> 00:18:41,530 colonel in the Red Army, 383 00:18:41,586 --> 00:18:43,293 with all of his medals which he earned 384 00:18:43,354 --> 00:18:45,356 during World War ll -- 385 00:18:45,423 --> 00:18:47,232 a handsome soldier 386 00:18:47,292 --> 00:18:50,205 and a great American patriot. 387 00:18:53,097 --> 00:18:55,043 This photograph was taken in the hotel 388 00:18:55,099 --> 00:18:57,841 in London in April 1961, 389 00:18:57,902 --> 00:18:59,643 after one of our meetings, 390 00:18:59,704 --> 00:19:01,615 where Oleg Penkovsky on the left 391 00:19:01,673 --> 00:19:02,947 and me on the right 392 00:19:03,007 --> 00:19:05,283 enjoying a small glass of wine. 393 00:19:05,343 --> 00:19:07,983 NARRATION: Penkovsky provided further reassurances 394 00:19:08,046 --> 00:19:10,925 about the limitations of Soviet power. 395 00:19:10,982 --> 00:19:13,826 BULIK: While they were still a serious threat, 396 00:19:13,885 --> 00:19:15,887 no question about it, they were strong militarily, 397 00:19:15,954 --> 00:19:17,797 absolutely strong militarily, 398 00:19:17,856 --> 00:19:19,767 but they were not as strong 399 00:19:19,824 --> 00:19:22,202 as our estimators had felt, 400 00:19:22,260 --> 00:19:24,035 and he helped us bring it down 401 00:19:24,095 --> 00:19:25,472 to the level where they really were. 402 00:19:25,530 --> 00:19:27,441 They were not ten feet tall. 403 00:19:27,498 --> 00:19:29,671 They were about my size, six foot two. 404 00:19:29,734 --> 00:19:32,408 NARRATION: Penkovsky revealed 405 00:19:32,470 --> 00:19:34,643 the Soviet's lack of atomic warheads 406 00:19:34,706 --> 00:19:37,550 and their problems with guidance systems. 407 00:19:37,609 --> 00:19:39,452 He acted out of resentment 408 00:19:39,510 --> 00:19:41,786 that his career in military intelligence had stalled 409 00:19:41,846 --> 00:19:44,827 but also out of fear that Khrushchev's adventurism 410 00:19:44,883 --> 00:19:47,830 would bring disaster on the world. 411 00:19:47,886 --> 00:19:51,333 Khrushchev told Kennedy, "I want peace. 412 00:19:51,389 --> 00:19:53,869 But if you want war, that is your problem." 413 00:19:53,925 --> 00:19:56,428 But Penkovsky told the CIA 414 00:19:56,494 --> 00:19:58,599 that Khrushchev was bluffing. 415 00:19:58,663 --> 00:20:00,802 "Kennedy should be firm," he said. 416 00:20:00,865 --> 00:20:02,902 "Khrushchev is hot going to fire any rockets. 417 00:20:02,967 --> 00:20:05,971 He is not ready for any war." 418 00:20:06,037 --> 00:20:09,416 If you can get into the mind 419 00:20:09,474 --> 00:20:12,819 of the Khrushchevs of the world... 420 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,025 then you've got a weapon 421 00:20:19,083 --> 00:20:21,654 that no technical amount of information 422 00:20:21,719 --> 00:20:23,596 can give you 423 00:20:23,655 --> 00:20:26,465 and this is what Penkovsky was able to give us. 424 00:20:28,893 --> 00:20:30,668 NARRATION: Penkovsky's information 425 00:20:30,728 --> 00:20:32,401 was critical to the United States 426 00:20:32,463 --> 00:20:36,468 during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. 427 00:20:36,534 --> 00:20:40,038 U2 photographs revealed the presence on Cuba 428 00:20:40,104 --> 00:20:42,050 of Soviet missiles, 429 00:20:42,106 --> 00:20:44,518 for which Penkovsky had already handed over 430 00:20:44,575 --> 00:20:48,284 the operating manuals. 431 00:20:48,346 --> 00:20:50,724 With the world closer to nuclear conflict 432 00:20:50,782 --> 00:20:52,887 than at any time in the Cold War, 433 00:20:52,951 --> 00:20:55,397 intelligence experts were summoned to the White House 434 00:20:55,453 --> 00:20:57,990 to brief President Kennedy. 435 00:20:58,056 --> 00:21:00,263 The first question the President asked was, 436 00:21:00,325 --> 00:21:03,568 "How long before they can fire those missiles?" 437 00:21:03,628 --> 00:21:05,369 And Art Lundahl said, 438 00:21:05,430 --> 00:21:07,376 "Well, Mr. Graybeal is the missile expert." 439 00:21:07,432 --> 00:21:09,173 So he turned to me. 440 00:21:09,233 --> 00:21:12,043 I stood up behind the President, McNamara, and Rusk, 441 00:21:12,103 --> 00:21:14,242 and for the next probably five to ten minutes 442 00:21:14,305 --> 00:21:16,979 they fired one question after the other. 443 00:21:17,041 --> 00:21:19,453 In answer to the President's question, 444 00:21:19,510 --> 00:21:21,683 "How long can they fire these missiles?" 445 00:21:21,746 --> 00:21:25,284 I replied primarily on the combination 446 00:21:25,350 --> 00:21:27,261 of intelligence sources, 447 00:21:27,318 --> 00:21:29,696 but mainly Penkovsky's information, 448 00:21:29,754 --> 00:21:31,893 which told us how these missiles operated 449 00:21:31,956 --> 00:21:34,266 in the field. 450 00:21:34,325 --> 00:21:37,272 NARRATION: The CIA assessment is said to have bought the President 451 00:21:37,328 --> 00:21:40,400 three precious days' breathing space. 452 00:21:44,102 --> 00:21:47,083 Ironically, Penkovsky himself was now 453 00:21:47,138 --> 00:21:50,711 under KGB surveillance. 454 00:21:50,775 --> 00:21:52,846 The last time Joe Bulik had seen him 455 00:21:52,910 --> 00:21:55,356 was in Paris. 456 00:21:55,413 --> 00:21:58,326 BULIK: I never had the feeling that he was in danger, 457 00:21:58,383 --> 00:22:01,364 otherwise I would have insisted that he stay. 458 00:22:01,419 --> 00:22:06,129 In fact, forced him, if I had to kidnap him. 459 00:22:06,190 --> 00:22:09,171 But I never really had the feeling that he was -- 460 00:22:09,227 --> 00:22:11,537 at that time, our last meeting in Paris, 461 00:22:11,596 --> 00:22:14,270 I never felt that he was in danger. 462 00:22:14,332 --> 00:22:16,778 NARRATION: Back in Moscow, 463 00:22:16,834 --> 00:22:20,714 Penkovsky sent what seemed like a routine message. 464 00:22:20,772 --> 00:22:23,651 BULIK: We'd gotten a signal from Penkovsky 465 00:22:23,708 --> 00:22:25,688 that a dead drop was loaded, 466 00:22:25,743 --> 00:22:28,519 and then we sent Dick Jacobs to service that dead drop. 467 00:22:28,579 --> 00:22:30,217 He was arrested, and as soon as that happened, 468 00:22:30,281 --> 00:22:32,625 we knew the case was over. It was dead. 469 00:22:32,683 --> 00:22:35,391 And that Penkovsky was in the hands of the KGB. 470 00:22:35,453 --> 00:22:37,455 Punkt. 471 00:22:39,457 --> 00:22:42,870 [speaking Russian ] 472 00:23:09,287 --> 00:23:11,995 The chief KGB interrogator 473 00:23:12,056 --> 00:23:14,662 was Alexander Zagvozdin. 474 00:23:14,725 --> 00:23:16,329 [speaking Russian ] 475 00:23:16,394 --> 00:23:18,931 We questioned him not once, not 10 or 20 times, 476 00:23:18,996 --> 00:23:22,034 but perhaps 100 times. 477 00:23:22,100 --> 00:23:25,912 He realized that his actions 478 00:23:25,970 --> 00:23:27,950 were punishable by death, 479 00:23:28,005 --> 00:23:30,485 and he used to ask me, 480 00:23:30,541 --> 00:23:33,988 "Will I be executed?" 481 00:23:34,045 --> 00:23:36,685 I never said he wouldn't. 482 00:23:36,747 --> 00:23:39,421 I never said he wouldn't be executed. 483 00:23:39,484 --> 00:23:42,829 I used to say one thing -- 484 00:23:42,887 --> 00:23:46,494 "Only if you confess everything 485 00:23:46,557 --> 00:23:48,764 and repent fully, 486 00:23:48,826 --> 00:23:52,467 can you hope for mercy." 487 00:23:52,530 --> 00:23:56,137 That's probably why Penkovsky's life was not spared. 488 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,680 He didn't confess everything. 489 00:24:01,239 --> 00:24:04,709 I know for sure that Penkovsky was shot. 490 00:24:09,747 --> 00:24:12,626 I can't tell you anything else. 491 00:24:12,683 --> 00:24:15,323 I know his body was cremated. 492 00:24:15,386 --> 00:24:18,890 I don't know any more, 493 00:24:18,956 --> 00:24:21,766 and I'm not interested. 494 00:24:26,330 --> 00:24:28,901 NARRATION: Not all spies wound up famous. 495 00:24:28,966 --> 00:24:31,572 These are the home movies 496 00:24:31,636 --> 00:24:33,809 of Galina and Mikhail Fedorov, 497 00:24:33,871 --> 00:24:36,442 KGB officers who operated under deep cover 498 00:24:36,507 --> 00:24:38,612 for 20 years. 499 00:24:44,482 --> 00:24:47,053 They were never caught. 500 00:24:47,118 --> 00:24:50,190 In the event of war, 501 00:24:50,254 --> 00:24:54,225 they would be in place to spy behind enemy lines. 502 00:24:56,260 --> 00:24:58,797 The KGB never lacked recruits. 503 00:24:58,863 --> 00:25:01,571 Some served for money, some for ideology, 504 00:25:01,632 --> 00:25:03,578 and some for the sheer excitement 505 00:25:03,634 --> 00:25:05,944 of living a secret life. 506 00:25:08,139 --> 00:25:10,050 [speaking Russian ] 507 00:25:10,107 --> 00:25:12,053 I love espionage. 508 00:25:12,109 --> 00:25:13,747 Why? 509 00:25:13,811 --> 00:25:15,984 Because there is this smell of adventure, 510 00:25:16,047 --> 00:25:18,254 the smell of risk, 511 00:25:18,316 --> 00:25:20,489 the smell of uncertainty. 512 00:25:20,551 --> 00:25:23,054 Because when you go off to meet an agent, 513 00:25:23,120 --> 00:25:26,226 you never know whether you're going to be arrested. 514 00:25:26,290 --> 00:25:30,432 It adds color to life. 515 00:25:30,494 --> 00:25:31,905 [ explosion ] 516 00:25:31,963 --> 00:25:33,943 I need 007. 517 00:25:36,634 --> 00:25:39,581 No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die. 518 00:25:45,743 --> 00:25:47,347 [ Luibimov speaking Russian] 519 00:25:47,411 --> 00:25:49,584 Spy mania in London started 520 00:25:49,647 --> 00:25:51,752 about the time I arrived. 521 00:25:51,816 --> 00:25:54,194 In 1961, 522 00:25:54,252 --> 00:25:56,459 we used to be asked everywhere. 523 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:58,659 We were very popular. 524 00:25:58,723 --> 00:26:00,600 We would be invited to private parties, 525 00:26:00,658 --> 00:26:03,229 and the attitude towards us was good. 526 00:26:05,296 --> 00:26:07,776 But as the '60s went on, 527 00:26:07,832 --> 00:26:09,436 there were those big disasters -- 528 00:26:09,500 --> 00:26:11,946 with Blake and the other KGB spies. 529 00:26:12,003 --> 00:26:14,244 And you had the Profumo scandal, 530 00:26:14,305 --> 00:26:17,218 with the prostitute Christine Keeler. 531 00:26:17,275 --> 00:26:19,983 That shook Britain up a bit. 532 00:26:20,044 --> 00:26:22,024 After that, when I turned up somewhere, 533 00:26:22,079 --> 00:26:24,059 people would ask, "Are you a spy?" 534 00:26:24,115 --> 00:26:27,358 So I'd say, "Of course, I'm a spy!" 535 00:26:27,418 --> 00:26:30,194 NARRATION: Western governments grew weary 536 00:26:30,254 --> 00:26:33,724 of the huge KGB presence in their midst. 537 00:26:33,791 --> 00:26:36,067 In 1971, the British expelled 538 00:26:36,127 --> 00:26:38,334 105 Soviet intelligence officers, 539 00:26:38,396 --> 00:26:41,275 identified by a defector. 540 00:26:41,332 --> 00:26:43,869 Technology increasingly assumed the burden 541 00:26:43,934 --> 00:26:45,936 of spying- 542 00:26:49,006 --> 00:26:51,418 NARRATION: Satellites could now intercept 543 00:26:51,475 --> 00:26:53,887 radio communications and data 544 00:26:53,944 --> 00:26:57,084 from test launches of the opposition's missiles. 545 00:26:57,148 --> 00:26:59,822 Film taken in space 546 00:26:59,884 --> 00:27:03,696 no longer even had to be returned to earth. 547 00:27:03,754 --> 00:27:07,327 The satellite would take the picture of the sky, 548 00:27:07,391 --> 00:27:10,463 and this image could be beamed back 549 00:27:10,528 --> 00:27:12,132 to an analyst at his desk 550 00:27:12,196 --> 00:27:13,834 in the United States 551 00:27:13,898 --> 00:27:15,809 who could actually see what was happening 552 00:27:15,866 --> 00:27:19,006 in the international arena without leaving his desk. 553 00:27:21,772 --> 00:27:24,309 NARRATION: Here lay the greatest intelligence successes 554 00:27:24,375 --> 00:27:26,321 of the Cold War -- 555 00:27:26,377 --> 00:27:28,618 through photography and electronic eavesdropping, 556 00:27:28,679 --> 00:27:31,819 each side received huge flows of information, 557 00:27:31,882 --> 00:27:35,728 often too much for the analysts to handle. 558 00:27:37,822 --> 00:27:40,234 Technological spying even played a part 559 00:27:40,291 --> 00:27:43,465 in helping the superpowers edge towards peace. 560 00:27:43,527 --> 00:27:47,065 The technical systems were almost essential 561 00:27:47,131 --> 00:27:49,338 to our arms control process. 562 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:51,437 We learned just all kinds of things 563 00:27:51,502 --> 00:27:53,743 about Russian military systems 564 00:27:53,804 --> 00:27:55,750 from the photographs 565 00:27:55,806 --> 00:27:57,752 and from the electronic listening. 566 00:27:57,808 --> 00:28:01,415 At one point, when we were negotiating 567 00:28:01,479 --> 00:28:05,450 the SALT ll arms control treaty, 568 00:28:05,516 --> 00:28:07,462 I had to go to the Senate and say, 569 00:28:07,518 --> 00:28:09,555 "if you ratify this treaty, 570 00:28:09,620 --> 00:28:13,261 this is how closely I can monitor it 571 00:28:13,324 --> 00:28:15,270 and check on whether they are complying 572 00:28:15,326 --> 00:28:17,272 with the terms of the treaty." 573 00:28:17,328 --> 00:28:19,103 [electronic beeping, chirping ] 574 00:28:19,163 --> 00:28:20,904 NARRATION: Despite a fleet of spy ships, 575 00:28:20,965 --> 00:28:22,911 listening posts worldwide, 576 00:28:22,967 --> 00:28:25,038 and sputniks overhead, 577 00:28:25,102 --> 00:28:28,413 Soviet technical intelligence lagged behind the West. 578 00:28:28,472 --> 00:28:31,646 Even so, they claimed to have cracked 579 00:28:31,709 --> 00:28:34,121 the ciphers of over 60 countries, 580 00:28:34,178 --> 00:28:38,285 obtaining many codes by theft and blackmail. 581 00:28:38,349 --> 00:28:42,764 Soviet technical intelligence was far inferior 582 00:28:42,820 --> 00:28:45,824 to Soviet human intelligence. 583 00:28:45,890 --> 00:28:48,302 The Soviets were extremely good 584 00:28:48,359 --> 00:28:51,363 at persuasive tactics, 585 00:28:51,429 --> 00:28:55,775 which would ultimately bring many people 586 00:28:55,833 --> 00:28:59,371 into their ideological embrace. 587 00:29:03,474 --> 00:29:05,420 NARRATION: KGB spying methods 588 00:29:05,476 --> 00:29:07,979 spread beyond superpower conflict -- 589 00:29:08,045 --> 00:29:10,787 routine surveillance of ordinary citizens 590 00:29:10,848 --> 00:29:14,557 by the East German secret police, or Stasi. 591 00:29:16,587 --> 00:29:19,932 The Stasi inhabited a moral world of its own. 592 00:29:21,926 --> 00:29:26,671 Interrogations were routinely filmed... 593 00:29:26,730 --> 00:29:29,973 and they had cameras everywhere. 594 00:29:32,036 --> 00:29:34,607 [Speaking German ] 595 00:29:34,672 --> 00:29:36,276 Relations between the various 596 00:29:36,340 --> 00:29:38,581 areas of counterintelligence 597 00:29:38,642 --> 00:29:40,383 and with the department which handled interrogations 598 00:29:40,444 --> 00:29:42,720 were very amicable. 599 00:29:46,050 --> 00:29:48,087 There were all sorts of people there, 600 00:29:48,152 --> 00:29:50,826 and it was a friendly atmosphere. 601 00:29:50,888 --> 00:29:53,300 They weren't the kind of devious types 602 00:29:53,357 --> 00:29:55,303 who'd use atrocious methods 603 00:29:55,359 --> 00:29:58,363 to force confessions out of people. 604 00:29:58,429 --> 00:30:03,469 [Speaking German ] 605 00:30:16,914 --> 00:30:19,690 [Speaking German ] 606 00:30:19,750 --> 00:30:22,856 Well, terrible things did happen. 607 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:24,991 There were many cases of injustice, 608 00:30:25,055 --> 00:30:27,001 particularly in the later years 609 00:30:27,057 --> 00:30:28,764 which really bothered me. 610 00:30:28,826 --> 00:30:30,863 Reprisals were taken against people 611 00:30:30,928 --> 00:30:32,601 solely on the grounds that they had 612 00:30:32,663 --> 00:30:35,234 different political opinions, 613 00:30:35,299 --> 00:30:37,802 or against people who wanted a different, 614 00:30:37,868 --> 00:30:41,008 better form of socialism. 615 00:30:41,071 --> 00:30:44,348 NARRATION: Vera Wollenberger joined the East German peace movement 616 00:30:44,408 --> 00:30:46,354 in 1981, 617 00:30:46,410 --> 00:30:49,687 encouraged by her husband Knud. 618 00:30:49,747 --> 00:30:52,785 [Wollenberger speaking German ] 619 00:30:52,850 --> 00:30:56,388 INTERPRETER: My personal motivation for opposing state policies 620 00:30:56,453 --> 00:30:58,524 was the decision in the early '80s 621 00:30:58,589 --> 00:31:02,537 to station nuclear missiles in the GDR 622 00:31:02,593 --> 00:31:07,565 and to introduce military instruction in schools. 623 00:31:07,631 --> 00:31:10,612 NARRATION: Vera and her family were constantly harassed 624 00:31:10,668 --> 00:31:12,409 by the Stasi, 625 00:31:12,469 --> 00:31:14,210 who burgled her house 626 00:31:14,271 --> 00:31:16,877 and made sure she lost her teaching job. 627 00:31:16,941 --> 00:31:19,615 Her husband stood by her throughout. 628 00:31:22,413 --> 00:31:24,051 In 1988, 629 00:31:24,114 --> 00:31:27,755 Vera was arrested on her way to this demonstration. 630 00:31:27,818 --> 00:31:29,957 Her crime -- carrying a banner 631 00:31:30,020 --> 00:31:32,000 which bore Rosa Luxemburg's words, 632 00:31:32,056 --> 00:31:35,697 "Freedom is how free your opponent is." 633 00:31:35,759 --> 00:31:39,969 She was interrogated and imprisoned. 634 00:31:42,132 --> 00:31:44,009 In 1991, 635 00:31:44,068 --> 00:31:46,105 after the collapse of the GDR, 636 00:31:46,170 --> 00:31:48,776 Vera got access to her Stasi file, 637 00:31:48,839 --> 00:31:50,546 in which she learned 638 00:31:50,608 --> 00:31:52,383 that the main informer against her 639 00:31:52,443 --> 00:31:54,787 had been her own husband. 640 00:31:54,845 --> 00:31:57,052 [Speaking German ] 641 00:31:57,114 --> 00:31:59,390 I can't really say how I felt. 642 00:31:59,450 --> 00:32:02,090 It was such an extreme situation, 643 00:32:02,152 --> 00:32:04,632 rather as if one had died for a moment, 644 00:32:04,688 --> 00:32:07,100 and then returned to life. 645 00:32:10,594 --> 00:32:14,440 The surprising thing was 646 00:32:14,498 --> 00:32:17,240 the reports were written as if about a stranger, 647 00:32:17,301 --> 00:32:19,679 not about a wife. 648 00:32:19,737 --> 00:32:23,241 To him I was an enemy of the State, 649 00:32:23,307 --> 00:32:25,344 and he had done everything to fight me -- 650 00:32:25,409 --> 00:32:27,685 the enemy. 651 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:31,921 NARRATION: Some "enemies of the State" 652 00:32:31,982 --> 00:32:35,088 received more drastic treatment. 653 00:32:35,152 --> 00:32:37,689 In 1978, Bulgarian intelligence 654 00:32:37,755 --> 00:32:40,395 asked the KGB to help them kill 655 00:32:40,457 --> 00:32:42,403 the émigré writer and broadcaster, 656 00:32:42,459 --> 00:32:44,837 Georgi Markov. 657 00:32:44,895 --> 00:32:47,239 Markov was murdered at a London bus stop 658 00:32:47,297 --> 00:32:50,073 by a stranger who "accidentally" prodded him 659 00:32:50,134 --> 00:32:52,740 with the tip of an umbrella. 660 00:32:52,803 --> 00:32:55,477 The Bulgarians were given a choice of weapons, 661 00:32:55,539 --> 00:32:58,543 and finally they picked up 662 00:32:58,609 --> 00:33:00,748 this umbrella 663 00:33:00,811 --> 00:33:02,518 as a cover 664 00:33:02,579 --> 00:33:05,150 to shoot the man with a poisoned pellet. 665 00:33:05,215 --> 00:33:08,389 It was not supposed to be uncovered 666 00:33:08,452 --> 00:33:10,864 because the pellet would dissolve in his body 667 00:33:10,921 --> 00:33:15,336 within 24 hours, if I recall correctly. 668 00:33:15,392 --> 00:33:18,134 I did not conceive, I did not plan, 669 00:33:18,195 --> 00:33:20,141 I was not involved in any execution, 670 00:33:20,197 --> 00:33:21,972 but I was aware. 671 00:33:22,032 --> 00:33:24,410 And I always say 672 00:33:24,468 --> 00:33:26,675 that knowledge does not imply misdeed, 673 00:33:26,737 --> 00:33:29,081 does it? 674 00:33:31,742 --> 00:33:33,688 Do you suppose I would go 675 00:33:33,744 --> 00:33:35,655 over to the United States or UK 676 00:33:35,713 --> 00:33:37,750 and announce publicly? 677 00:33:37,815 --> 00:33:39,886 I would hang myself. 678 00:33:39,950 --> 00:33:43,090 NARRATION: The temptation was always there 679 00:33:43,153 --> 00:33:46,327 for the spymasters to earn favor from the leadership 680 00:33:46,390 --> 00:33:48,392 whether by covert action, 681 00:33:48,459 --> 00:33:53,306 or just slanting a routine report. 682 00:33:53,363 --> 00:33:55,707 [speaking Russian ] 683 00:33:55,766 --> 00:33:57,712 When we drew up reports, 684 00:33:57,768 --> 00:33:59,714 of course we dramatized those bits 685 00:33:59,770 --> 00:34:02,250 which pointed out the threat to the Soviet Union. 686 00:34:02,306 --> 00:34:04,582 By emphasizing the right things, 687 00:34:04,641 --> 00:34:06,450 I'd ensure that my report would go 688 00:34:06,510 --> 00:34:08,956 straight to the top -- 689 00:34:09,012 --> 00:34:10,958 to the Politburo. 690 00:34:11,014 --> 00:34:12,755 If the report was dull and boring 691 00:34:12,816 --> 00:34:15,262 it would just get filed away. 692 00:34:15,319 --> 00:34:17,856 This was the problem 693 00:34:17,921 --> 00:34:20,401 with all suppliers of information. 694 00:34:20,457 --> 00:34:23,995 We'd tailor it to get a high rating from Moscow. 695 00:34:26,830 --> 00:34:30,107 NARRATION: But did it matter if spies skewed their reports? 696 00:34:30,167 --> 00:34:32,113 How much did political leaders heed 697 00:34:32,169 --> 00:34:34,513 their intelligence services? 698 00:34:36,774 --> 00:34:38,720 I would argue that we probably exaggerate 699 00:34:38,776 --> 00:34:40,722 the significance of intelligence. 700 00:34:40,778 --> 00:34:43,384 Once policy-makers decide on a course, 701 00:34:43,447 --> 00:34:45,688 I don't think correct intelligence 702 00:34:45,749 --> 00:34:47,422 or incorrect intelligence is going 703 00:34:47,484 --> 00:34:51,193 to bring any great changes in that course. 704 00:34:59,863 --> 00:35:01,809 NARRATION: 1988. 705 00:35:01,865 --> 00:35:03,970 Kim Philby is buried with full honors 706 00:35:04,034 --> 00:35:06,776 in a Moscow cemetery. 707 00:35:06,837 --> 00:35:09,374 He first betrayed Britain 708 00:35:09,439 --> 00:35:11,385 half a century before, 709 00:35:11,441 --> 00:35:15,184 passing a wealth of secrets to the KGB. 710 00:35:15,245 --> 00:35:19,250 And yet converts were never wholly trusted. 711 00:35:19,316 --> 00:35:22,092 To the end, the KGB opened his mail 712 00:35:22,152 --> 00:35:25,964 and bugged his phone. 713 00:35:26,023 --> 00:35:31,097 It seemed as if the age of the spy was over. 714 00:35:35,132 --> 00:35:36,736 In fact, throughout the '80s, 715 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:39,303 the CIA had been carefully establishing agents 716 00:35:39,369 --> 00:35:42,179 within Soviet intelligence and defense circles -- 717 00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:43,445 precious sources like avionics expert, 718 00:35:45,676 --> 00:35:47,622 Adolf Talkachev, 719 00:35:47,678 --> 00:35:50,090 seen here on his way to a meeting in Moscow 720 00:35:50,147 --> 00:35:52,787 with his CIA contact. 721 00:35:56,787 --> 00:35:59,427 The KGB suddenly started to arrest 722 00:35:59,489 --> 00:36:02,766 the CIA's most important Soviet spies. 723 00:36:06,163 --> 00:36:08,439 WOMAN: In 1985, 724 00:36:08,498 --> 00:36:10,444 we began to lose cases, 725 00:36:10,500 --> 00:36:13,481 by which I mean Soviet officials working for us 726 00:36:13,537 --> 00:36:16,780 and some of them disappeared. 727 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:20,185 This led us to believe that something was wrong. 728 00:36:20,244 --> 00:36:22,190 It did not lead us to believe, 729 00:36:22,246 --> 00:36:24,817 "Aha, there must be a mole." 730 00:36:27,084 --> 00:36:30,327 NARRATION: Then the West lost General Dmitri Polyakov, 731 00:36:30,387 --> 00:36:32,628 of Soviet military intelligence. 732 00:36:32,689 --> 00:36:35,636 Polyakov had retired after 18 years of spying, 733 00:36:35,692 --> 00:36:38,696 when the KGB pounced. 734 00:36:40,764 --> 00:36:44,439 He had been recruited while at the United Nations 735 00:36:44,501 --> 00:36:46,947 in New York. 736 00:36:49,940 --> 00:36:53,012 Polyakov returned to Europe in 1962 737 00:36:53,076 --> 00:36:55,022 on the Queen Elizabeth. 738 00:36:55,078 --> 00:36:57,422 His picture was taken by the ship's photographer 739 00:36:57,481 --> 00:36:59,654 at the Captain's dinner. 740 00:36:59,716 --> 00:37:02,560 Seated just a few tables away, 741 00:37:02,619 --> 00:37:04,565 the FBI man who recruited him, 742 00:37:04,621 --> 00:37:06,794 John Mabey. 743 00:37:06,857 --> 00:37:10,202 He said, "I'm dissatisfied with the way 744 00:37:10,260 --> 00:37:12,536 things are in the Soviet Union. 745 00:37:12,596 --> 00:37:15,076 The government does not 746 00:37:15,132 --> 00:37:16,805 look out for the people. 747 00:37:16,867 --> 00:37:18,813 They're headed on a course of war 748 00:37:18,869 --> 00:37:20,815 with the United States, 749 00:37:20,871 --> 00:37:23,647 and they can't possibly win it. 750 00:37:23,707 --> 00:37:26,654 And the only people that are gonna suffer out of this 751 00:37:26,710 --> 00:37:29,452 are the Russian people." 752 00:37:31,615 --> 00:37:33,526 We'd met on the Queen Elizabeth 753 00:37:33,583 --> 00:37:35,722 every day that it was at sea, 754 00:37:35,786 --> 00:37:37,561 sometimes twice a day. 755 00:37:37,621 --> 00:37:39,931 We reviewed literally thousands of pictures 756 00:37:39,990 --> 00:37:42,470 of Soviets who had been in the United States 757 00:37:42,526 --> 00:37:44,369 or stationed around the world 758 00:37:44,428 --> 00:37:46,669 and he identified a number of them 759 00:37:46,730 --> 00:37:49,438 by picture and by name. 760 00:37:49,499 --> 00:37:51,877 GRIMES: Polyakov was our crown jewel. 761 00:37:51,935 --> 00:37:55,280 He worked for us for so many years, 762 00:37:55,339 --> 00:37:58,479 and he achieved such a rank 763 00:37:58,542 --> 00:38:01,318 that rather than us 764 00:38:01,378 --> 00:38:03,324 looking at an organization 765 00:38:03,380 --> 00:38:05,451 through the eyes of one of our sources, 766 00:38:05,515 --> 00:38:08,621 looking at that organization from the bottom up, 767 00:38:08,685 --> 00:38:11,791 with Polyakov eventually we were able 768 00:38:11,855 --> 00:38:14,131 to look at that organization, the GRU, 769 00:38:14,191 --> 00:38:16,569 his organization from the top down 770 00:38:16,626 --> 00:38:19,129 as well as look at the KGB, 771 00:38:19,196 --> 00:38:21,233 and the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 772 00:38:21,298 --> 00:38:24,404 and the Communist Party apparatus. 773 00:38:24,468 --> 00:38:28,075 NARRATION: In 1991, Sandy Grimes joined the team 774 00:38:28,138 --> 00:38:31,483 investigating the CIA's agent losses. 775 00:38:31,541 --> 00:38:33,817 In charge, Jeanne Vertefeuille, 776 00:38:33,877 --> 00:38:37,791 now suspicious there was a KGB mole in their ranks. 777 00:38:37,848 --> 00:38:40,829 Trying to pin down 778 00:38:40,884 --> 00:38:43,091 a counterintelligence case 779 00:38:43,153 --> 00:38:44,689 when you're looking for a mole 780 00:38:44,755 --> 00:38:48,202 is always a very difficult and long-term job. 781 00:38:48,258 --> 00:38:50,465 When we compiled a list 782 00:38:50,527 --> 00:38:52,473 of how many people could have done it, 783 00:38:52,529 --> 00:38:55,806 we came up with 198 people. 784 00:38:55,866 --> 00:38:58,369 NARRATION: The mole hunt took three years, 785 00:38:58,435 --> 00:39:01,507 homing in on CIA counterintelligence officer, 786 00:39:01,571 --> 00:39:03,676 Aldrich Ames. 787 00:39:03,740 --> 00:39:08,621 The FBI filmed him secretly in Bogota in 1993. 788 00:39:08,678 --> 00:39:10,715 AMES: I was walking up and down, 789 00:39:10,781 --> 00:39:12,988 wondering what had happened to my KGB contact, 790 00:39:13,050 --> 00:39:15,530 who had been there an hour earlier. 791 00:39:17,821 --> 00:39:19,767 I was reasonably alert, 792 00:39:19,823 --> 00:39:22,030 but I didn't see the surveillance. 793 00:39:22,092 --> 00:39:25,073 And I suppose it was frustrating for the FBI 794 00:39:25,128 --> 00:39:26,732 because they were scared to death 795 00:39:26,797 --> 00:39:29,209 of me seeing the surveillance 796 00:39:29,266 --> 00:39:31,303 so they had to stay way back. 797 00:39:31,368 --> 00:39:33,609 As a result, they never saw me doing anything. 798 00:39:33,670 --> 00:39:37,277 They had no evidence of any operational activity 799 00:39:37,340 --> 00:39:38,978 on my part. 800 00:39:39,042 --> 00:39:41,613 NARRATION: The FBI staked out Ames' house 801 00:39:41,678 --> 00:39:43,658 and tapped his phones. 802 00:39:43,713 --> 00:39:46,023 The breakthrough had come from CIA analysis 803 00:39:46,083 --> 00:39:49,292 of his bank statements. 804 00:39:49,352 --> 00:39:53,357 GRIMES: We had just received records 805 00:39:53,423 --> 00:39:56,597 from one of the banks Rick had, 806 00:39:56,660 --> 00:39:59,368 and Dan is reading these things off 807 00:39:59,429 --> 00:40:02,137 and I'm entering them in the computer, 808 00:40:02,199 --> 00:40:06,147 and my God, it was unbelievable. 809 00:40:06,203 --> 00:40:09,946 On 17 May, Rick would have -- 810 00:40:10,006 --> 00:40:11,952 had reported having had a lunch 811 00:40:12,008 --> 00:40:15,512 with his Soviet contact Chuvahkin. 812 00:40:15,579 --> 00:40:17,957 18, May, there's a deposit 813 00:40:18,014 --> 00:40:21,757 into his checking account for $9,000. 814 00:40:24,421 --> 00:40:27,265 NARRATION: On the 21st of February in 1994, 815 00:40:27,324 --> 00:40:29,326 Ames was arrested for spying, 816 00:40:29,392 --> 00:40:31,463 along with his wife Rosario, 817 00:40:31,528 --> 00:40:35,169 after years of high-living. 818 00:40:37,167 --> 00:40:40,239 Shock, depression, 819 00:40:40,303 --> 00:40:42,078 instant recognition, you know. 820 00:40:42,139 --> 00:40:45,882 You know, one's life flashes before one. 821 00:40:45,942 --> 00:40:48,946 A sense of things coming to an end. 822 00:40:49,012 --> 00:40:51,083 But no sense of relief. 823 00:40:51,148 --> 00:40:55,062 It's much more painful than that. 824 00:40:55,118 --> 00:40:57,394 NARRATION: In April 1985, 825 00:40:57,454 --> 00:40:59,024 Aldrich Ames had walked 826 00:40:59,089 --> 00:41:00,932 into the Soviet Embassy in Washington 827 00:41:00,991 --> 00:41:04,131 and started selling secrets to the KGB. 828 00:41:04,194 --> 00:41:08,609 They paid him a total of $2.7 million. 829 00:41:08,665 --> 00:41:11,771 Well, the reasons that I did what I did 830 00:41:11,835 --> 00:41:15,146 in April of 1985, 831 00:41:15,205 --> 00:41:19,210 were personal, 832 00:41:19,276 --> 00:41:22,723 banal, 833 00:41:22,779 --> 00:41:26,386 and amounted really to kind of greed and folly. 834 00:41:26,449 --> 00:41:28,554 As simple as that. 835 00:41:30,854 --> 00:41:34,131 VERTEFEUILLE: I attribute it heavily to Rosario. 836 00:41:34,191 --> 00:41:37,798 She was the one who was interested in spending money 837 00:41:37,861 --> 00:41:40,102 and who liked to live high on the hog 838 00:41:40,163 --> 00:41:43,337 and I think he wanted to sort of to buy her love 839 00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:45,209 and the way to buy her love 840 00:41:45,268 --> 00:41:48,545 was to get her expensive things. 841 00:41:48,605 --> 00:41:51,051 NARRATION: Ames had no illusions 842 00:41:51,107 --> 00:41:54,054 about the real price of his treachery. 843 00:41:54,110 --> 00:41:56,954 AMES: I knew quite well, 844 00:41:57,013 --> 00:41:59,755 when I gave the names 845 00:41:59,816 --> 00:42:02,422 of our agents 846 00:42:02,485 --> 00:42:04,863 in the Soviet Union, 847 00:42:04,921 --> 00:42:07,367 that I was exposing them 848 00:42:07,424 --> 00:42:10,132 to, uh... 849 00:42:10,193 --> 00:42:13,640 the full machinery 850 00:42:13,697 --> 00:42:17,406 of counterespionage and the law, 851 00:42:17,467 --> 00:42:21,005 and then prosecution, and capital punishment 852 00:42:21,071 --> 00:42:24,416 certainly in the case of KGB and GRU officers. 853 00:42:24,474 --> 00:42:28,820 Obviously these folks 854 00:42:28,878 --> 00:42:32,416 I knew would have to answer 855 00:42:32,482 --> 00:42:36,089 for what they'd done. 856 00:42:36,152 --> 00:42:39,429 And certainly, I felt... 857 00:42:42,425 --> 00:42:46,396 I inured myself 858 00:42:46,463 --> 00:42:49,842 against, you know, 859 00:42:49,899 --> 00:42:52,903 a reaction to that. 860 00:42:59,009 --> 00:43:01,615 NARRATION: Dmitri Polyakov was one of the 25 agents 861 00:43:01,678 --> 00:43:04,124 betrayed by Ames. 862 00:43:04,180 --> 00:43:06,217 10 were executed 863 00:43:06,283 --> 00:43:08,627 and one committed suicide. 864 00:43:08,685 --> 00:43:11,894 One alone was smuggled to safety 865 00:43:11,955 --> 00:43:15,368 by the British Secret Service. 866 00:43:15,425 --> 00:43:17,564 [speaking Russian ] 867 00:43:17,627 --> 00:43:20,403 I was seized by the KGB in May 1985. 868 00:43:20,463 --> 00:43:22,409 I was put under house arrest, 869 00:43:22,465 --> 00:43:24,411 but I managed to escape in July -- 870 00:43:24,467 --> 00:43:26,947 alive, well, and safe. 871 00:43:27,003 --> 00:43:29,609 I was lucky. 872 00:43:29,673 --> 00:43:32,279 The others were shot 873 00:43:32,342 --> 00:43:34,754 in the dungeons of some KGB prison, 874 00:43:34,811 --> 00:43:36,688 after long months of continuous threats 875 00:43:36,746 --> 00:43:38,885 and interrogations. 876 00:43:38,948 --> 00:43:41,485 They lost everything -- 877 00:43:41,551 --> 00:43:43,827 family, children, work, 878 00:43:43,887 --> 00:43:45,833 and then their lives. 879 00:43:45,889 --> 00:43:47,994 They spent a year, two years, 880 00:43:48,058 --> 00:43:50,004 or in the case of General Polyakov, 881 00:43:50,060 --> 00:43:51,664 nearly three years 882 00:43:51,728 --> 00:43:54,004 expecting to die at any minute. 883 00:43:54,064 --> 00:43:57,534 NARRATION: Polyakov was tried in secret, 884 00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:00,877 critical of the Soviet leadership to the end. 885 00:44:00,937 --> 00:44:02,974 He had given the West 886 00:44:03,039 --> 00:44:05,417 precious information on Soviet missiles, 887 00:44:05,475 --> 00:44:09,446 nuclear strategy, chemical and biological warfare. 888 00:44:09,512 --> 00:44:12,755 Yet so many spies paid with their freedom, 889 00:44:12,816 --> 00:44:14,762 or their lives, 890 00:44:14,818 --> 00:44:17,765 in destructive cycles of tit for tat. 891 00:44:17,821 --> 00:44:20,597 AMES: The men like Polyakov 892 00:44:20,657 --> 00:44:22,762 gave up names, 893 00:44:22,826 --> 00:44:26,740 they gave up secrets. 894 00:44:26,796 --> 00:44:28,742 I did the same thing, 895 00:44:28,798 --> 00:44:31,574 for reasons that I considered sufficient 896 00:44:31,634 --> 00:44:33,978 to myself. 897 00:44:34,037 --> 00:44:37,246 I gave up the names 898 00:44:37,307 --> 00:44:40,982 of some of the same people... 899 00:44:43,179 --> 00:44:46,854 who had earlier given up others. 900 00:44:46,916 --> 00:44:49,487 It's a nasty kind of circle, 901 00:44:49,552 --> 00:44:53,329 with terrible human costs. 902 00:44:53,390 --> 00:44:56,769 Aldrich Ames is sewing a life sentence 903 00:44:56,826 --> 00:44:59,864 with no remission. 904 00:44:59,929 --> 00:45:03,399 Dmitri Polyakov was sentenced to death. 905 00:45:03,466 --> 00:45:06,413 He was executed in 1988 906 00:45:06,469 --> 00:45:08,710 with a bullet in the back of the head, 907 00:45:08,772 --> 00:45:12,652 then buried in an unmarked grave. 908 00:45:15,078 --> 00:45:17,024 For half a century, 909 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:19,082 the spies had peered intently at each other 910 00:45:19,149 --> 00:45:21,993 through a fog of ignorance and deceit. 911 00:45:22,051 --> 00:45:24,793 They produced ever more realistic appraisals 912 00:45:24,854 --> 00:45:26,800 of their opponents' strength. 913 00:45:26,856 --> 00:45:28,597 But very few were able to answer 914 00:45:28,658 --> 00:45:30,501 the toughest question -- 915 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:32,836 "Does our enemy intend to fight us?" 916 00:45:32,896 --> 00:45:36,275 Despite the CIA and KGB's vast resources, 917 00:45:36,332 --> 00:45:39,643 the answer lay hidden not in a satellite photo, 918 00:45:39,702 --> 00:45:41,682 or an agent report, 919 00:45:41,738 --> 00:45:45,447 but in the minds of their opponents. 920 00:45:49,917 --> 00:45:54,171 Subtitles ripped, converted and adapted by Juan Claudio Epsteyn 921 00:45:55,132 --> 00:45:58,337 E-mail: epsteyn@hotmail.com