Reagan 'sabotaged Soviet economy' Booby-trapped software passed on by CIA caused pipeline blast

The Straits Times ^ | 2/28/04

[mylife]

Reagan 'sabotaged Soviet economy' Booby-trapped software passed on by CIA caused pipeline blast

WASHINGTON - Former US president Ronald Reagan approved a Cold War plan by the CIA to sabotage the Soviet Union's economy with technology that malfunctioned.

The flawed technology included computer software that triggered a huge explosion in a Siberian gas pipeline, according to a new memoir by former Reagan White House official Thomas Reed.

The former Air Force secretary, who was serving with the National Security Council at the time, described the episode in At The Abyss: An Insider's History Of The Cold War, to be published next month by Ballantine Books.

The pipeline explosion, the book says, was just one example of 'cold-eyed economic warfare' against the Soviet Union that the CIA carried out under director William J. Casey during the final years of the Cold War.

At the time, the US was trying to block Western Europe from importing Soviet natural gas. There were also signs that the Soviets were trying to steal a wide variety of Western technology.

Then, a KGB insider revealed the specific shopping list and the Central Intelligence Agency slipped the flawed software to the Soviets in such a way that they would not detect it.

'In order to disrupt the Soviet gas supply, its hard-currency earnings from the West, and the internal Russian economy, the pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines and valves was programmed to go haywire, after a decent interval, to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to pipeline joints and welds,' the book says.

'The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space.'

Mr Reed added that US satellites recorded the 1982 explosion.

'While there were no physical casualties from the pipeline explosion, there was significant damage to the Soviet economy,' he wrote.

Mr Reed said he obtained CIA approval to publish details about the operation.

According to the book, the Soviet authorities in 1970 set up a new KGB section, known as Directorate T, to plumb Western research and development for badly needed technology. Its operating arm to steal the technology was known as Line X.

At a July 1981 economic summit in Ottawa, then president Francois Mitterrand of France told Mr Reagan that French intelligence had obtained the services of a Soviet agent assigned to evaluate the intelligence collected by Directorate T.

In January 1982, Mr Gus Weiss, a CIA expert on technology and intelligence, said he proposed to Mr Casey a programme to slip the Soviets technology that would work for a while, then fail.

'Reagan received the plan enthusiastically,' Mr Reed wrote. He also said the United States and its Nato allies later 'rolled up the entire Line X collection network, both in the US and overseas'.

The Soviet spy involved was discovered by the KGB and executed in 1983.

[Guillermo]

The Left will never forgive Reagan for defeating their beloved Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

God Bless Ronald Reagan.

[Bogey78O]

Safire posted an article about this last month.

This was too cool.

[onyx]

If true, GOOD. BRAVO! President Reagan.

[gov_bean_ counter]

And that is what you get for taking something that is not yours.

[WorkingClassFilth]

If I may say, in the time honored FR way...

BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[netmilsmom]

hehehehe!

[LS]

Not bad for an "old man" who took naps all the time.

[SoDak]

Yeah, communism would've worked if it wasn't for the meddling Reagan. Reagan sped it along, though, and God Bless him for that.

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Just awesome.

[PianoMan]

My heart weeps for the poor Soviets. They were just the most repressive regime in world history - is that so wrooooong?

[Guillermo]

Not only that...since the fall of the USSR, the US has had no "counterweight" in world affairs!

Oh how the Left misses the USSR, in many more ways they themselves could have even imagined in the early 1990's.

[Guillermo]

Reagan and Bush knocking out dictatorships left and right, while Clinton created Islamic entities (Kosovo) and Carter boycotted the Olympics as the means to dealing with our enemies.

[rudy45]

I guess the booby trapped software came from Microsoft...

[Guillermo]

Microsoft is Eeeeevil, just like them Jooooos!

[KevinDavis]

So what?? Bravo Mr Reagan.....

[BabyRepub]

And this is bad, because?

Am I missing the point?

[mylife]

"Well that ought to put a stone in their boots"

[roadcat]

'The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space.'
Mr Reed added that US satellites recorded the 1982 explosion.

I can picture President Reagan gleefully watching replays of the satellite recording while munching Jelly-Bellys! Greatest president of the 20th Century, as contrasted to the clintoon.

[mylife]

And this is bad, because?

Why do you assume I think its bad? I served the man for 6 years

[Welsh Rabbit]

If you can stomach visiting DU, check out their reaction to this article (it's on the first page of Latest Breaking News). One DUmmie said something to the effect that as we discover Reagan's evil deeds now, in twenty years we will find that Bush had Wellstone murdered and sent the anthrax to Dasshole. Another claimed Cheney was behind it so the evil oil corps would have less competition in Europe (*yawn* No points for originality on that one). No one seemed too pleased to hear how we hosed the Soviets on this one...

[Petronski]

Wait, I thought Lenin said we would sell them the rope to hang US with. Whassup wit dat?

[capydick]

I understand that John F'in Ketchup voted in favor of this plan but, now regrets the vote because he didnt think that anything would actually explode.

[aculeus]

Here's the version in tomorrow's London Telegraph:

http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/28/wcia28.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/02/28/ixworld.html

[mylife]

Thanks aculeus

[Mitchell]

Ping.

[Ole Okie]

I understand that John F'in Ketchup voted in favor of this plan but, now regrets the vote

He wanted the operation to be led by the U.N.

[mylife]

Lets post that aculeus! A lot of detail in this from the Teleghraph:

CIA plot led to huge blast in Siberian gas pipeline

By Alec Russell in Washington
(Filed: 28/02/2004)


A CIA operation to sabotage Soviet industry by duping Moscow into stealing booby-trapped software was spectacularly successful when it triggered a huge explosion in a Siberian gas pipeline, it emerged yesterday.

Thomas Reed, a former US Air Force secretary who was in Ronald Reagan's National Security Council, discloses what he called just one example of the CIA's "cold-eyed economic warfare" against Moscow in a memoir to be published next month.

Leaked extracts in yesterday's Washington Post describe how the operation caused "the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space" in the summer of 1982.

Mr Reed writes that the software "was programmed to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to pipeline joints and welds".

The CIA learned of Soviet ambitions to steal the software via a French KGB source, Col Vladimir Vetrov, codenamed Farewell. His job was to evaluate the intelligence collected by a shadowy arm of the KGB set up a network of industrial spies to steal technology from the West.

The breakthrough came when Vetrov told the CIA of a specific "shopping list" of software technology that Moscow was seeking to update its pipeline as it sought to export natural gas to Western Europe.

Washington was keen to block the deal and, after securing President Reagan's approval in January 1982, the CIA tricked the Soviet Union into acquiring software with built-in flaws.

"In order to disrupt the Soviet gas supply, its hard currency earnings from the West, and the internal Russian economy, the pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines and valves was programmed to go haywire after a decent interval, to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to pipeline joints and welds," Mr Reed writes.

The project exceeded the CIA's wildest dreams. There were no casualties in the explosion, but it was so dramatic that the first reports are said to have stirred alarm in Washington.

The initial reports led to fears that the Soviets had launched a missile from a place where rockets were not known to be based, or even had detonated "a small nuclear device", Mr Reed writes in his book.

While some of the details of the CIA's counter-offensive have emerged before, the sabotage of the gas pipeline has remained a secret until now. Mr Reed told the Post he had CIA approval to make the disclosures.

Mr Vetrov's spying was discovered by the KGB and he was executed in 1983

[mylife]

Telegraph

[DonQ]

This seems to resemble the plot of a French novel published circa 1979, titled Softwar, about the CIA contriving to sell a booby-trapped super-computer to the USSR.

[Kozak]

I remember reading about little trap doors in telecommunication gear sold to Poland in the early 80's, so that on command, the phone lines would go down. Since the com lines for the Soviet army in East Germany went through Poland, that would have caused them huge problems with command and control and logistics.

[mylife]

This seems to resemble the plot of a French novel published circa 1979, titled Softwar

Froggy pulled plenty of espionage on us during the 80's

[mylife]

Since the com lines for the Soviet army in East Germany went through Poland, that would have caused them huge problems with command and control and logistics.

For more telecomm shenanigans read "Blindmans Bluff"

[kittymyrib]

Knowing that, doesn't it just comfort you to know that China and India will have the power to do that to OUR software in the future? Let's hear it for "free trade," patriots!

[Tacis]

See, Clinton would never have done something like this. In fact, when he sold that advanced missle technology to the ChiComs, he actually gave them a written guarantee that all was kosher. That's the kibd of integrity Willie brought to the Oval Office!!!

[mylife]

Slick Willy...PHttttttt!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Wait, I thought Lenin said we would sell them the rope to hang US with. Whassup wit dat?

I think we used the rope to make a snare.

[Revolting cat!]

I remember reading about little trap doors in telecommunication gear sold to Poland

Yeah, I suspect it was also sold to my current ISP as well!

[timydnuc]

Ronald Reagan was the finest President of our time. He stood his watch with only the security of this country in mind. It was time to defeat the enemy and he did just that. He knew the enemy's weakness and he played it like a banjo. His advantage was that he was a consummate American, dedicated to this country and the People. Reagan would never have given up. He had our strengths behind him and he knew that. He wasn't going to play the game fair, they never did, he was going to play to win, and he did.

[_Jim]

The flawed technology included computer software that triggered a huge explosion in a Siberian gas pipeline,

One question and one question only -

"How?"

I want details - the type of computer/processor, the media it was transferred on, what control fucntions it was designed for - all those minor details that some, like myself, would classify as facts ...

[dufekin]

Well, you could always go to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. They're by far the most repressive regime on earth today. As an added bonus, most of the population is starving gradually to death, with casualties from undernourishment and related complications in the hundreds of thousands if not a million every year. If you dare utter one bad word about Kim Jong Il, a Stalinist "god," you and your entire family to three generations might be dispersed and placed in death camps. Starvation and punishment are particularly acute among the "hostile" caste, which constitutes roughly one-quarter of the population. About one-third are considered "wavering." Only those considered "loyal" may live in Pyongyang, the capital city of some 3 million people off-limits to the disabled and even to pregnant women. It is apparently the only city to receive semi-regular food distributions, and even there people reportedly are quite hungry.

[mylife]

you may be waiting a while Jim

[mylife]

It so sad to see Dutch languish

[_Jim]

you may be waiting a while Jim

I think you're right - I expect that the Soviets all on their own (and maybe even with the help of saboteurs) were capable of accidents for which various groups around the world (including out CIA took 'credit' for) ... one scrap of paper found by someone alluding to 'booby trapped' software dodn't make it so (I didn't read the article and I'm not about to waste the resources to do so either!) ...

[TheSpottedOwl]

Damn, that was a good one. I'm in awe :-)

[Russian Sage]

Just in case people are wondering why other governments are finding Open Source Software attractive...

[gov_bean_ counter]

Microsoft is Eeeeevil, just like them Jooooos!

Momma says Microsoff is the debil. You want some high quality H2O?

[Flightdeck]

I have a hard time stomaching DU. Originally, I thought it would be fun to see what happens inside a lizard's head, but paleolithic biology just isn't my thing. Whenever I've gone there lately, I can't even post because I get too depressed that a large percentage of Americans are born anencephalic (without a large portion of their brain), yet retain the right to vote. I'm not racist unless you count liberals as a separate race.

[MNnice]

Get this!

In the St. Paul Pioneer Press' printing of this story, it ends with this line:

"The role that Reagan and the United States played in the collapse of the Soviet Union remains a matter of intense debate." Hmmm. Funny, that doesn't seem to be in the original.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/8052942.htm

[hosepipe]

Pipeline espionage....GOOD... Stalin exported communism here and supported it till it became indigenous almost to the ruin of this country.. read "TREASON" - Ann Coulter.

And it is'nt over yet..