The strange Case of Chris Cooke (cold war US quisling )

In my continued reading of Command and Control (history of US nuclear forces management) I came across a sad, forgotten story.

How a 2nd Lt , a piece of human excrement (IMO) named Cooke betrayed the Air Force Titan 2 ICBM missile system. Without coercion or even persuasion he reached out to Soviet agents and gave them launch codes, details of function, security information and all for nearly free. Cooke thought of himself , apparently, as some sort of James Bond character, he demanded of the KGB that his code name to be “Scorpion”.

Unbelievably he ended up doing zero prison time as Federal Courts foolishly offered him an early plea as they believed his only offense was visiting Soviet Embassies, only later did the truth of his deep involvement come out. In a nation that gives crackheads that knock over a 711 long prison sentences I am again amazed at the leniency our top Benedict Arnold’s get.

He is still living free and must be doing well as he had a job and was an author (2 books published).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Cooke

Nuts. With his background how did they ever put him in that position? And openly visiting the Soviet embassy in 1981? Even the Soviets thought it best not to trust him and work with him further.
And they didn’t even give him a dishonorable discharge?

Deranged

I suspect that a HUGE PROBLEM with vetting people for Top Secret clearances is that there is no political screening (maybe beyond asking if they were in the Communist Party).

Really, really, STUPID if true and certainly true in the US military. Basically, if the people are Democrats, they cannot be trusted with our secrets, and need to excluded from sensitive positions.

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