[montomike]

Read Blind Man's Bluff and read all about the cable tapping by the US Subs. One sub would actually leave California, go around Tierra Del Fuego (the extreme tip of South America for you readers from Rio Lindo)and go north around Scandinavia to Murmansk to do their thing.

[colorado tanker]

They also tapped cables on the Sov's east coast.

This is nothing new. Might be a new ship doing it, but the capability's been around a long time and books have been written about it.

[cynwoody]

Read Blind Man's Bluff and read all about the cable tapping by the US Subs. One sub would actually leave California, go around Tierra Del Fuego (the extreme tip of South America for you readers from Rio Lindo)and go north around Scandinavia to Murmansk to do their thing.

I think I read they sent two subs on those missions. The job of the second boat was to lead a merry chase in the event the Soviets turned up in the area during the mission.

Also, I think there was a plan (never carried out) to lay a cable from the tap over to Greenland, thereby solving the timeliness problem mentioned in the article. There must have been a hell of a lot of good stuff on that cable to justify such an effort!

[leprechaun9]

The book "Blind Man's Bluff" is a must read for more than the submarine cable tapping. The fact that one of our subs went into a Soviet Top Secret Naval base on a periodic basis, changed the monitoring pod and was not detected for fifteen years, gives me comfort that part of our government is working well.

Unfortunately the Spy, John Walker, told the soviets about this tapping for $15,000 and today that cable pod is on display in a Moscow Museum!

The book also discusses the Glomar Explorer and its impact on the Reagan/Gorbachor meeting!