Even after the West began to loosen restrictions on research, and Gorbachev initiated a so-called policy of "glasnost" the gap between the Soviet Union and the West accelerated, because the base of any scientific, intellectual progress had been effectively destroyed by five+ decades of Stalinism.
"Reading Vasili Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrew's archives of Soviet documents gives you the impression that the USSR's effectiveness and efficiency at espionage wasn't matched by a commensurate desire on the part of the Soviet leadership to foster the sort of values that spur scientific and technological achievement.
Even after the West began to loosen restrictions on research, and Gorbachev initiated a so-called policy of "glasnost" the gap between the Soviet Union and the West accelerated, because the base of any scientific, intellectual progress had been effectively destroyed by five+ decades of Stalinism."
I don't know who Christopher Andrews is, but I never liked Mitrokhen much as a source. Not enough to meat there for a man who was supposedly involved with administering the KGB archives. Nor is his story credible. Trucking around copies of KGB files and storing them in his farm for a decade or wherever it was.
"Even after the West began to loosen restrictions on research, and Gorbachev initiated a so-called policy of "glasnost" the gap between the Soviet Union and the West accelerated, because the base of any scientific, intellectual progress had been effectively destroyed by five+ decades of Stalinism."
Actually, it seems to me that the US has been surprised by the effectiveness of some Soviet weapons that have appeared in recent years. They seem to be copying some of the stuff that stolen pretty well---and even adding some clever twists sometimes. I don't know weaponry well so I'll admit I can't come up with any specific examples. Perhaps I can be commented on by others.
"Even after the West began to loosen restrictions on research, and Gorbachev initiated a so-called policy of "glasnost" the gap between the Soviet Union and the West accelerated, because the base of any scientific, intellectual progress had been effectively destroyed by five+ decades of Stalinism."
In addition, as Golitsyn (high-ranking KGB defector, 1961) has explained in great detail, Stalinism was completely dead by 1957---in no way did it last 50 years. Having completely terminated Stalinism, however, the international Communist movement (in a series of meetings in Moscow in in 1957 through 1960) decided to fake its continuation---for the benefit of the West.
One key aspect of Stalinism was Stalin's idea that Russia had to completely dominate all the Communist parties of the world. This is led to the break with China. This break, however, was completely patched up in the 1957 to 1960 meetings. However, the two countries decided to continue their dispute on a fake level to suck in the U. S.---which worked, according to Golitsyn---when Nixon went to China around 1970 or so.
By opposing Nixon's move, Golitsyn undermined his own credibility in the US government and became effectively exiled from the US intelligence community.
That's what happens to a society when they've stolen technology and reversed engineered it. They don't have a basis upon which to rely on and troubleshooting problems becomes a huge issue.