I think some in the Reagan and GHWB administrations were alert to the possibility that Anatoliy Golitsyn's warnings had validity. The wishful-thinking was that with the tidal wave of people wanting freedom...that the Bad Guys "lost control" of the situation. In retrospect, we should have leaned much, much harder on Boris Yeltsin to terminate the KGB. Not just rename it FSB.
"I think some in the Reagan and GHWB administrations were alert to the possibility that Anatoliy Golitsyn's warnings had validity. The wishful-thinking was that with the tidal wave of people wanting freedom...that the Bad Guys "lost control" of the situation."
Interesting. I'm a big fan of Golitsyn, myself. I have both his books, though I've only read various parts. I think the problem is not so much whether or not anyone believed Golitsyn---but how strongly placed his various enemies were, not only Soviet agents that had penetrated our government, but Russian agents of influence---and their numerous progeny inside the United States and throughout the West.
Although Golitsyn realized there were Russian agents of influence (my use of the term comes from him), I believe he underrated their importance---particularly the way they could "force multiply" over the decades---gradually gaining followers/blackmailed slaves/etc. and finally---undermining entire institutions such as the MSM, the Democratic Party, the State Department, teachers unions, and academia.
"In retrospect, we should have leaned much, much harder on Boris Yeltsin to terminate the KGB. Not just rename it FSB."
I'm skeptical that that approach would've worked. I do think it's possible that if the U. S.---along with many key people inside Russia---had been more suspicious and kept full pressure on---the current proto-communist government of Russia could have been avoided. I suspect this pathway would have led to bloodshed inside Russia during the 1990s. But it would have been well worth it to cleanse that country of its rot---and would have avoided the current nest of problems faced by the United States---primarily driven by Russia on every side.