Posted on 03/02/2007 4:34:48 AM PST by Aussie Dasher
A central factor in how Ronald Reagan won the Cold War, and did so with greater support along the way than the current president, was his ability to find means to undermine the enemy without losing thousands of American lives. An intriguing example, one that has eluded history, is the Farewell Dossier.
This top-secret effort was part of the devastating strategy of economic warfare pursued by Reagan and a handful of intimate advisers—a strategy so sensitive that those involved publicly denied that a campaign was underway. A central architect of that effort, National Security Adviser Bill Clark, was confronted on the covert strategy by Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, who whispered to him at a diplomatic function, “You have declared war on us, economic war.” Clark could only answer Dobrynin two decades later, once the Soviet Union imploded: “Yes, we had.”
The Farewell Dossier became part of this campaign.
This super-secret initiative was entrusted to an enigmatic NSC staffer named Gus Weiss, who I interviewed several times before he died in November 2003. Nearing the end of his life, Weiss wanted to discuss this effort “that no one knows about.” Here is how it unfolded:
The Reagan administration suspected that Soviet intelligence was stealing critical technology from the West. Not until 1981, however, was an organized Soviet program discovered, when French intelligence obtained the services of a 53-year-old defector named Colonel Vladimir Vetrov. Vetrov became known as “Farewell.”
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Awesome stuff.
Makes me miss Reagan even more and more thankful every day.
Sure wish he was still alive, WELL, and still president!
All in all, I like the guy we got too.
President Reagan's strategy was excellent, even brilliant, and successful in defeating the Soviet Union in the '80's...
Unfortunately, this ain't the 80's, and the enemy we face is not laboring under a "force-on-force parity" strategy.
To try to draw parallels between these two entirely different strategic problems is specious, at best.....
bttt
And now we see the source of one of the main plot elements of Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising -- except he used Muslim engineers to do it from a refinery's control room.
Cheers!
(Read an article a year or two back quoting a Procter&Gamble engineer to that effect...)
So China will shortly use that technique on us (spyware/malware bombs embedded in Lenovo chips, say?)
NO cheers, unfortunately.
Don't think we are not supplying false information to our enemies today, luring them into traps, forcing them to expose key plans and materials prematurely.
Reagan was dedicated to the defeat of the Soviet Union long before he became President. He merely continued that effort with brillance and more tools at his disposal.
George W Bush realized the lack of human intelligence that led to 9/11. While no public statement has been made (that would be foolish), we are in the process of infiltrating our enemies and placing operatives close to the command centers.
There is no question about that. I'm glad that we don't find out about these things for many years (if ever) and I thank God for those Americans who toil in anonymity as they secretly protect our nation from all enemies foreign and domestic.
Actually William Casey wrote about this shortly before he died.
Muslim) Informants in American Service
The Strategy Page ^ | June 4, 2006 | The Strategy Page
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1643576/posts
Posted on 06/05/2006 7:56:30 AM CDT by Little Ray
A recent terrorist trial, and conviction, of an Islamic terrorists in New York City brought out the extent to which police have infiltrated Moslem communities in order to uncover terrorist plots. While most of this counter-terrorist activity within Moslem communities is kept secret, enough information has leaked out to make it clear that it's no accident that the United States has not suffered another terrorist attack since September 11, 2001.
There is an extensive informant network within Moslem communities all over the United States. The FBI was pleasantly surprised right after September 11, 2001, by the number of calls they got from American Moslems, reporting suspicious events in their communities, or volunteering to keep an eye on things. It turned out that there was a substantial number of American Moslems, most of them recent immigrants (legal and illegal) that were pro al Qaeda. These attitudes had been causing distress among American Moslems since the 1990s. There had been violence, and even some murders, as the Islamic radicals tried to take control of Mosques, and other Moslem immigrant organizations.
(snip)
Until the NY Times knows of it. Then they tell the world.
yeah, he's a HECK of a lot better than x42, however...(fill in the blank)
Bush is good in many ways, but Reagan would have been much better at mobilising the public for war; with will as well as might, victory would have flowed much more easily.
Regards, Ivan
Some more information on this ingenious strategy and other Reagan strategies against the USSR are in the following book...
Victory: The Reagan Administration's Secret Strategy That Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union
And what consequences would those have been? The ones where Reagan turned tail and ran out of Lebanon after the Marine barracks bombing?
The naked truth is that from the 1972 Black September attack on the Israeli compound at the Munich Olympic Games, the West has been running away from confronting Islamofacism. George H.W. Bush confronted Hussein over Kuwait only because Saudi Arabia was vulnerable, but he stopped short of taking down the regime. And, like Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan before him, GHWB did nothing to stem the rise of Islamofacism -- nor did any British or continental European leaders. The Clinton era, both here and abroad, was terribly weak as regards the growing threat.
Not even September 11, 2001 has been enough to stir most of Europe and about half of the American people out of their willful slumber as regards Islamofacism. Only George W. Bush, Tony Blair and a handful of allies were willing to try to confront the problem head on, and they have been largely hamstrung by massive opposition to their efforts.
Ronald Reagan was a great man, but he was not a saint. He had his flaws and made his share of mistakes, just like every other human being who ever lived. Running away after the Marine barracks bombing was one of his biggest mistakes, one for which we are still paying the consequences today.
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