Triple Trap Read online

  Triple Trap

  William H. Hallahan

  You could always get free cheese in a mousetrap.

  —Brooklyn proverb

  Part One

  Chapter 1

  At two-thirty that afternoon, as instructed, Charlie Brewer entered the maximum security screening theater of the Mally Center on Fourth Street, a few blocks north of the Library of Congress. It was empty.

  He sat down in one of the theater seats and waited.

  A few moments later, a colonel holding a small clipboard entered through a side door and walked up the aisle to Brewer’s seat. He looked closely at the number on the plastic visitor’s badge clipped to Brewer’s lapel. Then he looked at a notation on the small clipboard. Then looked once more at the visitor’s badge.

  He cleared his throat and read a statement from the clipboard. “Everything you see and hear in this room is to be kept in the strictest confidence. The document you are about to receive is to be read in this room only and is to be returned to me at the end of this screening. Its contents are not to be revealed to anyone. May I proceed?”

  Brewer nodded patiently.

  The colonel handed him a sheaf of papers, 8½ by 14. “This is the script for the slide presentation you are about to see. Attached to it are several other documents which I will refer to in my presentation. I have been instructed to disclose to you the contents of a secret report given on December twelfth to the Technology Export Control Committee of the National Security Council. As you can see from the title page, the subject of this talk is the ‘Unauthorized Acquisition of U.S. Technology by the Soviet Union.’ It is for your eyes and ears alone. Please sign here.”

  When Brewer signed his name, the colonel walked to the podium, lowered the lights, and turned on a slide projector.

  On the screen appeared a photograph of a submarine.

  Colonel: “This is the new Soviet submarine Typhoon. Naval experts consider it to be the deadliest weapon ever conceived by the mind of man. It can dive deeper and run faster than any other submarine on earth. It is believed to be capable of outrunning our fastest torpedoes. It can settle on the bottom of the ocean for months on end, absolutely soundless, beyond reach of even our most sensitive detecting devices. It is equipped to fire over two hundred warheads at Western military targets and cities. It is a product of technological and engineering skills largely stolen from the United States. From stem to stern, if you removed the thousands of Western—mainly American—components and research developments, it would sink like a stone.

  Slide: MiG-25 Foxbat.

  Colonel: “This is the MiG-25 Foxbat. With an airspeed of 1,625 knots, it is one of the fastest—perhaps the fastest—military aircraft in the world. Reportedly, it has exceeded three times the speed of sound. From nose to tail it contains thousands of parts invented by, made in, and stolen from the U.S. It could almost literally be stamped Made in the USA.”

  The colonel pointed to the next slide on the screen. It showed Soviet troops raising a flag over the parapet of the Reichstag building in Berlin in May of 1945. Below them and beyond could be seen the ruins of the smashed city.

  Colonel: “Berlin fell in May of 1945, and that ended World War Two in Europe. The armies of the Soviet Union seized vast areas of eastern Europe, most of which it still holds by main force today. It was one of the biggest land grabs in history.”

  Slide: The ruins of Leningrad.

  Colonel: “Despite its seizure of many captive nations, the post-war Russian nation lay in ruins. Its industrial infrastructure was crippled. Its technology—what was left of it—was more than fifty years behind the United States.”

  Slide: Photographs of FBI arresting Soviet spy Dropov.

  Colonel: “For more than forty years since then, to make up for critical gaps in its own technological establishment, the Soviet Union has been conducting an unremitting campaign to acquire

  American military technology by any and all means—legal, illegal, covert.”

  Slide: Customs authorities examining a truck at a border checkpoint.

  Colonel: “During this forty-year period, the Soviet lag in technological development has become much greater—so enormous, in fact, the Soviet military installation now has had to resort to massive illegal acquisition of Western technology on a scale never before seen in history. Only in this way has it been able to maintain parity with the West. In fact, in a number of critical areas, as was just indicated, stolen U.S. technology has given the Soviets a dangerous advantage over the West.”

  Slide: Aerial view of Zeleenograd.

  Colonel: “This is the Soviet’s secret city of Zeleenograd. It is so important to the Russians, they have put land mines around the entire area, barbed wire and watch towers around the perimeter of the city, into which only the most carefully screened workers are admitted. To a greater extent than ever before, the Soviet government now rigorously pursues a formal, elaborate program for the illegal acquisition of Western technology. Much of its stolen technological apparatus is located in this city. That program is an official and vital element in the development and production of the military weapons and military systems of that country.”

  Slide: Photograph of Yuri Andropov.

  Colonel: “It was Yuri Andropov himself, former head of the KGB and later Premier of the USSR, who formed Directorate T, a special division of the KGB, created specifically and solely for the purpose of stealing U.S. technology. He stocked the operation with some of the finest technological minds in Russia.”

  Slide: Photograph of Directorate T headquarters.

  Colonel: “Directorate T has its own huge office complex just outside Moscow. In addition it maintains its own offices in Soviet compounds throughout the world. As we talk here, some twenty-two thousand Soviet intelligence people in Directorate T are busy illegally acquiring that technology from locations all over the world. Although it routinely gathers information on technological developments in the West, particularly the U.S.—much of it published in business and trade journals—the great bulk of it is acquired by relentless spying. Please note I underline twenty-two thousand personnel in just Moscow alone.”

  Slide: Photograph of Kaline, convicted Soviet spy.

  Colonel: “Hundreds of Soviet nationals have been caught spying on Western countries. In addition, countless Western nationals have been suborned into spying for the Soviets. The Soviets regard spying and the acquisition of Western secrets as an extension of its dedicated warfare against the West.”

  Slide: Aviation Age magazine.

  Colonel: “The contents of Aviation Age magazine alone are deemed so important by the Soviets, each copy is transmitted page by page by electronic scanner to Moscow, where Soviet technical specialists translate every word of it—including the advertising—for immediate dissemination. And Aviation Age is just one of thousands of U.S. publications the Soviets study.”

  Slide: A pile of U.S. technical magazines.

  Colonel: “Summaries of Western publications are provided to Soviet designers of military weaponry. When these military specialists are apprised of an important new piece of Western equipment or design, they submit a written requisition for it directly to Directorate T of the KGB. Directorate T in turn determines whether to try to purchase the requisitioned item through illegal front companies or to hijack and smuggle it. Due to more stringent enforcement of Western export laws recently, theft is now more the norm.”

  Slide: Pages of parts listings.

  Colonel: “The devastating results of the Soviets’ illegal acquisition of Western technology are everywhere evident. Appended to your document is a partial listing of some parts and equipment acquired by them in just the last few years. As you can see, it is more than twenty pages long. Much of this equipment is s
o important to the Soviet military program, they have killed to get it.”

  Slide: Photomicrodensitometer.

  Colonel: “As an illustration of how the Soviet system works—this is an American photomicrodensitometer. It is a critically important piece of equipment in military photography. The KGB illegally purchased one through two dummy companies. While it was in transit to Moscow, authorities in Austria impounded it. Undaunted, the KGB front company, two months later, purchased another. This one was stopped at New York’s Kennedy Airport.”

  Slide: Heidelberg Airport.

  Colonel: “Since clandestine purchase had failed, the Soviets turned to theft. A photomicrodensitometer legally shipped to NATO was stolen from this loading platform in Heidelberg in West Germany …”

  Slide: Lebedev Institute in Moscow.

  Colonel: “… and smuggled through East Germany, and then flown here—the Lebedev Institute in Moscow. At this moment it is performing vital military analyses of streak camera photography of Western installations.”

  Slide: VAX 11-782.

  Colonel: “Another example: this is the highly sophisticated American VAX 11-782 supermicrocomputer manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation. The VAX 11-782 has a number of critical military applications. In West Germany two years ago authorities boarded a Polish jet transport just minutes before takeoff and seized this VAX 11-782 with all its peripherals, destined for Moscow. Yet fifty other VAXs have already disappeared behind the Iron Curtain.

  “Needless to say, without these fifty U.S. supermicrocomputers, plus an unknown number of IBM mainframes, Russia’s military capability would be significantly diminished—perhaps even crippled.”

  Slide: Customs officers standing beside a seismograph and a laser unit.

  Colonel: “This advanced laser system and this very sensitive seismograph which can be used to detect nuclear detonations were seized by American authorities, yet many others have already been acquired by the Russians.”

  Slide: Two sonar buoys.

  Colonel: “The item on the left is a Soviet sonar buoy. It was found floating in the ocean near our submarine base in Washington State, gathering critical information on the activities of U.S. Trident missile submarines. As you can see, it is an exact copy of a U.S. sonar buoy on the right.”

  Slide: Processing machine.

  Colonel: “And it was made on this machinery acquired illegally from U.S. sources.”

  Slide: Several Soviet aircraft.

  Colonel: “An Air Force analysis reveals an even more devastating story, including the aforementioned Soviet MiG-25 Fox-bat. U.S. parts and components are performing vital roles on almost all Soviet tactical aircraft—everything from the Su-24 Fencer to the MiG-25 Frogfoot and the MiG-29 Fulcrum, and all the aircraft between MiG-23 Flogger and MiG-25 Foxbat.”

  Slide: Charts of Soviet military aircraft.

  Colonel: “Copies of these charts are in your document. The charts indicate speed, radius, armament and wingspan, fire-power, and equipment of Soviet aircraft.”

  Slide: Another chart.

  Colonel: “The numbers on the left are aircraft production figures for Soviet bombers, fighters/fighter bombers, transports, ASW, helicopters, and even utility/trainer craft. Matching them on the right are current production figures for comparable NATO aircraft. Please note the items printed in red—these are vitally important pieces of equipment on Russian aircraft illegally acquired from Western technology. The full list is attached to your script. As you can see, it runs for pages.”

  Slide: Airborne view of MiG-31 Foxhound.

  Colonel: “This Soviet MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor now has a technology that the Soviets struggled for years to get: a true look-down/shoot-down radar system. The entire system was stolen from the U.S. As a result, when the F-14 Navy TomCat confronts the MiG-31 Foxhound, it is facing an enemy with the identical advanced American radar system, thereby canceling an enormous advantage that had cost the U.S. vast sums of money and years of unremitting research.”

  Slide: MiG-21 Fishbed L.

  Colonel: “This MiG-21 Fishbed, with a speed of over twelve hundred knots, carries four air-to-air missiles—the AA-2 Atoll. The Atoll is an exact copy of our own Sidewinder missile.”

  Slide: Soviet aircraft flying in formation.

  Colonel: “Without illegally acquired Western technology, it is clear, the Soviet air capability would be that of a third-class power. Much of its air force would not be able to fly.”

  Slide: A child’s self-teaching computer unit.

  Colonel: “Soviet depredations extend to even the smallest items. In the early years the Soviets were able to acquire microchips from children’s toys in stores all over the world.”

  Slide: An array of microchips.

  Colonel: “Later, Soviet military programs required large quantities of U.S. microchips. These were obtained direct from manufacturing sources in the U.S. through dummy companies.”

  Slide: Microchip machine.

  Colonel: “Recently, they have been acquiring the manufacturing capability needed to produce microprocessors inside Russia. To date they have obtained a few American machines which they have copied through reverse engineering. The really advanced machinery has so far eluded them. Getting it is high on their list of priorities.”

  Slide: Wooden crates at an Italian customs station.

  Colonel: “Twice recently the Soviets had tried to smuggle some of this advanced chip-making equipment into Russia—through Italy to the Tyrol, across the border into Austria at the Brenner Pass, all with ostensibly legal papers. And twice Italian authorities had impounded the equipment.”

  Slide: Photograph of chip-making machine.

  Colonel: “It is believed that a third and more determined acquisition effort by the Russians is imminent.”

  Slide: Photograph of Export Control offices.

  Colonel: “The Export Control System of the Department of Commerce has been assigned the job of stopping these illegal Soviet acquisitions. Recently aided by efforts from many other branches of government, it has made heroic efforts to stop these depredations, but with very little success.”

  Slide: Directories and handbooks of matériel and parts.

  Colonel: “The Contraband List of the Export Control System of the Department of Commerce consists of some three hundred thousand items. The entire staff of the Department’s division is composed of less than one hundred people. They are opposed by the twenty-two thousand Soviets in Directorate T in Moscow plus uncounted thousands around the world who are busy night and day finding, acquiring, and shipping material to Moscow.”

  Slide: Military research laboratory.

  Colonel: “The consequences of this Soviet policy are quite clear. Organized widespread theft has saved the Soviet Union billions upon billions of research dollars, years of research time, and all the agony of testing, retesting, and redesigning.”

  Slide: Military equipment in May Day parade, Moscow.

  Colonel: “Russia lets the West do all the creative conceptualizing, the developmental programs, and the perfecting and fine tuning of the technology and the manufacturing process, then it steps in and steals the perfected new item.”

  Slide: Soviet soldier with SAM missile unit.

  Colonel: “It acquires new technology almost as soon as the West does … technology it would otherwise be unable to match with its own limited capabilities. In addition to the billions it saves on research, the Soviets also save many more billions of dollars in manufacturing capabilities they do not have to invest in.”

  Slide: Computer mainframe manufacturing activity.

  Colonel: “In effect, the Soviet Union is using the formidable defense budget of the United States and the highly sophisticated manufacturing capability of American industry to build their own high-tech military installation.”

  Slide: Soviet troops on parade in Moscow.

  Colonel: “It is estimated that the Soviet Union has saved over one hundred billion dollars by stealing Wes
tern technology. Those billions it has saved in advanced high-tech weaponry are then used to build its conventional weapons arsenal and its huge standing army—and also to develop its space program, including its highly secret Star Wars project. In all these categories, especially in Star Wars, it is getting technology it cannot develop itself.”

  Slide: Air-to-air missile fired by jet fighter.

  Colonel: “Worst of all, the Soviets are forcing the U.S. to spend additional tens of billions of dollars to build defenses against its own weapons—defenses that the Russians quickly acquire. The Russians have succeeded in pitting the United States against the United States.”

  Slide: Reprise of Soviet submarine.

  Colonel: “Clearly, this policy of technological theft has enabled it to surpass the West in many military categories.”

  Slide: Russian missile launchers.

  Colonel: “More important, it has helped raise Russian military capability from that of a third-rate conventional power to a first class high-tech military machine.”

  Slide: Space satellite firing a laser beam at another satellite.

  Colonel: “If continued unchecked, the Russian policy can ultimately give it an unbridgeable lead in Star Wars technology. This, it envisions, will enable it to conquer the world without firing a shot.”

  The colonel put down his script. “Are there any questions?”

  “Yes,” Brewer replied. “Who authorized you to show this to me. And why?”

  “I cannot answer either one of those questions,” the colonel answered.

  Chapter 2

  The winter was terrible that year.

  Leningrad recorded the lowest temperatures in its history, and even the southern part of England had a series of two-foot snowfalls. In the eastern United States the bitter cold and the deep snow drove all the water birds to the seashore, and there, in spite of organized feeding efforts by the authorities, many birds starved and froze. In the cities soot-blackened mounds of snow lay until April.

  It was a winter people talked about for years afterward. Some never forgot it.