In 1983 ‘war scare,’ Soviet leadership feared nuclear surprise attack by U.S.

Washington Post ^ | October 24, 2015 | David E. Hoffman

[sparklite2]

Yes. In reaction to which the west moved Pershing missiles closer to the USSR. I remember the KAL shootdown and the awful feeling that nothing could or would be done about it.

[sparklite2]

Most of the events in the TV series The Americans were real.

I hope the one involving a submarine propeller shaft was one of them. They let the Soviets steal engineering designs for a very quiet drive shaft that actually shook itself to pieces and wrecked the sub they put it on.

[doorgunner69]

The TV series had the E Germans deliberately tweaking translations of Top Secret NATO docs deleting the part where the US said it would never strike first. The E Germans did all they could to goad the Russians into going for it.

Dunno if that was embellishment for the TV show or reality.

[GOPJ]

Farewell stayed secret because the blast in June 1982, estimated at three kilotons, took place in the Siberian wilderness, with no casualties known. Nor was the red-faced KGB about to complain publicly about being tricked by bogus technology... Vetrov was caught and executed in 1983. A year later, Bill Casey ordered the KGB collection network rolled up, closing the Farewell dossier. Gus Weiss died from a fall a few months ago. Now is a time to remember that sometimes our spooks get it right in a big way.

Understandable how Putin gets spooked by the CIA... Bill Casey was the stuff legends are made of...

[SES1066]

The problem for the Soviet Union was that the logic could become circular in that the propaganda and real facts could become confused. The point about Russian history making the country and people paranoid is quite valid and is still a real point when discussing Putin.

Another point to remember about 1983 is that the Soviet Union was going through an almost constant leadership crisis.

[Ancesthntr]

Given the enormous losses that they had taken within living memory, extreme paranoia from our perspective might have seemed like common sense from theirs.

This is the truth. Read Nixon's "The Real War" to get an idea of Soviet/Russian insecurity. We could learn from that.

[AdmSmith]

This happened during the formative years of Putin (he was in his late 20s) and it explains his mindset.

[darth]

Yes.

Books have mentioned the incident.

Victor Suvorov mentioned it in his books on the GRU.

We actually learned a lot from Soviet defectors who wrote books in the last 30 years.

[GOPJ]

She replied, “I was a career CIA agent. I am being recalled because at this moment, we are very close to thermonuclear war. The Russian boomers are up on our continental shelf with their missile doors open. We are in great danger.” At this point, my BS meter was pegging out. I politely made chit chat and asked to talk to her daughter. I wondered how a civilian knew that Soviet SLBM subs were called boomers and that being close to our coast with missile doors open was a sign of imminent launch. I dismissed the entire incident. A few years later in a classified briefing, I found out that every word she said was true. Andropov had gone to the Politburo and insisted that the Cowboy Reagan would definitely attack. He said the USSR must attack first. However, for once, the CIA did their job and found out about the war preparations. Reagan sent a stern letter to the Politburo letting them know that we KNEW and would retaliate massively in the event of an attack. Once again, showing strength and resolve averted war. Let it always be so.

Russian 'boomers'... wasn't that common knowledge - related to the sound Russian subs made when picked up by sonar?

My fear is Putin would attack first - and Obama's people are not on top of this stuff enough to stop it...

[GOPJ]

Was the ‘constant leadership crisis’ related to circular logic and paranoia?

[SunkenCiv]

It doesn’t. His KGB background and weekend-warrior alcoholism, plus his limitless greed for money and power didn’t grow out of the historically inevitable downward spiral of the [sic] Workers’ Paradise.