FLAW WAS PLANTED TO SABOTAGE SOVIETS
By David E. Hoffman
Washington Post
WASHINGTON - In January 1982, President Reagan approved a CIA plan
to sabotage the economy of the Soviet Union through covert
transfers of technology that contained hidden malfunctions,
including software that later triggered a huge explosion in a
Siberian natural-gas pipeline, according to a new memoir by a
Reagan White House official.
Thomas Reed, a former Air Force secretary who was serving in the
National Security Council at the time, describes the episode in
``At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War,'' to be
published next month by Ballantine Books. Reed writes that the
pipeline explosion was just one example of ``cold-eyed economic
warfare'' against the Soviet Union that the CIA carried out under
Director William Casey during the final years of the Cold
War.
KGB insider's tip
At the time, the United States was attempting to block Western
Europe from importing Soviet natural gas. There also were signs
that the Soviets were trying to steal a wide variety of Western
technology. Then, a KGB insider revealed the specific shopping list
and the CIA slipped the flawed software to the Soviets in a way
they would not detect it.
``In order to disrupt the Soviet gas supply, its hard currency
earnings from the West, and the internal Russian economy, the
pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines, and valves
was programmed to go haywire, after a decent interval, to reset
pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond
those acceptable to pipeline joints and welds,'' Reed writes.
``The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire
ever seen from space,'' he said, adding that U.S. satellites picked
up the explosion. Reed said in an interview that the blast occurred
in the summer of 1982.
``While there were no physical casualties from the pipeline
explosion, there was significant damage to the Soviet economy,'' he
writes. ``Its ultimate bankruptcy, not a bloody battle or nuclear
exchange, is what brought the Cold War to an end. In time, the
Soviets came to understand that they had been stealing bogus
technology, but now what were they to do? By implication, every
cell of the Soviet leviathan might be infected. They had no way of
knowing which equipment was sound, which was bogus.
``All was suspect, which was the intended endgame for the entire
operation.''
`Farewell Dossier'
Reed said he obtained CIA approval to publish details about the
operation. The CIA learned of the full extent of the KGB's pursuit
of Western technology in an intelligence operation known as the
Farewell Dossier. Portions of the operation have been disclosed
earlier, including in a 1996 paper in Studies in Intelligence, a
CIA journal.
The paper was written by Gus Weiss, an expert on technology and
intelligence who was instrumental in devising the plan to send the
flawed materials and served with Reed on the National Security
Council. Weiss died Nov. 25 at age 72.
The sabotage of the gas pipeline has not been previously disclosed,
and at the time was a closely guarded secret. When the pipeline
exploded, Reed writes, the first reports caused concern in the U.S.
military and at the White House. ``NORAD feared a missile liftoff
from a place where no rockets were known to be based,'' he said,
referring to North American Air Defense Command. ``Or perhaps it
was the detonation of a small nuclear device.''
``Before these conflicting indicators could turn into an
international crisis,'' he said, ``Gus Weiss came down the hall to
tell his fellow NSC staffers not to worry.''