The Perfect Enemy: Reflections of an Intelligence Officer on the Cold War and Today’S Challenges

Abstract

Abstract In the late 1940s and 1950s, there was an’iron curtain’ around the Soviet Union. Russian Communism was on the march, expanding its control over neighbouring countries and supporting nationalist causes throughout the world. Most important from the perspective of the US and its Western allies, the Soviets presented a major strategic threat to Western Europe and the United States’ homeland. Its military forces, missile test facilities and nuclear production plants were hidden behind a barrier of secrecy and, moreover, spread throughout a sizeable country that was largely inaccessible. Developing confident judgments about the size, capability and location of Soviet forces became the primary goal of US and Allied intelligence. This challenge played to the strength of the US—technology, innovation, industrial know-how and resources. Although easier to say in hindsight and with contemporary eyes—the Soviet Union was the perfect enemy at least compared to the intelligence challenges faced by the US today.