Greatest secrets of the Cold War, page 1

Greatest secrets of the Cold War, page

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Topic started on 18-3-2005 @ 01:38 PM by NWguy83

GREATEST SECRETS OF THE COLD WAR

They read like plots from thrillers, but each of these chilling events actually happened.

BY JIM WILSON
Popular Mechanics

Unsuspecting civilians are doused with radiation and germ weapons. Intelligence agents recruit psychic spies. Generals plan an attack on a Chinese nuclear weapons plant. A phantom army triggers the largest arms buildup in history. Politicians secretly construct an underground city to escape fallout. The United States comes within 7 minutes of launching its ICBMs.

No, these aren't screenplays that were junked when the Soviet Union went belly up. Each of these events actually happened. For the two generations of Americans who fought and financed the Cold War, it was an epic struggle between us good guys and the "evil empire." Now, as the epoch fades into history, the declassification of tens of thousands of pages of secret documents has begun to cast a penetrating light on the era. As nine of these files reveal, truth can be stranger than fiction.

---snip---

Moscow's Phantom Arsenal

During the 1980s, the rationale for the United States undertaking the largest weapons buildup in history was detailed in a widely circulated Defense Department document titled Soviet Military Power. The report estimated that the Soviet Union commanded weaponry that exceeded the U.S. arsenal in every category.

It turns out many of those weapons never existed. Declassified CIA estimates of Soviet military power suggest the Defense Department's fears were caused by a phantom arsenal of nonexistent weapons. One example: The much-feared improved T-80 tank never existed. It appears analysts mistook an outmoded T-72 retrofitted with armored fabric side skirts for a new weapon.

In fact, the Soviets weren't even maintaining the weapons they did have. At a press conference late last year, Gen. Eugene Habiger, top commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, acknowledged that during the 1980s "the Russians weren't modernizing their forces as we were." As a result, "The service life of their systems is coming to an end."

To read more:
Greatest Secrets of the Cold War

Of course these are only the greatest secrets revealed so far... I'm sure there are things that will probably never be declassified.

EDIT:
NWguy83, first off, welcome to ATS.
Secondly, please post only a few paragraphs and a working link to the source of your article.
Bear in mind this, which is in bold at the top of each 'reply' and create topic' page:

MEMBERS: Do not simply post news articles in the forums without comment. If you feel inclined to make the board aware of current events, please post the first paragraph, a link to the entire story, AND your opinion, twist or take on the news item.

Thanks.

[edit on 18-3-2005 by Seekerof]

reply posted on 18-3-2005 @ 01:55 PM by skychief

Interesting read NW. Some of those secrets are just down right frightening such as the 7 minutes to armageddon. It amazes me that, at the time, the American public had no idea what could have happened. It really does make one wonder what secrets could still be hidden. During this time we were still developing our knowledge of the effects of atomic weapons. It's frightening to think then, what other expierments could have been performed on an unsuspecting public.

reply posted on 18-3-2005 @ 04:40 PM by SonofSpy

In the book Blind Mans Bluff which is about US submarine activity during the cold war it is disclosed that we had used our subs to tap into an underwater communications line that would have been used to relay launch orders from the Kremlin. Aside from that it was used to relay the Soviets most secret communacations. The Soviets didnt catch it for nearly ten years. We were privy to all of their most secret military communications for that long. This was our Trump card. Its also how Reagan checkmated the Soviets at nearly everything.

Text

We wouldve listened to all the manuvering and protocal leading to a launch. We had the capability of launching a succesful decapitation strike. By the time the Soviets had launched, our missiles would be 1/4th of the way there and our countermeasures airborne. We may have won a total nuclear exchange. Depends on what your definition of winning a nuclear exchange is though.

reply posted on 19-3-2005 @ 07:55 AM by GrOuNd_ZeRo

The much-feared improved T-80 tank never existed. It appears analysts mistook an outmoded T-72 retrofitted with armored fabric side skirts for a new weapon.

This is absolutely bull#, The T-80 wasn't based on the T-72, it was remotely based on the T-64, the rest was brand new....

www.globalsecurity.org...

Don't believe everything you read...

reply posted on 23-3-2005 @ 02:08 AM by SiberianTiger

The tapping into the lines thing is a lie Soviets discovered the U.S. was doing that with in about 6 months after it STARTED to happen, plus Soviets took pictures of Statue of Liberty and poped up in San Francisco MANY times in the 1980's so we check mated you Americans everytime also, your scenareo of U.S. would decapitate SU in a nuke war is FALSE we have been ready for nuke war scinse 1962 EVERY school department store and apartment complexes have underground shealters till this day 2005, and thats NO exageration

[edit on 23-3-2005 by SiberianTiger]

reply posted on 23-3-2005 @ 10:54 AM by warpboost

Look up OPERATION IVY BELLS if you want to learn more about the US tapping underwater cables. the story I heard said the US knew the Russian's had an undersea cable somewhere, so they devised a plan to tap it using a Sub. The problem was they didn't know exactly where the cable was

then someone just happened to be looking at a nautical map of Iceland and Norway region and saw there was a undersea cable marked. They said nah that couldn't be it since that would be too easy, but sure enough it was

reply posted on 23-3-2005 @ 12:16 PM by Pyros

Warpboost, your information on IVY BELLS is partially correct:

The operation occurred in the Pacific ocean near Vladivostok, and the cables that were tapped were unencrypted land-lines that were strung across a large bay and series of islands where the Soviets had a major military presence. The US Navy sent in specially equipped subs, which found the buried cables in the ocean floor (they first located the junction box on the beach, which indicated the location of where the cable went underwater - give you an idea of how close to land they operate!). Then SEAL divers planted recording devices on these cables, and reburied them in the ocean floor. Months later, the sub would return, replace the old device with a ne w one, and slip away. The tapes would then be sent back to NSA for analysis. The operation was a success because the Soviets (who could blame them) believed it was unnecessary to encrypt the signals running through these cables, as they were in protected Soviet waters and underground.

In 1981 the Soviets learned of the operation do to a spy at the NSA, Ronald Pelton, who compromised the operation. Fortunately, the US sub never had to go back a try to retreive the compromised pod, as NRO recce photos of the area clearly showed the Soviet Navy in the area of the surveillance pod, conducting a salvage operation. The NRO passed this data to the CIA, who then told the Navy, who then went to investigate when it was all clear. Sure enough, the lat pod was gone - the Russians had taken it. Eventually the spy pod was put on display in Moscow, to embarass the US (we were not embarassed!).

A great deal of valuable tactical and strategic information about the Soviet military forces in the Pacific was gleaned by this operation, and it all went into the dumper because of one lousy criminal traitor who wanted money.

A great synopsis of the event can be found here.

Siberian Tiger: maybe you could grace us with one of these infamous pictures of the Statue of Liberty or the Golden Gate Bridge (through a russian periscope, of course), which you proport to exist?

reply posted on 23-3-2005 @ 12:25 PM by Pyros

Here is a pixture of the actual IVY BELLS pod the Russians recovered in 1981:

reply posted on 23-3-2005 @ 12:56 PM by COOL HAND

Originally posted by SiberianTiger
The tapping into the lines thing is a lie Soviets discovered the U.S. was doing that with in about 6 months after it STARTED to happen, plus Soviets took pictures of Statue of Liberty and poped up in San Francisco MANY times in the 1980's so we check mated you Americans everytime also, your scenareo of U.S. would decapitate SU in a nuke war is FALSE we have been ready for nuke war scinse 1962 EVERY school department store and apartment complexes have underground shealters till this day 2005, and thats NO exageration

Wow, and you routinely accuse us of rampant nationalism?

I am going to have to raise the flag: