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(tense music)
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He pursued a brilliant career
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in the Soviet army, among the most
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influential members of the USSR.
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He's a poster boy, he's an emblem of the Soviet regime.
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But in 1960, he betrays his country
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to offer his services to the American enemy.
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I have at my disposal very important
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materials on many subjects of exceptionally great interest
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and importance to your government.
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Colonel Oleg Penkovsky,
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a spy embedded in the vaults of Soviet power.
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The amount of material he brought out was just staggering.
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But can he be trusted?
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Is he who he says he is,
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and is he doing it for the reason he said?
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The fate of the world is in his hands.
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You can't help but to think
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what would have it been like differently.
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Here is the surprising story
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of America's secret weapon, a prolific spy
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who, almost single-handedly,
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pulled the world from the brink of nuclear war.
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(dramatic music)
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(foreign language)
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Aggression and subversion will not for profitable roots.
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(foreign language)
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And the right of self-determination for all people.
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Who can best stand up to Khrushchev?
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In the early 1960s,
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U.S. President John F. Kennedy
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and Soviet Union Secretary General Nikita Khrushchev
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berate one another in their public speeches.
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(foreign language)
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It's the height of the Cold War,
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and the world is ideologically torn in half:
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in the West, the liberal block led by the U.S.,
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in the East the soviet block, headed by the powerful USSR.
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Separate by an iron curtain, the two giants
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provoke each other with the threat of atomic weapons.
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Suddenly, in the heart of the Caribbean,
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a small Soviet enclave turns up the heat on the Cold War.
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It's name: Cuba.
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Good evening my fellow citizens.
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Within the past week, unmistakable evidence
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has established the fact
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that a series of offensive missile sites
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is now in preparation on that imprisoned island.
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On October 22nd, 1962, President Kennedy
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declares the immediate establishment of a naval blockade
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around the island to halt any new weapon deliveries.
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The news hits like a shockwave.
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Will the two world powers attack each other,
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triggering World War III?
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If Premier Khrushchev decided to ignore
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the naval quarantine, there's every realistic expectation
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that we would have had war.
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And given the circumstances in 1962,
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the chances that that would have escalated
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to a thermonuclear war are very, very high.
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One path we shall never choose,
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and that is the path of surrender or submission.
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Our goal is not the victory--
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While the world holds its breath,
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President Kennedy remains remarkably calm.
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His secret: a fortuitous source of information
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located in the heart of Soviet power, in Moscow.
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That goal will be achieved.
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Thank you, and goodnight.
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(tense music)
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The key to averting nuclear war
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begins one summer night, when strangers meet
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on the Moskvoretsky Bridge.
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A man enjoying the view and two American interns,
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Eldon Ray Cox and Henry Lee Cobb,
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returning from the Bolshoi Ballet.
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The gentleman asks for a light,
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and then approaches them with a more unusual request.
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He says, "I have a package here.
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"I want you to take it to a particular man."
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The man he identifies is the security officer
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at the American embassy in Moscow.
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"And I want you to take this package to him right away."
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The man hands the students two envelopes.
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Then he disappears into the night.
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Cox and Cobb are sitting there
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and saying, "What should we do?"
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Well Cox says, "I'm gonna take it down."
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Cobb says, "No, this is a setup.
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"I want nothing to do with this."
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I'm gonna go back to my hotel room.
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So they parted ways, and then Cox took a taxi
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and he went to the American embassy.
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Here, at CIA headquarters,
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the most sensitive archives
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of American history are preserved.
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Most are classified top secret.
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But among the documents handed off
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by the mysterious man on the bridge
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were two identical typewritten letters
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made public a few years ago.
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Originally written in Russian,
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they were translated into English by the U.S. embassy.
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My dear sir,
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it is your good friend who is turning to you,
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a friend who has already become your soldier-warrior
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for the ideal of a truly free world
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to which your, and now my, President, government,
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and people are sacrificing so much effort.
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I ask that you believe the sincerity of my thoughts.
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At the present time I have at my disposal very important
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materials on many subjects of exceptionally great interest
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and importance to your government.
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The letters aren't signed.
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Who is this mystery man?
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And what does he really want?
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Enclosed with the letters is a single photograph.
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Still classified today,
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it gave the CIA a lead to pursue his identity.
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When they open up the package in the American embassy,
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they find a photograph of a man in a military uniform
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with the head cut off, and an arrow that goes down
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and says "I am," and in there also is the photograph
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of an American military officer
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that had been a military attache in Turkey.
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He knows that, by having that picture,
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we're gonna be able to look back
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at the diplomatic record from the time,
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we'll be able to reach out to the army colonel,
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and we'll be able to figure out who's in the picture.
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It was a good ploy on his part.
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(dramatic music)
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Thanks to the photograph
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and the students' descriptions,
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the CIA quickly tracks down the mysterious informant.
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Colonel Oleg Penkovsky.
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During World War II, this brilliant Soviet officer
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rose through the ranks of the Red Army.
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In 1949, he enrolled in the Military Diplomatic Academy,
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where future agents are trained for the GRU,
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the Soviet intelligence agency.
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At just 30 years old, he is promoted to colonel.
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Then, after starting his career in Turkey,
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he becomes Deputy Director of Coordination
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for Scientific Research at the Soviet Committee.
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His mission: to gather technical knowledge
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from countries in the West.
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On paper, he most certainly is a poster boy,
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he's an emblem of the Soviet regime.
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His rise, if you look at his resume,
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is very consistent with many people
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in senior levels of military and intelligence,
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and in that effect, he's a kind of regular product;
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he's a shining example of the Soviet system.
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So the initial reaction of particularly the CIA
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is this guy's gotta be a plant.
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He's gotta be, in effect, feeding disinformation.
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He's working for the KGB or the GRU against us.
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It's too good to be true.
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Despite the risk of a trap,
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the CIA sends an intelligence officer to Moscow
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to contact Oleg Penkovsky.
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If the man's motivations are honest,
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the West would have its first mole
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in the heart of Soviet power,
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an opportunity impossible to let slip by.
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In the spring of 1961, the meeting finally happens.
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The businessmen and British MI6 contact Greville Wynne
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hosts a delegation of engineers and scientists in London.
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At the head of this small group is Oleg Penkovsky.
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At the Mount Royal Hotel,
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Greville Wynne informs the Soviet colonel
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he's expected in suite 360 by Western officers.
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There are two CIA officers there:
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Joe Bulik and George Kisevalter.
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George Kisevalter will be kind of key,
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because he was famous for his incredible Russian skills
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but also his way of connecting with Russians.
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And then there was Shergy Shergold and Michael Stokes
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on the MI6 side.
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So you had four very experienced officer meeting with him.
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The interrogation begins.
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In every human operation run by any intelligence service,
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you get a new source, your first question is:
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is this man bonafide?
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In other words, is he legitimate?
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Is he who he says he is?
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And is he doing it for the reasons he says?
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Or has he been sent as a deception operation to deceive us?
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In the business, we call this asset validation.
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So they're gonna start the process
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of a very thorough, very friendly debriefing
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as to how he comes to be that he wants to be in the room
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with these four intelligence officers.
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During this first meeting,
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the officers learn that Colonel Penkovsky's rising career
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with the GRU has recently stalled.
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His problems started four years earlier, in 1956.
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While on assignment in Turkey,
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he denounced the head of the GRU
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stationed in Istanbul for corruption.
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But instead of listening to Penkovsky's complaints,
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Moscow buries the case and brings Penkovsky home.
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Soon after Penkovsky returned to Russia,
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the KGB launched an investigation on him,
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and what they discovered jeopardized
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any chance for promotion.
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About a year ago,
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I was called up by the Chief of the Personnel Directorate
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who questioned me about my father.
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He said, "This is what you have declared
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"your background to be, and this is what
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"we have found out about your father.
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"You said your father simply died."
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This is because my father was a White officer.
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The KGB discovered that Penkovsky's father
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had fought alongside the Tsar
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against the Bolshevik revolutionaries in the late 1910s.
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It's a serious offense.
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Had this come out earlier,
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he never would have ended up in the GRU.
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Once it came out in his KGB reinvestigation,
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they determined he and his family
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could never go overseas again.
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Penkovsky was coming up on 25 years of service
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and had this tainted White Russian background.
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He was gonna get retired, he believed.
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He was never going to be promoted to general.
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He was never going to be among those
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that really had access to the best
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that there was inside the Soviet Union.
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And so, Penkovsky saw himself in this race against time,
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that he had to build up such a credit
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within MI6 and CIA, that when and if he got retired
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and lost all of this access, that he would be able
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to eventually defect and have a good life.
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During the first meetings,
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the officers try to unravel Oleg Penkovsky's
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very intricate personality and complicated motivations.
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Still today we have great questions
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about what Penkovsky's motivations were.
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Not every expert on Penkovsky would necessarily agree
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what was the principle trigger.
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Oleg Penkovsky is a curious figure.
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He was profoundly arrogant.
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He may have had delusions of grandeur
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about both his own importance
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and where he could serve the Americans and the British.
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And we know from almost every account,
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especially his interrogators,
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that one of his motivations became the idea
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that he was treated unfairly in the Soviet system.
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And there's no question that was accelerated
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once Khrushchev became the official.
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He detested Khrushchev;
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he didn't like anything about the man.
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It's not well-documented how well he knew Khrushchev,
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if at all, but he came to the assumption
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that Khrushchev was reckless and dangerous in his behavior,
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of foreign affairs in particular.
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So between those two things there was this initiative,
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if you like, or motivation to betray.
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He's very concerned about Khrushchev,
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so he's very concerned of what he's gonna do
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with nuclear weapons.
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So he's very concerned about where he's country is going.
267
00:14:26,110 --> 00:14:28,560
He sees himself as a patriot, and he says
268
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somebody needs to know what is happening in this country.
269
00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:35,220
During his stay in London,
270
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Penkovsky holds a series of meetings with the CIA and MI6.
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16 interviews take place over 15 days, 52 hours altogether.
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The reason Penkovsky was able to go and meet
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for 52 hours and not be missed
274
00:14:53,110 --> 00:14:55,140
was, every time he came to the West,
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he would would with this giant shopping list,
276
00:14:57,970 --> 00:15:01,300
not just for his family but for all of their friends.
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And so what we would do to help account for his time
278
00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:07,600
is we would fill his shopping list,
279
00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:11,630
and then he would spend his time giving us secrets,
280
00:15:11,630 --> 00:15:14,050
and then he would come back to his room,
281
00:15:14,050 --> 00:15:15,900
and he would have this shopping bags.
282
00:15:15,900 --> 00:15:18,000
Okay, everybody understands what he's been doing:
283
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,390
he's out buying all of those things
284
00:15:21,390 --> 00:15:24,190
that everyone back in the Soviet Union wanted
285
00:15:24,190 --> 00:15:25,173
and couldn't get.
286
00:15:27,890 --> 00:15:31,340
These hundreds of pages of transcribed conversations
287
00:15:31,340 --> 00:15:34,030
reveal specifics about the GRU,
288
00:15:34,030 --> 00:15:37,310
the heart of USSR intelligence.
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00:15:37,310 --> 00:15:42,100
It's an organization that Penkovsky knows inside and out,
290
00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:44,063
because he's inside.
291
00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:49,870
The technical documents he brought out
292
00:15:49,870 --> 00:15:52,300
were amazing, were great.
293
00:15:52,300 --> 00:15:56,830
He compromised over 300 KGB and GRU officers:
294
00:15:56,830 --> 00:15:59,670
names, photographs later on.
295
00:15:59,670 --> 00:16:01,200
That was wonderful.
296
00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,100
If we had never had another meeting with him after
297
00:16:04,100 --> 00:16:07,130
that first group, he still would have paid for himself.
298
00:16:07,130 --> 00:16:08,910
I mean, the amount of material
299
00:16:08,910 --> 00:16:11,023
he brought out was just staggering.
300
00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,130
The Americans and the British are absolutely stunned
301
00:16:15,130 --> 00:16:16,930
about what they're hearing from him.
302
00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:19,310
He is the golden goose.
303
00:16:19,310 --> 00:16:21,760
He has a wealth of information and insight
304
00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:23,910
that they've never had before.
305
00:16:23,910 --> 00:16:26,993
(moving vocal music)
306
00:16:32,690 --> 00:16:35,860
But as his time in London comes to an end,
307
00:16:35,860 --> 00:16:38,923
he must also wrap up his meetings in suite 360.
308
00:16:40,317 --> 00:16:44,640
At the end of the 52 hours, the four officers realize
309
00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:47,300
that they had a tremendous resource here.
310
00:16:47,300 --> 00:16:49,510
But they also had a resource
311
00:16:49,510 --> 00:16:51,350
who was soon gonna go back in
312
00:16:51,350 --> 00:16:54,713
to the most difficult handling environment you can face.
313
00:16:56,480 --> 00:16:59,530
Immediately it was decided that they need to have
314
00:16:59,530 --> 00:17:02,020
a collection capability in Moscow
315
00:17:02,020 --> 00:17:04,030
so that they could pass information,
316
00:17:04,030 --> 00:17:07,360
receive information from him in Moscow.
317
00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:09,750
This is very, very dangerous to do,
318
00:17:09,750 --> 00:17:13,080
because there's 7,000 people in the surveillance team
319
00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:16,570
of the KGB in Moscow alone, so it's very difficult
320
00:17:16,570 --> 00:17:19,770
to run a human source in Moscow,
321
00:17:19,770 --> 00:17:21,720
but the decision was they had to do it.
322
00:17:22,572 --> 00:17:25,072
(tense music)
323
00:17:45,723 --> 00:17:48,650
Back in the Soviet capital, despite the risks,
324
00:17:48,650 --> 00:17:52,753
Oleg Penkovsky continues working for his new Western allies.
325
00:17:55,350 --> 00:17:58,020
With his official passes, he can access
326
00:17:58,020 --> 00:18:01,393
the special collection at Artillery High Command Library.
327
00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:04,630
This is where the regime keeps
328
00:18:04,630 --> 00:18:06,560
its most confidential documents
329
00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:09,216
about their military arsenal development.
330
00:18:09,216 --> 00:18:11,716
(tense music)
331
00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:21,960
The CIA provided him with a Minox,
332
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:25,873
a miniature camera, a tiny, technological marvel.
333
00:18:38,690 --> 00:18:41,430
During World War II, the Minox camera
334
00:18:41,430 --> 00:18:44,240
became the perfect spy camera
335
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:46,673
for copying documents for a couple reasons.
336
00:18:47,540 --> 00:18:49,780
Number one, it was very small.
337
00:18:49,780 --> 00:18:52,320
It was easy to conceal.
338
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,640
Number two, at a time in which cameras
339
00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:59,280
were typically very large, something so small
340
00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:02,623
to fit in your hand was certainly non-threatening.
341
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:08,120
The third thing was that it had incredibly sharp lenses,
342
00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:12,210
and it could focus easily, where at 20 centimeters
343
00:19:12,210 --> 00:19:16,000
you could take a picture of a full page of documents
344
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:20,313
with between 36 or 50 exposures per cassette.
345
00:19:21,510 --> 00:19:24,240
It could go from your pocket, simply open it,
346
00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,340
it automatically would cock the shutter when you do,
347
00:19:27,340 --> 00:19:29,860
you look at a document, get it the proper height,
348
00:19:29,860 --> 00:19:30,913
snap the picture.
349
00:19:31,990 --> 00:19:33,963
This is literally done in seconds.
350
00:19:38,340 --> 00:19:42,060
And it was used by all of the major intelligence services
351
00:19:42,060 --> 00:19:43,183
during World War II.
352
00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:47,560
For days, the spy photographs
353
00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,113
countless documents in total secrecy.
354
00:19:59,630 --> 00:20:02,310
Penkovsky sends the microfilms to his contact,
355
00:20:02,310 --> 00:20:04,350
Greville Wynne, the organizer
356
00:20:04,350 --> 00:20:05,900
of the first meeting in London.
357
00:20:12,910 --> 00:20:15,300
The British industrialist often travels
358
00:20:15,300 --> 00:20:19,640
between the East and the West, so for MI6 and the CIA,
359
00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:21,600
he's the ideal go-between.
360
00:20:26,170 --> 00:20:29,510
In 1961, between early May and late June,
361
00:20:29,510 --> 00:20:32,983
Penkovsky delivers highly important tactical documents.
362
00:20:34,220 --> 00:20:37,253
The originals are still classified as top secret.
363
00:20:38,170 --> 00:20:40,690
But these lists issued by the CIA
364
00:20:40,690 --> 00:20:43,013
illustrate their wealth of information.
365
00:20:45,950 --> 00:20:48,300
He had access to this document
366
00:20:48,300 --> 00:20:51,000
called Soviet military thought, a journal.
367
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,270
And that top-secret level journal,
368
00:20:53,270 --> 00:20:55,300
which we have thousands of now,
369
00:20:55,300 --> 00:20:59,280
was where the army and the KGB and the GRU
370
00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,660
would truly debate the future of the Soviet Union,
371
00:21:02,660 --> 00:21:04,960
and tactics, and where things should go,
372
00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,623
and how they should be done, so that was unique.
373
00:21:08,590 --> 00:21:11,130
It was so good that, here at the CIA,
374
00:21:11,130 --> 00:21:15,540
we continued to use that material through the 1980s
375
00:21:15,540 --> 00:21:18,950
to help train young analysts on how to look at a country,
376
00:21:18,950 --> 00:21:21,503
how to consider the entirety of a country.
377
00:21:25,660 --> 00:21:28,220
The CIA officers decide it's time
378
00:21:28,220 --> 00:21:31,403
to disseminate the information from Oleg Penkovsky.
379
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,070
But in order to protect their invaluable source,
380
00:21:36,070 --> 00:21:39,653
under no circumstance can they reveal his identity.
381
00:21:41,260 --> 00:21:43,540
From here on out, the spy's name
382
00:21:43,540 --> 00:21:46,310
must remain an absolute secret.
383
00:21:46,310 --> 00:21:48,400
The intelligence he has provided
384
00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:51,200
is separated into several categories,
385
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,133
as if from different informants.
386
00:21:55,570 --> 00:21:59,840
We separated the information into one compartment
387
00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:03,250
called Ironbark, which was the Soviet military thought,
388
00:22:03,250 --> 00:22:06,220
the documentary material that he photographed,
389
00:22:06,220 --> 00:22:08,540
and another one called Chickadee,
390
00:22:08,540 --> 00:22:12,050
and Chickadee was some documentary material,
391
00:22:12,050 --> 00:22:15,090
it was the GRU material, it was also his comments
392
00:22:15,090 --> 00:22:18,220
on various aspects of the Soviet Union.
393
00:22:18,220 --> 00:22:22,000
And we would create lists, they were called bigot lists,
394
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,170
that said these people have access to Ironbark,
395
00:22:25,170 --> 00:22:27,040
these people had access to Chickadee,
396
00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:29,260
some people had access to both.
397
00:22:29,260 --> 00:22:32,450
And even in discussions internally
398
00:22:32,450 --> 00:22:36,160
or in messages back and forth we never used his name.
399
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:37,520
We would use cryptonyms.
400
00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:40,340
And he had a variety of cryptonyms.
401
00:22:40,340 --> 00:22:43,640
Even internally, even among the most trusted sources,
402
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,530
we kept trying to ensure that people
403
00:22:46,530 --> 00:22:50,300
didn't connect the dots and see that this one guy
404
00:22:50,300 --> 00:22:52,223
is producing all this information.
405
00:22:54,570 --> 00:22:55,850
Among the information
406
00:22:55,850 --> 00:22:58,200
delivered by Oleg Penkovsky,
407
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,053
one topic will turn the tide of the Cold War:
408
00:23:02,990 --> 00:23:06,523
the range and power of the Soviet military arsenal.
409
00:23:07,990 --> 00:23:10,040
According to the new double agent,
410
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:14,506
the US has highly overestimated Russia's strength.
411
00:23:14,506 --> 00:23:17,256
(dramatic music)
412
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,980
By the late '50s, both the USA and the USSR
413
00:23:35,980 --> 00:23:37,483
possessed the atomic bomb.
414
00:23:39,510 --> 00:23:41,630
Each side is also racing to construct
415
00:23:41,630 --> 00:23:43,663
the most powerful missiles possible,
416
00:23:44,890 --> 00:23:47,390
with the longest range and the greatest precision.
417
00:23:53,793 --> 00:23:57,460
The U.S. is convinced of Soviet superiority
418
00:23:57,460 --> 00:24:00,233
in what the leaders call the missile gap.
419
00:24:01,890 --> 00:24:05,410
In 1960, before Kennedy takes office,
420
00:24:05,410 --> 00:24:07,510
the United States is basically blind.
421
00:24:07,510 --> 00:24:11,530
It has no real understanding of Soviet military capacity,
422
00:24:11,530 --> 00:24:12,920
nuclear capacity.
423
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:14,940
It doesn't know anything about systems,
424
00:24:14,940 --> 00:24:17,680
and it has this belief that Soviet missiles
425
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:19,990
must be in the tens of thousands, that they are
426
00:24:19,990 --> 00:24:23,290
way further ahead than they actually are, and, importantly,
427
00:24:23,290 --> 00:24:26,460
that they're further ahead of the United States.
428
00:24:26,460 --> 00:24:29,580
So this missile gap psychosis, I think you could call it,
429
00:24:29,580 --> 00:24:32,690
this conviction that a missile gap exists
430
00:24:32,690 --> 00:24:34,030
and the Russians are ahead of us,
431
00:24:34,030 --> 00:24:36,803
is what Kennedy assumes when he takes office.
432
00:24:41,450 --> 00:24:43,500
Oleg Penkovsky suggests
433
00:24:43,500 --> 00:24:46,870
that the dreaded missile gap is an illusion.
434
00:24:46,870 --> 00:24:50,080
He claims the majority of the Soviet nuclear missiles
435
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:51,513
aren't even operational.
436
00:24:53,150 --> 00:24:57,593
Nikita Khrushchev is just an extremely talented liar.
437
00:24:59,450 --> 00:25:00,830
In such large questions
438
00:25:00,830 --> 00:25:04,500
of strategic rockets and attacks with strategic weapons,
439
00:25:04,500 --> 00:25:06,800
he lies and puts out what he wants
440
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,350
as if it were true, believe me.
441
00:25:09,350 --> 00:25:11,103
He lies like a gray stallion.
442
00:25:13,220 --> 00:25:14,900
Penkovsky's information
443
00:25:14,900 --> 00:25:17,950
on the weak Soviet arsenal makes its rounds
444
00:25:17,950 --> 00:25:20,310
to prominent figures in the CIA
445
00:25:20,310 --> 00:25:22,293
and other government agencies.
446
00:25:23,170 --> 00:25:27,023
But the secrecy surrounding this new source raises doubts,
447
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:31,350
especially as Penkovsky's disclosures contradict
448
00:25:31,350 --> 00:25:34,353
the most deeply held beliefs about Soviet strength.
449
00:25:37,860 --> 00:25:40,290
The orthodox interpretation of the Soviet Union
450
00:25:40,290 --> 00:25:42,620
up until Penkovsky's revelations
451
00:25:42,620 --> 00:25:45,810
are that we are trailing the Soviet Union in its capacity,
452
00:25:45,810 --> 00:25:47,900
that the Soviets have a far better
453
00:25:47,900 --> 00:25:50,800
particularly missile system capacity than we do,
454
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,450
and that goes all the way through the American military,
455
00:25:53,450 --> 00:25:55,050
all the way through American intelligence,
456
00:25:55,050 --> 00:25:56,550
all the way to the electorate.
457
00:25:57,550 --> 00:26:00,210
So now, in effect, you're asking all of that to flip,
458
00:26:00,210 --> 00:26:02,250
everybody to change their viewpoints,
459
00:26:02,250 --> 00:26:04,400
and some people aren't prepared to do that.
460
00:26:06,250 --> 00:26:07,890
There are members of the U.S. military
461
00:26:07,890 --> 00:26:09,440
who say no, this has to be false.
462
00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:12,500
It has to be either disinformation by the Soviets
463
00:26:12,500 --> 00:26:15,950
or, at the very least, is really dubious information.
464
00:26:15,950 --> 00:26:18,010
And I suppose it's fair to say in some of their minds,
465
00:26:18,010 --> 00:26:19,570
they don't want to hear any different;
466
00:26:19,570 --> 00:26:21,220
it doesn't serve their interests.
467
00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:27,840
In the 1960s there's a massive economic infrastructure
468
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,060
behind the U.S. military and its acquisition
469
00:26:30,060 --> 00:26:31,750
of more and more weapons.
470
00:26:31,750 --> 00:26:35,230
So nobody in that complex really likes to hear
471
00:26:35,230 --> 00:26:37,560
that Penkovsky has flipped the idea
472
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:39,760
of the Soviet Union no longer being
473
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:41,460
the number one but the number two.
474
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:46,560
Because of this pushback,
475
00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:51,370
in June 1961, intelligence authorities decide to withhold
476
00:26:51,370 --> 00:26:54,373
Penkovsky's revelations from President Kennedy.
477
00:26:57,250 --> 00:26:59,010
But at the same time,
478
00:26:59,010 --> 00:27:01,743
Penkovsky continues to work in the shadows.
479
00:27:08,900 --> 00:27:11,210
Penkovsky now has a new contact
480
00:27:11,210 --> 00:27:13,603
to pass his covert documents to.
481
00:27:17,070 --> 00:27:21,950
Janet Chisholm, 31 years old, mother of three,
482
00:27:21,950 --> 00:27:24,430
and married to a member of MI6
483
00:27:24,430 --> 00:27:26,363
stationed at the Moscow embassy.
484
00:27:29,250 --> 00:27:33,960
Janet had been a secretary earlier at MI6,
485
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:37,620
so she wasn't totally a trained officer,
486
00:27:37,620 --> 00:27:40,910
but, on the other hand, it was very common,
487
00:27:40,910 --> 00:27:44,210
especially in those days, for families
488
00:27:44,210 --> 00:27:45,913
and spouses to play a role.
489
00:27:47,860 --> 00:27:49,960
On this day, Penkovsky
490
00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,480
is supposed to pass Janet Chisholm a letter
491
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:55,683
with seven microfilms hidden inside a box of chocolates.
492
00:27:58,660 --> 00:28:01,100
They did this pass very smoothly,
493
00:28:01,100 --> 00:28:04,030
where he came out, sees the kids,
494
00:28:04,030 --> 00:28:05,650
brings out the box of chocolates.
495
00:28:05,650 --> 00:28:08,940
She takes the box, leans back, puts them in her purse,
496
00:28:08,940 --> 00:28:11,090
and immediately brings out a real box
497
00:28:11,090 --> 00:28:13,360
identical to a real box of chocolates,
498
00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:14,490
and he goes on his way,
499
00:28:14,490 --> 00:28:18,093
and it was beautifully done, quick pass.
500
00:28:25,590 --> 00:28:29,273
The CIA analyzes the microfilm and letter.
501
00:28:30,170 --> 00:28:32,940
The contents pertain to a city beset
502
00:28:32,940 --> 00:28:37,013
by major tensions since World War II: Berlin.
503
00:28:41,150 --> 00:28:44,720
After the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945,
504
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:46,713
the victors divide the country.
505
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:51,623
Berlin, the capital, is enclosed in the Russian zone,
506
00:28:52,500 --> 00:28:55,153
but the Allies decide to cut the city into four:
507
00:28:56,170 --> 00:28:59,440
to the east the Soviets; to the West
508
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:01,590
the Americans, the British, and the French.
509
00:29:06,270 --> 00:29:08,440
Berlin is the only place on the globe
510
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:12,003
where the two world superpowers stand face to face.
511
00:29:14,940 --> 00:29:17,200
Basically what you have are two camps,
512
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:20,300
two ideological and political and economic camps
513
00:29:20,300 --> 00:29:23,643
facing off over a couple of streets in downtown Berlin.
514
00:29:24,530 --> 00:29:27,470
It's a strange situation, a very strange situation.
515
00:29:27,470 --> 00:29:29,700
And the only reason that there's a sense of normalcy
516
00:29:29,700 --> 00:29:32,940
in Berlin is because they become somewhat used
517
00:29:32,940 --> 00:29:35,410
to a four-party rule in their city,
518
00:29:35,410 --> 00:29:38,190
complete with police vehicles that have
519
00:29:38,190 --> 00:29:40,900
one member of each police force: a British, a French,
520
00:29:40,900 --> 00:29:43,860
an American, and a Russian, traveling around the city.
521
00:29:43,860 --> 00:29:46,880
The abnormal and the unusual becomes the normal.
522
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:48,650
But that doesn't negate the fact that
523
00:29:48,650 --> 00:29:51,770
ultimately you have tow colossal superpowers
524
00:29:51,770 --> 00:29:54,810
looking at each other across city streets
525
00:29:54,810 --> 00:29:58,123
in a very small location in downtown Berlin.
526
00:29:58,123 --> 00:30:00,623
(tense music)
527
00:30:06,241 --> 00:30:09,470
But one morning in the summer of 1961,
528
00:30:09,470 --> 00:30:12,940
the world wakes up astounded to discover a wall
529
00:30:12,940 --> 00:30:16,440
running 97 miles long and 13 feet high
530
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:18,073
through the heart of Berlin.
531
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,325
The German capital is literally cut in two.
532
00:30:24,325 --> 00:30:27,075
(dramatic music)
533
00:30:34,780 --> 00:30:38,633
Friends, couples, entire families are separated by the wall.
534
00:30:40,260 --> 00:30:42,923
The outrageous move shocks the Allies.
535
00:30:46,070 --> 00:30:49,290
After Russia's unexpected move in Berlin,
536
00:30:49,290 --> 00:30:54,290
Oleg Penkovsky gives to the CIA a hint about their next one.
537
00:30:55,444 --> 00:30:59,230
Nikita Khrushchev plans to kick the Western Allies
538
00:30:59,230 --> 00:31:01,033
out of the German capital.
539
00:31:04,010 --> 00:31:06,080
A recent report from a source,
540
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:08,470
judged at this time to be reliable,
541
00:31:08,470 --> 00:31:11,230
states that Soviet and satellite forces
542
00:31:11,230 --> 00:31:14,420
will be brought to a high state of combat readiness
543
00:31:14,420 --> 00:31:18,060
in exercises of unprecedented scope
544
00:31:18,060 --> 00:31:20,043
beginning in early October.
545
00:31:22,580 --> 00:31:24,730
What Khrushchev had threatened in Berlin
546
00:31:24,730 --> 00:31:29,050
was basically war, that he was going to sign
547
00:31:29,050 --> 00:31:31,360
this peace treaty with the East Germans,
548
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:36,360
that he was going to close off the roads and airports again,
549
00:31:36,380 --> 00:31:40,883
that this was literally a high potential for war,
550
00:31:41,950 --> 00:31:43,800
and he was gonna do it within a year.
551
00:31:46,740 --> 00:31:50,630
But in his reports, Penkovsky goes further.
552
00:31:50,630 --> 00:31:54,140
After revealing Nikita Khrushchev's goal for Berlin,
553
00:31:54,140 --> 00:31:57,540
he asserts that the United States should stand firm
554
00:31:57,540 --> 00:31:59,313
against Russia's saber rattling.
555
00:32:00,460 --> 00:32:04,000
Considering the high risk of a third World War,
556
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,070
Allen Dulles, head of the CIA,
557
00:32:06,070 --> 00:32:09,063
decides it's time to inform President Kennedy.
558
00:32:10,980 --> 00:32:12,760
Chief amongst that information
559
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,040
was the idea that Khrushchev was bluffing.
560
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:18,690
And repeatedly, Kennedy heard from Penkovsky's information
561
00:32:18,690 --> 00:32:20,740
that Khrushchev was full of bluster,
562
00:32:20,740 --> 00:32:23,350
that everything that Khrushchev had ever said and done
563
00:32:23,350 --> 00:32:25,860
was, in effect, just a giant bluff
564
00:32:25,860 --> 00:32:27,770
to disguise the fact that the Soviet Union
565
00:32:27,770 --> 00:32:31,140
was far weaker than it actually was, militarily weaker,
566
00:32:31,140 --> 00:32:34,110
and also that he, Khrushchev, had no real intention
567
00:32:34,110 --> 00:32:36,263
of resolving the situation by force.
568
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:43,090
So in that light, Kennedy went into this entire crisis
569
00:32:43,090 --> 00:32:46,015
with a kind of confidence.
570
00:32:46,015 --> 00:32:47,820
For a city or a people--
571
00:32:47,820 --> 00:32:49,910
The Americans are now convinced
572
00:32:49,910 --> 00:32:53,203
that Soviet military superiority is fiction.
573
00:32:54,630 --> 00:32:56,970
President Kennedy finally decides
574
00:32:56,970 --> 00:33:00,650
to follow Penkovsky's advice and take a stand.
575
00:33:00,650 --> 00:33:03,530
The people of West Berlin today have that freedom.
576
00:33:03,530 --> 00:33:05,430
It is the objective of our policy
577
00:33:05,430 --> 00:33:07,410
that they will continue to enjoy it.
578
00:33:07,410 --> 00:33:10,400
On October 21st, 1961,
579
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,260
the US Deputy Secretary of Defense
580
00:33:13,260 --> 00:33:17,290
gives a public statement in Palm Springs, California.
581
00:33:17,290 --> 00:33:18,760
It was not filmed.
582
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,513
But the text has been carefully preserved in CIA archives.
583
00:33:25,750 --> 00:33:27,880
Berlin is the emergency at the moment,
584
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:30,980
because the Soviets have decided to make it so.
585
00:33:30,980 --> 00:33:34,160
We have called up 150,000 reservists,
586
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:36,250
increased our draft calls.
587
00:33:36,250 --> 00:33:38,910
Our forces are so deployed and protected
588
00:33:38,910 --> 00:33:42,350
that a sneak attack could not effectively disarm us.
589
00:33:42,350 --> 00:33:44,440
We have a second strike capability
590
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:46,320
which is at least as extensive
591
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:49,433
as what the Soviets can deliver by striking first.
592
00:33:51,270 --> 00:33:53,260
The speech by the American Secretary of Defense
593
00:33:53,260 --> 00:33:56,870
in October 1961 is really a landmark occasion.
594
00:33:56,870 --> 00:33:59,410
It articulates the fact that the American position
595
00:33:59,410 --> 00:34:01,590
has changed, one from a conviction
596
00:34:01,590 --> 00:34:03,670
that they are behind the Soviet Union
597
00:34:03,670 --> 00:34:06,300
to the reality that they are in fact in the lead.
598
00:34:06,300 --> 00:34:07,920
And this is really one of the first times
599
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,400
that the public, both American and international,
600
00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:12,830
is introduced to that idea.
601
00:34:12,830 --> 00:34:15,170
The Americans officially announce
602
00:34:15,170 --> 00:34:18,483
that they no longer believe in the missile gap.
603
00:34:22,940 --> 00:34:26,740
On the Soviet side, it's a reality check.
604
00:34:26,740 --> 00:34:29,560
If the U.S. no longer believes their lies,
605
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,603
it's because someone has been feeding them intelligence.
606
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,060
In the most watched over city in the world,
607
00:34:38,060 --> 00:34:42,133
the vice slowly starts to tighten around Colonel Penkovsky.
608
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:53,670
At the end of 1961, Penkovsky continues sharing intelligence
609
00:34:53,670 --> 00:34:57,580
with his contact, Janet Chisholm, unaware of the intense
610
00:34:57,580 --> 00:35:00,803
surveillance on him by the Soviet secret service.
611
00:35:02,540 --> 00:35:04,640
Was he exposed by a Soviet spy
612
00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,323
who infiltrated Western intelligence agencies?
613
00:35:08,290 --> 00:35:12,653
There are numerous hypotheses, but no one knows for certain.
614
00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:18,120
In January 1962, Penkovsky sends a memo
615
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:22,240
alerting his case officers that Janet has been followed.
616
00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:24,330
They end their rendezvous in the street,
617
00:35:24,330 --> 00:35:28,283
opting for brief, less frequent encounters at public events.
618
00:35:29,550 --> 00:35:32,180
But what Penkovsky doesn't realize
619
00:35:32,180 --> 00:35:35,033
is that the KGB's target isn't Janet.
620
00:35:37,100 --> 00:35:37,933
It's him.
621
00:35:40,271 --> 00:35:42,770
(tense music)
622
00:35:42,770 --> 00:35:47,430
The Soviet secret service follows him everywhere he goes.
623
00:35:47,430 --> 00:35:50,980
They have his apartment under permanent surveillance
624
00:35:50,980 --> 00:35:53,723
and even search it when he's out, in total secrecy.
625
00:35:56,300 --> 00:35:59,243
How do they go into the apartment and do it securely?
626
00:36:00,660 --> 00:36:02,080
I heard this from Yuri Nosenko,
627
00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:04,990
who was the second chief director of the KGB officer
628
00:36:04,990 --> 00:36:06,900
who actually was involved in the case.
629
00:36:06,900 --> 00:36:09,020
He defected to the United States and is now dead,
630
00:36:09,020 --> 00:36:10,627
but he told me personally, he says,
631
00:36:10,627 --> 00:36:13,400
"Yeah, we put black medicine on his seat."
632
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:14,440
I said, "What's that?"
633
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:15,877
He says, "We painted it on his seat.
634
00:36:15,877 --> 00:36:17,737
"It absorbed in through his clothing,
635
00:36:17,737 --> 00:36:19,887
"onto his butt, and made him sick.
636
00:36:19,887 --> 00:36:22,227
"And so we had to get him to go to the hospital.
637
00:36:22,227 --> 00:36:23,747
"So when he's in the hospital,
638
00:36:23,747 --> 00:36:26,057
"we can get free access into his apartment."
639
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:29,890
When the KGB entered his apartment,
640
00:36:29,890 --> 00:36:31,840
they were able to find his camera
641
00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:33,880
that had been provided by the CIA.
642
00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,240
They were able to find the one-time paths
643
00:36:36,240 --> 00:36:39,690
that were used by him to encrypt communications
644
00:36:39,690 --> 00:36:41,980
to and from the CIA, so they were able to find
645
00:36:41,980 --> 00:36:43,410
that kind of trade graph that only
646
00:36:43,410 --> 00:36:45,350
a spy organization would have.
647
00:36:47,830 --> 00:36:49,330
The trap closes around
648
00:36:49,330 --> 00:36:51,703
the traitor colonel of the USSR.
649
00:36:52,820 --> 00:36:55,750
But despite the risks, Oleg Penkovsky
650
00:36:55,750 --> 00:36:59,490
continues his work for the Western intelligence agencies.
651
00:36:59,490 --> 00:37:01,640
And he seems to have reached a peak
652
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:05,213
in his frenetic attempt to feed them more information.
653
00:37:06,375 --> 00:37:08,970
You couldn't really restrain him.
654
00:37:08,970 --> 00:37:11,770
He did too much, he produced too much.
655
00:37:11,770 --> 00:37:14,170
When you think about the fact that he stood
656
00:37:14,170 --> 00:37:17,010
inside a study room inside the library
657
00:37:17,010 --> 00:37:21,710
at the military academy, taking 8,000 photographs
658
00:37:21,710 --> 00:37:22,993
with this little camera.
659
00:37:25,020 --> 00:37:27,540
He was so convinced that he could get away with this.
660
00:37:27,540 --> 00:37:32,067
He was so driven to be recognized as the best,
661
00:37:32,067 --> 00:37:34,550
and he was gonna prove he would be the best,
662
00:37:34,550 --> 00:37:37,710
he lost that self-preservation sense
663
00:37:37,710 --> 00:37:39,393
until it was far too late.
664
00:37:44,090 --> 00:37:45,990
He said famously in one of his debriefs
665
00:37:45,990 --> 00:37:48,443
he wanted to be the greatest spy in history.
666
00:37:51,770 --> 00:37:53,840
Fortunately, Penkovsky had
667
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:56,050
enough time to share thousands of pages
668
00:37:56,050 --> 00:37:58,623
of high-level intelligence with the West.
669
00:38:01,420 --> 00:38:04,240
Because, as his treason comes to light,
670
00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:08,200
one of the biggest crises of the Cold War is about to erupt
671
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:10,360
in a small country of growing concern
672
00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:12,880
to the western block: Cuba.
673
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,963
(upbeat Latin music)
674
00:38:19,630 --> 00:38:23,290
In 1959, the Caribbean island becomes a thorn
675
00:38:23,290 --> 00:38:24,773
in the side of the U.S.
676
00:38:25,660 --> 00:38:28,640
when Fidel Castro and Cuban guerrillas
677
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,073
depose the pro-American dictator Batista.
678
00:38:32,780 --> 00:38:35,300
The new regime angers Washington
679
00:38:35,300 --> 00:38:37,483
by nationalizing American goods.
680
00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:44,870
And in 1960, as Castro and Khrushchev become allies,
681
00:38:44,870 --> 00:38:48,283
they cut off all diplomatic relations with the U.S.
682
00:38:56,860 --> 00:39:01,840
On October 14th, 1962, an American reconnaissance airplane
683
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:04,393
takes aerial photos of the island of Cuba.
684
00:39:07,650 --> 00:39:10,110
In one of the shots, there appears to be
685
00:39:10,110 --> 00:39:13,243
what looks like missile launch sites hidden in the jungle.
686
00:39:15,850 --> 00:39:20,510
In total secrecy, the USSR is arming the island
687
00:39:20,510 --> 00:39:22,313
with the blessing of Fidel Castro.
688
00:39:25,500 --> 00:39:28,670
In the days that follow, U.S. reconnaissance planes
689
00:39:28,670 --> 00:39:30,903
capture new photos over Cuba.
690
00:39:32,650 --> 00:39:34,420
Along with the launch sites,
691
00:39:34,420 --> 00:39:38,531
the Soviets brought several bombers and nearly 40 missiles
692
00:39:38,531 --> 00:39:41,233
that have a range of more than 930 miles.
693
00:39:44,770 --> 00:39:46,520
Good evening, my fellow citizens.
694
00:39:47,430 --> 00:39:51,040
This government, as promised, has maintained
695
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:55,440
the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup
696
00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:57,510
on the island of Cuba.
697
00:39:57,510 --> 00:39:59,580
Within the past week,
698
00:39:59,580 --> 00:40:02,920
unmistakable evidence has established the fact
699
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:06,360
that a series of offensive missile sites
700
00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:10,013
is now in preparation on that imprisoned island.
701
00:40:10,013 --> 00:40:12,280
(dramatic music)
702
00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:14,210
Kennedy has to make a choice,
703
00:40:14,210 --> 00:40:17,950
and Curtis LeMay and all of these advisors
704
00:40:17,950 --> 00:40:19,923
are telling him to invade.
705
00:40:20,900 --> 00:40:23,337
They're saying, "Look, you have every reason now
706
00:40:23,337 --> 00:40:24,907
"to invade Cuba.
707
00:40:24,907 --> 00:40:28,877
"We should invade Cuba before these missiles become active
708
00:40:28,877 --> 00:40:30,947
"and become true threats to the U.S."
709
00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:37,047
Kennedy argued that, "If we just suddenly invade Cuba,
710
00:40:37,047 --> 00:40:39,163
"isn't that a lot like Pearl Harbor?
711
00:40:39,997 --> 00:40:42,810
"How's the world going to look at us?"
712
00:40:42,810 --> 00:40:45,430
Kennedy is looking for an option,
713
00:40:45,430 --> 00:40:48,393
some other way other than direct invasion.
714
00:40:50,220 --> 00:40:52,810
When deliberating between strategies,
715
00:40:52,810 --> 00:40:56,363
President Kennedy relies on daily reports by the CIA.
716
00:40:59,490 --> 00:41:01,533
Many of them are stamped Ironbark,
717
00:41:02,720 --> 00:41:05,040
which indicates they are based on intelligence
718
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:07,063
provided by Oleg Penkovsky.
719
00:41:11,340 --> 00:41:13,370
There are now 22 surface-to-air
720
00:41:13,370 --> 00:41:17,250
missile sites located in Cuba, nine of which are believed
721
00:41:17,250 --> 00:41:20,340
to be individually operational at the present time.
722
00:41:20,340 --> 00:41:23,650
The initial firing can take place any time after an alert.
723
00:41:23,650 --> 00:41:25,960
Refire from a single launcher
724
00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:28,843
will take approximately three to five minutes.
725
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:33,230
The nature of the missiles, their power,
726
00:41:33,230 --> 00:41:36,253
their range, their technical specifications.
727
00:41:37,390 --> 00:41:40,250
Because of Penkovsky, the American authorities
728
00:41:40,250 --> 00:41:42,150
can evaluate the extent of the threat.
729
00:41:45,770 --> 00:41:49,010
It is a direct result of Penkovsky's information
730
00:41:49,010 --> 00:41:51,550
that allows the United States to know
731
00:41:51,550 --> 00:41:53,250
what the range of these missiles are,
732
00:41:53,250 --> 00:41:54,950
which is almost every part of the Unites States
733
00:41:54,950 --> 00:41:56,770
except Seattle.
734
00:41:56,770 --> 00:41:59,180
And he also knows how these operational missiles
735
00:41:59,180 --> 00:42:00,570
will come to be; in other words,
736
00:42:00,570 --> 00:42:03,293
how long it's gonna take to make them operational.
737
00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:06,760
So it is Penkovsky's information
738
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:10,090
that allows Kennedy to know how much time he has
739
00:42:10,090 --> 00:42:12,290
to negotiate the withdrawal of the missiles.
740
00:42:14,490 --> 00:42:17,360
Kennedy knows he has, most estimates are,
741
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:19,320
between three and eight days
742
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:23,540
before the first set of missiles is going to be active.
743
00:42:23,540 --> 00:42:26,260
Now, down the road he still had an option.
744
00:42:26,260 --> 00:42:29,920
If he tried to quarantine and we couldn't work things out,
745
00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:32,120
he could still go forward with the invasion.
746
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:36,740
A strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment
747
00:42:36,740 --> 00:42:39,670
under shipment to Cuba is being initiated.
748
00:42:39,670 --> 00:42:42,610
I have directed the armed forces to prepare
749
00:42:42,610 --> 00:42:44,240
for any eventuality.
750
00:42:44,240 --> 00:42:46,930
It shall be the policy of this nation
751
00:42:46,930 --> 00:42:50,270
to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba
752
00:42:50,270 --> 00:42:53,280
against any nation in the Western hemisphere
753
00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:57,540
as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States,
754
00:42:57,540 --> 00:43:02,267
requiring a full retaliatory response on the Soviet Union.
755
00:43:02,267 --> 00:43:05,070
(dramatic music)
756
00:43:05,070 --> 00:43:08,550
On October 22nd, on live television,
757
00:43:08,550 --> 00:43:10,870
Kennedy announces a quarantine on Cuba
758
00:43:11,820 --> 00:43:14,183
and a blockade of the island by the U.S. Navy.
759
00:43:18,860 --> 00:43:21,880
Kennedy decides that he has to come up with a way
760
00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:23,760
that is face-saving for the Soviets
761
00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:25,540
to pull their missiles out.
762
00:43:25,540 --> 00:43:28,820
So that's when they come up with the idea of a blockade
763
00:43:28,820 --> 00:43:33,820
to stop any more missiles being sent in to Cuba.
764
00:43:35,470 --> 00:43:38,270
We knew, through imagery, that there were more ships
765
00:43:38,270 --> 00:43:41,550
on the way, that it wasn't over yet; they still had coming.
766
00:43:41,550 --> 00:43:44,520
So he said we gotta stop the delivery of these ships
767
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:46,610
before they get to Cuba.
768
00:43:46,610 --> 00:43:50,230
So that's when the Navy was given the mission to stop them.
769
00:43:52,821 --> 00:43:55,350
The U.S. authorities draw a virtual line
770
00:43:55,350 --> 00:43:58,583
in the ocean and forbids any Russian ship to cross it.
771
00:44:00,110 --> 00:44:03,083
Violation would be considered an act of war.
772
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:07,210
President Kennedy's decision to implement
773
00:44:07,210 --> 00:44:09,130
a naval quarantine, is what he called it,
774
00:44:09,130 --> 00:44:10,990
in effect a naval blockade,
775
00:44:10,990 --> 00:44:13,830
is really a fairly unprecedented challenge
776
00:44:13,830 --> 00:44:17,130
both to international law and particularly,
777
00:44:17,130 --> 00:44:20,040
given the context of Russian missiles coming into Cuba,
778
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:22,053
basically drawing a line in the sea.
779
00:44:23,462 --> 00:44:25,670
The problem, of course, is that, once you put it into place,
780
00:44:25,670 --> 00:44:27,200
you actually have to honor it.
781
00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:29,450
So the likelihood of a Russian vessel
782
00:44:29,450 --> 00:44:32,390
approaching that quarantine, that blockade,
783
00:44:32,390 --> 00:44:33,963
escalates the risk of war.
784
00:44:35,430 --> 00:44:37,993
The entire world holds its breath.
785
00:44:39,150 --> 00:44:42,260
But a diplomatic solution is still possible,
786
00:44:42,260 --> 00:44:44,253
mostly thanks to Penkovsky.
787
00:44:48,150 --> 00:44:52,970
Because, in all of his memos, Colonel Penkovsky is adamant
788
00:44:52,970 --> 00:44:54,833
Khrushchev is bluffing.
789
00:44:57,060 --> 00:44:58,900
Kennedy should be firm.
790
00:44:58,900 --> 00:45:01,270
Khrushchev is not going to fire any rockets.
791
00:45:01,270 --> 00:45:03,600
He's not ready for any war.
792
00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:05,430
I respect and love the United States,
793
00:45:05,430 --> 00:45:08,733
and I certainly, in Kennedy's place, would be firm.
794
00:45:11,250 --> 00:45:13,290
Penkovsky's constant message,
795
00:45:13,290 --> 00:45:15,690
through everything Penkovsky tells the Americans,
796
00:45:15,690 --> 00:45:18,730
is this notion that Nikita Khrushchev is bluffing,
797
00:45:18,730 --> 00:45:21,870
that, in almost every single respect, the Soviet Union
798
00:45:21,870 --> 00:45:24,413
is basically a paper tiger to a large degree.
799
00:45:28,970 --> 00:45:31,490
Now, it's a paper tiger with nuclear missiles,
800
00:45:31,490 --> 00:45:33,410
so you can only take that so far.
801
00:45:33,410 --> 00:45:35,900
But at its core, it changes the dynamic
802
00:45:35,900 --> 00:45:37,623
of Soviet-American relations.
803
00:45:38,860 --> 00:45:41,340
I call upon chairman Khrushchev
804
00:45:41,340 --> 00:45:44,520
to halt and eliminate this clandestine,
805
00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:47,073
reckless, and provocative threat to world peace,
806
00:45:48,062 --> 00:45:51,160
and to stable relations between our two nations.
807
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:54,190
Our goal is not the victory of might
808
00:45:54,190 --> 00:45:56,440
but the vindication of right,
809
00:45:56,440 --> 00:45:59,150
not peace at the expense of freedom,
810
00:45:59,150 --> 00:46:03,630
but both peace and freedom here in this hemisphere,
811
00:46:03,630 --> 00:46:07,490
and we hope around the world, God willing,
812
00:46:07,490 --> 00:46:09,610
that goal will be achieved.
813
00:46:09,610 --> 00:46:11,273
Thank you, and goodnight.
814
00:46:15,459 --> 00:46:18,110
As Kennedy delivers his famous speech,
815
00:46:18,110 --> 00:46:22,333
the spy Oleg Penkovsky is arrested by the KGB in Moscow.
816
00:46:23,630 --> 00:46:26,870
The Americans have just lost their greatest ally,
817
00:46:26,870 --> 00:46:28,220
but they don't know it yet.
818
00:46:29,229 --> 00:46:30,900
(dramatic music)
819
00:46:30,900 --> 00:46:34,420
Two days later, on October 24th,
820
00:46:34,420 --> 00:46:37,763
at Khrushchev's order, 12 boats turn back.
821
00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:41,883
The rest stop in their tracks.
822
00:46:46,260 --> 00:46:47,913
The tension reaches a peak.
823
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:53,260
This line drawn around Cuba represents the final border
824
00:46:53,260 --> 00:46:55,363
before a thermonuclear war.
825
00:46:59,420 --> 00:47:02,310
On October 26th, the Soviet leaders
826
00:47:02,310 --> 00:47:04,883
ask to negotiate behind closed doors.
827
00:47:08,790 --> 00:47:11,690
They wanted to set up a back-channel communications
828
00:47:11,690 --> 00:47:13,260
with the United States to find out
829
00:47:13,260 --> 00:47:16,750
if we could negotiate a way to save face,
830
00:47:16,750 --> 00:47:19,037
that we'll pull away, but you've gotta give us something.
831
00:47:19,037 --> 00:47:23,360
And so they activated a KGB resident in Washington D.C.,
832
00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:26,880
Alexander Feklisov, and they set up a back channel
833
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:29,300
that they can exchange information
834
00:47:29,300 --> 00:47:31,200
without the public knowing about it,
835
00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:33,930
and we basically say we will stop the blockade
836
00:47:33,930 --> 00:47:35,430
if you'll pull your missiles out.
837
00:47:35,430 --> 00:47:37,240
You're just gonna stop your armada,
838
00:47:37,240 --> 00:47:38,990
you're gonna turn around, you're gonna take 'em back.
839
00:47:38,990 --> 00:47:42,374
And then quietly we'll take our weapons out of Turkey.
840
00:47:42,374 --> 00:47:45,124
(dramatic music)
841
00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:51,480
Secret negotiations keep on for several days.
842
00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:55,800
But during this time, the confrontation continues,
843
00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:57,853
and each side holds its position.
844
00:47:59,250 --> 00:48:01,300
Everyone is on alert,
845
00:48:01,300 --> 00:48:03,443
ready to act at the slightest aggression.
846
00:48:05,390 --> 00:48:10,390
Finally, on October 28th, the USSR withdraws its ships
847
00:48:12,080 --> 00:48:15,503
and promises to dismantle all facilities in Cuba.
848
00:48:18,720 --> 00:48:23,090
In exchange, the Americans agree not to attack the island.
849
00:48:23,090 --> 00:48:26,440
And secretly, Kennedy also promises to dismantle
850
00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:29,830
15 nuclear warhead missiles based in Turkey,
851
00:48:29,830 --> 00:48:31,373
Italy, and Great Britain.
852
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:37,473
The crisis is over, and the world takes a breath.
853
00:48:38,404 --> 00:48:41,154
(dramatic music)
854
00:48:45,260 --> 00:48:48,090
Kennedy comes off as the winner.
855
00:48:48,090 --> 00:48:50,913
He stayed calm in the face of hostility.
856
00:48:51,870 --> 00:48:54,603
On the other hand, Khrushchev is seen as weak,
857
00:48:55,970 --> 00:48:58,443
accused by his own side of retreating.
858
00:49:02,410 --> 00:49:04,860
But the one truly defeated in this story
859
00:49:04,860 --> 00:49:07,313
is without a doubt Oleg Penkovsky.
860
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:14,123
In May 1963, Penkovsky was tried in a tremendous show trial.
861
00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:20,660
At the end of the hearing, the spy is sentenced to death
862
00:49:20,660 --> 00:49:22,573
and executed on May 16th, 1963.
863
00:49:28,233 --> 00:49:30,650
(gun firing)
864
00:49:32,240 --> 00:49:35,320
This brilliant Soviet officer
865
00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:37,863
gave his life for a cause he defended.
866
00:49:39,900 --> 00:49:44,530
In just 18 months, he rattled powerful USSR
867
00:49:44,530 --> 00:49:47,110
and radically changed the balance of power
868
00:49:47,110 --> 00:49:49,123
between the East and the West.
869
00:49:51,495 --> 00:49:53,190
(dynamic music)
870
00:49:53,190 --> 00:49:58,190
Experts are unanimous: Oleg Penkovsky played a crucial role
871
00:49:59,090 --> 00:50:02,463
in resolving the most dire crisis of the Cold War.
872
00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:06,970
What Penkovsky did was allow the Americans,
873
00:50:06,970 --> 00:50:09,630
at the most critical moment in human history,
874
00:50:09,630 --> 00:50:12,260
the Cuban missile crisis, to have an understanding
875
00:50:12,260 --> 00:50:13,980
they previously didn't have.
876
00:50:13,980 --> 00:50:17,050
So what that means is that you're not far off
877
00:50:17,050 --> 00:50:20,603
if you say Penkovsky helped avoid a thermonuclear war.
878
00:50:22,450 --> 00:50:25,000
He paid the ultimate price.
879
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:30,000
But the ambitious colonel Oleg Penkovsky achieved his goal,
880
00:50:30,060 --> 00:50:32,653
becoming one of the greatest spies in history,
881
00:50:34,050 --> 00:50:38,600
the one who helped save the world from nuclear war.
882
00:50:38,600 --> 00:50:41,100
This guy was at the right place at the right time,
883
00:50:41,100 --> 00:50:42,880
and had the right motivation to give us
884
00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:44,780
lots of very important information
885
00:50:44,780 --> 00:50:46,780
actually in a very short period of time.
886
00:50:48,170 --> 00:50:51,500
Having taught espionage my whole professional life,
887
00:50:51,500 --> 00:50:55,000
I know of no human source who is more important
888
00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:56,000
than Oleg Penkovsky.
889
00:50:58,560 --> 00:51:01,180
He has to be considered one of the greatest,
890
00:51:01,180 --> 00:51:03,690
if not the greatest, spy of all time,
891
00:51:03,690 --> 00:51:05,090
for all that he contributed.
892
00:51:08,790 --> 00:51:11,540
(dramatic music)
71193
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