All language subtitles for Secrets.and.Spies.A.Nuclear.Game.S01E02.Traitors.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

[crowd shouting]

[narrator]
Previously on Secrets and Spies.

[Ken Adelman] In 1982, the
Soviet Union had something like

33,000 nuclear weapons.

[Ronald Reagan]
They are the focus of evil

in the modern world.

[applause]

[Oleg Gordievsky]

The confrontation
between West and East

was very serious.

There was really
significant fear

that this was going to lead
to something extremely,

extremely dangerous.

[Oleg]

[crowd cheering]

[narrator]
This is the unseen story

of the Cold War.

Fought not by politicians...

but by secret agents.

[Jack Barsky] There was complete
misunderstanding

on either side.

It's very difficult
to determine

whom you can trust.

[narrator] As the Soviet Union
faces off with the West

in the early 1980s...

two spies play a dangerous game
from the shadows.

They seek to win the upper hand

while the world stands
on the brink

of nuclear war.

These are their stories

in their own words.

Testimony pieced together from
interviews over the years...

[Oleg]
After 11 years of secret work,

maybe I develop paranoia.

[narrator] ...and never-before-
heard recordings...

[Aldrich Ames, on recording]

[narrator] ...that reveal
the deadly intrigues

at the heart of the battle
between East and West.

[Alexander Vassiliev]
Look, this is a war.

A secret war.

[dramatic music playing]

[dramatic music playing]

[Ken] '83 had been
a horrendous year

for U.S.-Soviet relations.

Really one of the worst.

Various things were done

which scared the daylights
out of the Soviet Union.

You had the military exercise
Abel Archer.

[inaudible]

The Soviet Union was unconvinced

that if there was a bolt
out of the blue,

if there was
an unprovoked attack

by NATO, by the United States,
against the Soviet Union,

it would be under the guise
of a military exercise.

We'd also just gotten over

the shoot-down
of the KAL airlines.

We had gone through
the Evil Empire speech.

And so it was a real time
of high, high tension.

What we've been concentrating on
in the last ten days

is the most important
relationship in the world,

and it makes
an enormous difference

to the world community

when Soviet-American relations
deteriorate

to the lowest point in 20 years,
which they have.

[Tim Naftali]
When the competition

is a nuclear competition,

the uncontrollable risks
of misunderstanding

could have catastrophic
consequences.

And that's-- that was--

That's really the lesson
of 1983.

The stakes
are uncontrollably high.

It will be a miracle
if there is not one or two

major dangerous confrontations,
direct confrontations,

between the Soviet Union
and the United States.

[narrator]
On the world stage,

President Reagan
is determined to defeat

what he calls
the Evil Empire.

But another battle
is playing out in the shadows.

[Jack] For me, becoming a spy
for the KGB was ideology.

I am Jack Barsky.

That's not the name
I was born with.

We stole the identity
of a Jack Barsky

who passed away
at the young age of 11.

I spent ten years as an illegal
undercover agent for the KGB

in the United States.

I was 100% convinced

that communism
was the right thing.

That the world eventually
would wind up

being one happy
communist family.

[narrator] In Moscow,
Soviet leader Yuri Andropov

continues running
Operation RYAN.

It feeds into his paranoia

of a nuclear attack
from the West.

He has over 100 KGB spies
overseas

whose job is to win the
struggle for global supremacy.

But not all of them
are loyal to the Soviet Union.

Top London agent
Oleg Gordievsky

has a dangerous secret.

[Ken] There is a cat-and-mouse
relationship

between the intelligence
agencies.

It was white-hot
with the emotions on both sides.

[narrator]
In America,

the CIA builds a network
of their own,

recruiting KGB agents
willing to turn traitor.

And the new boss of this desk
is Aldrich Ames.

Known to colleagues as Rick.

[Diana Worthen]
I liked Rick.

I enjoyed being around him.

I used to work for
the Central Intelligence Agency.

Rick Ames was my boss there.

I was loving it.

[laughs]

I really liked working
on the Soviet target.

It always felt like
important work to me.

Plus, watching my boss in action

with the meetings
he was going out to

and what he was bringing back.

[narrator] He is newly in love
after a failed marriage.

[Diana] While Rick was still
married to his first wife,

he met Rosario.

This is Rick and Rosario
at the beach

in Puerto Vallarta.

They were in love.

In a way,
he was very good for her

and she was very good for him.

[narrator] Ames's job
is to protect the CIA's

growing portfolio
of Soviet agents.

[Tim] A very important part
of the mosaic of information

about the Soviet menace
comes from spies, human agents,

each of whom is taking
an enormous risk.

And those spies are sending
their information,

ultimately,
via Aldrich Ames.

His job is to be sure

that the information that these
agents provide in the field

is in a useful form
for policymakers in Washington.

But he's also in a position

to shape how Washington
uses this material.

Through this man goes the most
important human intelligence

that the United States is
collecting in the Soviet Union

on the Soviet menace.

Through this one man.

So he knows their names,

and, of course, he's supposed
to keep those names secret

so that they don't die.

[ominous music playing]

[narrator] In London,
one Soviet double agent

is more valuable
than all the American assets.

[narrator] The British source,
Oleg Gordievsky,

is third in command
at the KGB London station.

[narrator]
Gordievsky's intelligence

revealed that the West's
military exercise,

Able Archer,
provoked the Soviets

to seriously dangerous levels.

[Bianna Golodryga]
The security was heightened

around the perimeters

of the NATO-U.S. exercises.

Russia interpreted that
as not just another exercise,

but perhaps posturing
from the United States and NATO

to actually deploy
a nuclear weapon.

[helicopter blades beating]

[narrator]
Yuri Andropov,

the leader
of the Soviet Union,

is so paranoid
that one misstep

could take the world
to the brink of nuclear war.

This misinterpretation about
what the West's intentions were

was something
to be worried about.

[narrator] And President Reagan
has no idea.

[Bianna]
Then the British decided

it was time to start
telling Washington

a little bit about
who their new spy was,

and some of the information
that he was feeding them.

In particular,
that Russia was indeed alarmed

and Russia was fearful.

[narrator]
But these insights come

just as Americans
watch a nightmare scenario

unfold onscreen.

[laughing]

[man] Have a good weekend.

[glass shatters]

[Ken]
In late November 1983,

ABC put on a movie special
called The Day After.

It was a movie
of a town in Kansas

getting blown up
by nuclear weapons.

It's very powerful.

President Reagan watched it at,

I believe, at Camp David,
with Nancy.

And he told us
that he was kind of devastated

by the whole thing.

It was watched
by over 100 million Americans.

And it was the rage.

Ronald Reagan doesn't want
to be seen as someone

who brought the world
close to nuclear brink.

So he wants to be
the peace-lover president.

And he was flopping around

wondering what to do
about it all.

[narrator] Shocked by
the reality of nuclear war,

Reagan offers his first
olive branch to Andropov.

I believe that 1984
finds the United States

in the strongest position
in years

to establish a constructive

and realistic
working relationship

with the Soviet Union.

Just suppose with me
for a moment

that an Ivan and an Anya
could find themselves, say,

in a waiting room,

or sharing a shelter
from the rain or a storm

with a Jim and Sally.

As they went
their separate ways,

maybe Anya would be saying
to Ivan,

"Wasn't she nice?
She also teaches music."

Jim would be telling Sally

what Ivan did or didn't like
about his boss.

They might even have decided
they were all going

to get together for dinner
some evening soon.

People want to raise their
children in a world without fear

and without war.

A nuclear conflict

could well be mankind's last.

Reagan's big point
was not the day after.

The big point
was the day before,

and let's try the day before

to make sure that the day after
never happens.

If the Soviet government
wants peace,

then there will be peace.

Let us begin now.

Thank you.

[applause]

[narrator] But before any
new strategy gets underway...

a major tragedy rocks Moscow.

[reporter]
It is after midnight in Moscow.

The Soviet flag,
the hammer and sickle,

has been lowered to half-staff
over the Kremlin.

Yuri Andropov,
the Soviet president,

dead at 69.

[ominous music playing]

[Nina Khrushcheva] People knew
that he had kidney problems.

Everybody knew he was sick.

People were comparing
his skin color

whether greenish,
or whether bluish, or whatever.

So it wasn't really a surprise
that he was dying.

But at the same time,

because of tensions
with the United States,

with the West,

there was uncertainty.

It turns out that Yuri Andropov
had much more than a bad cold

for the past six months.

His funeral will be
in Moscow Tuesday,

and although a number of
prominent American politicians

urge President Reagan
to attend, he will not.

[narrator] Reagan's olive branch
does not extend

to a trip to the USSR.

Instead, he sends

Vice President
George HW Bush.

Andropov's death has left
many Russians feeling uneasy.

They have now lost
two presidents

in less than a year-and-a-half,

and that's bound to unnerve
a people who crave security.

[ominous music playing]

[narrator]
During this critical moment,

British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher

is one step ahead of Reagan.

[Lord Robin Butler]
The intelligence reports

from Oleg Gordievsky

were very important

because you are, as it were,
seeing behind the curtain.

Margaret Thatcher
began to feel

that there might be
an opportunity

for her to open a relationship
with the Soviet Union.

Which would also
be a platform on which

United States could build.

[narrator] Thatcher will cross
the Iron Curtain

and attend Andropov's funeral.

Her first visit as the leader
of the British state.

Gordievsky's insight into
the Soviet leadership's mindset

is critical.

[woman] Yes, hello,
it's the duty clerk here.

We have an amendment to make

to the prime minister's

travel arrangements
for tomorrow.

[narrator]
Gordievsky's briefings

advise her to be formal
but friendly,

and soften her normally
tough image.

The Soviets don't react well
to shows of strength.

On a human level,
I think this briefing

was extremely important.

It's body language. It's style.

It's smiling
at the right moments,

but not smiling
at the wrong moments.

It's how you appear.

[reporter]

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] The funeral
provides an opportunity

for Margaret Thatcher
to meet the new head

of the USSR.

[reporter 1] The new leader
of the Soviet Union

is 72-year-old
Konstantin Chernenko.

[reporter 2] Mr. Chernenko
had moved up to the graveside

for the final salute.

He's known to have had
health problems of his own.

Moscow rumors have spoken
of pneumonia,

but say he's recovered.

For a brief moment,
he seemed to have difficulty

raising his hand.

Now, more than ever,
he'll need his strength

if he's to consolidate
his power.

[reporter 3] The prime minister
got a few minutes

with the new leader

and the foreign minister,
Andrei Gromyko,

immediately after the ceremony.

She behaved in a very
dignified way,

but also in a...

in a charming way.

We know from our
intelligence source

that her behavior made
a very favorable impression

on the Russians
at that moment.

We were very
courteously received,

and I very much valued
the opportunity

of half-an-hour's talk
with Mr. Chernenko this evening.

It's in the interest
of the peoples

on both sides
of the political divide

to live in peace and security.

Let's start on that basis
and try to build up.

[narrator] Thatcher seizes
the opportunity

to put Britain at the center
of a new kind of relationship.

A relationship that could shift
the balance in the Cold War.

[news anchor] The new leader
of the Soviet Union,

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko,

immediately dispelled
any suggestion

that he might take a softer line
with the West.

[Nina]
For most of us,

this kind of exhibition
of state power

was so tiresome.

Another old guy died,

and now we're gonna have
another old guy

ruling over us.

Well, good for them.
Congratulations.

It was a dying joke.

It was an absolutely
ossified system.

[narrator] Ronald Reagan
remains remarkably quiet

following his "Ivan and Anya"
speech.

He's reluctant
to invest in a leader

who might not last long.

[Ken] Ronald Reagan
is dying to negotiate

with any Soviet,
but he says,

"They keep dying on me.
They keep dying on me."

He wants to have a real summit,

and that Chernenko was about
105 years old at that time,

and drooling,
and had trouble

walking into the room
by himself.

[narrator]
Chernenko is so frail

that there's no guarantee
he'll rule for long.

Both sides of the Iron Curtain
begin to look to the future.

Gordievsky picks up on rumors
of a new young contender.

Mikhail Gorbachev
has risen quickly,

from Secretary of Agriculture

to the second in command
in the Politburo,

a part of the country's
ruling elite.

[speaking Russian]

[in English]

If it is self-evident

that Chernenko
cannot survive very long,

then the quicker we start
having real contact

with Mikhail Gorbachev,
the better.

[narrator] Reagan is unaware

about the new rising star
of Soviet politics.

President Reagan
was very hawkish

and had been very vocal
about his views on communism

and needing to break it down.

Not necessarily viewing

the Soviet Union
as a partner,

but as somebody who
the United States really needed

to one-up in terms
of this overriding issue

of democracy versus communism.

[narrator] But Thatcher
has moved beyond this

and sees a bigger picture,

thanks to Gordievsky's intel.

This is her opportunity

to take control
and steer the Cold War

away from its stalemate.

[Sir Malcolm Rifkind]
A decision was taken

to see if we could
persuade Gorbachev

to come to the United Kingdom.

[narrator]
They wait with bated breath

to see if their offer
will be accepted.

[ominous music playing]

[narrator] In 1984,

the political relationship
between East and West

is as fractious
and dangerous as ever.

The spies continue
their cat-and-mouse game

to gain the upper hand.

I lived in the United States

with an established identity
as an American.

But I was actually spying
for the KGB.

The tensions were very,
very high.

The Russians were trying
to spy on us

and recruit our people.

We were spying on them and
trying to recruit their people.

Oh, that's me.

[Jim laughs]

I worked the Soviet target.

KGB, mostly.

They were interested in me
living behind enemy lines

as an American.

Somebody who, if necessary,

could do a lot of damage.

What I loved most
about the job, I think,

was the, um...

was the kind of the chessboard
game with the Russians.

[Jack]
Our goal was to weaken the enemy

and eventually, you know,

help the quote, unquote,
"working class," the suppressed,

to rise up and build
another communist nation.

[narrator] The handling
of the KGB double agents

is coordinated by the FBI
and CIA working together.

[Jim] Rick Ames was responsible

for monitoring
every Soviet case.

All the important agent cases

sort of had to pass
by his desk

and get his seal of approval.

For him, it was probably
quite an exciting time.

Is this Motorin and Martinov?

They were both KGB officers.

Martinov was a joint effort
between the bureau and us.

Sergei Motorin was a Line PR
officer in Washington, D.C.,

who we recruited.

Hmm! This guy I know very well.

This is Major General
Dmitri Polyakov.

I worked with him
quite a while myself.

[narrator]
CIA agent Aldrich Ames

is in a powerful position.

He has 20 Soviet double agents
all under his protection.

[Diana] We were
responsible for these assets.

It's a job
I really took seriously.

Their lives were at stake,

and they knew that risk
when they were...

Had joined up to sign.

[narrator] But Ames is beginning
to feel frustrated,

and his endless daily commute
gives him time to think.

He'd write these studies.

Everybody would read them
and say,

"Oh, that's really great work,
Rick."

And then that would be
the end of it, you know?

They didn't really
send it anywhere.

[narrator]
Ames is feeling undervalued.

The White House seems
much more reliant

on mysterious briefings
from London.

[starts engine]

[Ken]
The intelligence from the CIA

was very good
on military technologies.

It was just not good
at the main thing we needed.

What is going to happen?

You're asking to read the mind
of somebody

and to understand
human motivations.

That's tougher
than what is happening

or what has happened.

[narrator] The intel the Brits
receive from Gordievsky

gives them just that.

And there are frustrations
for Ames at home too.

[Diana]
He was also having a hard time,

in his mind,

trying to figure out
how to get the divorce

from his first wife...

and how much that was gonna
cost him.

[honking horn]

[Jim]
He gave Rosario, I think,

an exaggerated sense
of both how much money he had

and his lifestyle.

I think he exaggerated that
to her.

His old car was always
breaking down.

Everybody talked about his old
junky cars.

Why he didn't buy a new one?
He probably couldn't afford one.

[Tim] He is leading a banal,
middle-class life...

with the important distinction

that he has access

to some of the top secrets
of the United States.

He feels that people
don't recognize his importance.

They have underestimated
Aldrich Ames.

[ominous music playing]

[narrator] Oleg Gordievsky
has proven so valuable,

the British risk a bold move.

They revoke the head
of the station,

Arkady Guk's diplomatic status.

It forces Guk out of London
and back to Moscow.

When you do that,
you open up the possibility

that Moscow will start
asking about why

the British are doing
what they're doing.

And Moscow,

which was already
conspiratorially minded

and paranoiac,
might start doubting the loyalty

of the people who were gonna
benefit from the fact

that resident Guk
had just been sent home.

So that was a risk
that they took.

[narrator]
It leaves an enticing opening.

[Sir David Omand]
With Guk out of the way,

MI6 could plan for Gordievsky
to step up a notch.

Could he become the actual head

of the KGB residency in London?

It would give him
much better access

to intelligence operations
being run from London.

[Alexander] After Arkady Guk,

the number two,
it was Comrade Nikitenko,

who was the head
of the counterintelligence line

in the station.

Of course there was a rivalry.

But espionage is a teamwork,

so you need a good member
of a team.

[Sir David] MI6 have to be
extremely careful.

He's got to show that
he's really on top of the job,

and that he is the right person
to lead the KGB effort

in the United Kingdom,

yet not be so good

and so provoking

that jealousies and suspicions
will come about.

[narrator] MI6 might want
Gordievsky in charge,

but their puppeteering
can't be discovered.

Their strategy
is a bold gesture

with a potential double payoff.

Impress Oleg's KGB bosses

while making a strategic
political move.

[Sir Malcolm]
With Gordievsky's help,

we invited Gorbachev
to come to the United Kingdom.

We waited a rather long time.

Then, suddenly,
we got an answer...

saying, "I'd like to come
in the next couple of months,

and I'd like to bring Raisa,
my wife, with me."

Then we had to go
into overdrive.

[narrator]
It's a momentous event

with a lot at stake.

Gordievsky steps up and helps
both sides to prepare.

Gordievsky is shown a copy

of the foreign secretary
Geoffrey Howe's brief,

so he knows exactly
how Number 10 is gearing up.

[Sir Malcolm] How do you
get across the reality

of what your actual position is?

Sometimes, the best thing
you can do with intelligence

is share it with your adversary.

He's then able to,
in his own words,

tell Gorbachev,
"This is what you must expect.

These are the issues,
for example, human rights,

that the prime minister
is going to raise with you."

[narrator]
Gordievsky shares information

on arms control,
trade and economics,

along with personal notes
on Thatcher.

[Baroness Meta Ramsay]
Oleg is telling the KGB

what the attitude
towards Gorbachev would be,

and what sort of things would
go down well with Mrs. Thatcher,

and what wouldn't.

Oleg was making sure
that the right messages

went in both directions.

[Sir David]
The reaction of Gorbachev

reading his briefs
was fed back to Gordievsky.

There were ticks in the margin.

Passages were underlined.

It's very rare
in any intelligence operation

to have real-time feedback

on whether you're actually
having the effect

that you hope to have.

Having someone in London

who was in on the political line
could produce

world historically important
information.

That's why he was an unusually
important spy.

He was at the right place
at the right time.

[dramatic music playing]

[reporter]
A decade after Gromyko

and 28 years
since Bulganin and Khrushchev

Mr. Gorbachev arrived
to do a little ice-breaking.

[camera shutters click]

[Sir Malcolm] I was at Chequers
when he arrived

with Raisa, his wife.

[camera shutters clicking]

[reporter]
It was an unusual affair.

The man who arrived
was good-humored, informal,

and with a taste
for well-cut suits.

Gorbachev seemed
a new kind of Russian.

Big smile on his face,
as if he's meeting an old chum.

[reporter]
His wife, Raisa,

showed not every Soviet woman

was a 23-stone babushka.

Thatcher's deciding
to be very open and very...

She wasn't stiff at all.

[indistinct chattering]

[laughter]

The photograph is taken
of us all standing on the steps

and so forth.

Now, have you got enough?

-[photographer] Thank you.
-A handshake.

Madam, could we just turn...
Could you...

[Sir Malcolm]
Margaret Thatcher,

in her usual
"taking control" fashion,

said, "No, no, I think we have
to have one shaking hands."

And you'll stand on the end...

-All right.
-[all laugh]

Yes, now, I think...

[Robin]
So at this moment,

Gordievsky's role
was very important, actually,

in creating a bridge between
the British and the Russians.

[Sir Malcolm] And then the first
thing to happen is lunch.

She hogged him to herself
for the whole luncheon.

He behaved,
if I can put it this way,

he wouldn't have liked this,

but he behaved
like a Western politician.

[dramatic music playing]

[Thatcher]
I like Mr. Gorbachev.

We can do business together.

We both believe
in our own political systems.

He firmly believes in his,
I firmly believe in mine.

We're never going to change
one another.

So that is not in doubt.

But we should both
do everything we can

to see that war
never starts again.

[Bianna] A lot of the tension
going into these meetings,

the agenda that was set,

the topics that each side

was going to bring up
and discuss,

was known ahead of time...

in large part thanks
to the messages

that were received and delivered
by Oleg Gordievsky.

[narrator]
The visit is a success.

Gorbachev and Thatcher
find common ground.

Thatcher immediately flies out
to make the case to Reagan.

[camera shutters click]

[Susan Eisenhower] Imagine,
in 1983 Ronald Reagan said

that the Soviet Union
was an evil empire.

And then Margaret Thatcher
says to Mikhail Gorbachev

this is a man
she can do business with.

What an extraordinary shift.

And, of course, Ronald Reagan
was not only an admirer

and a friend
of Margaret Thatcher,

but he really respected
her viewpoint on this.

And she gave him
some political cover

to begin to look at the changes

that were underway
in the Soviet Union

and take them more seriously.

[narrator]
While Chernenko is leader,

full dialogue with the Soviets
remains a long way off.

Her approval of Gorbachev
legitimizes Reagan's desire

to approach the Soviet
leadership himself.

And he is intrigued by her
very well-informed insights.

But the CIA wants to know

exactly who is keeping
the British one step ahead.

[Bianna] The CIA had this

"we are holier than thou"
position,

and thus have the right
to have access

to all of the information
that we would like.

And so they were itching
to find out,

who is this mystery spy?

[narrator]
Ames and his colleagues

scour the list
of Soviet diplomats in London

who had worked in Denmark.

[narrator] Ames now knows
the double agent

who's been swaying Thatcher
and Reagan's thinking.

Unbeknownst to Oleg,

there was a growing list
of people in the CIA

who were aware of him,
his background,

what he was doing,
and his exact identity.

[narrator] And if the CIA
can work out who the mole is,

how long until the KGB
finds out?

The more people who know
the name of a source,

the more imperiled
the source becomes.

If his secret is betrayed
to the KGB,

it's a bullet
to the back of the head.

The risk for Gordievsky
is death.