After wracking my brain over it, I finally decided to try looking again under my bed, which I use as extra storage space in my little apartment. I was sure I'd looked there already, but I was running into dead ends in my thinking, so I decided to look there, and sure enough I found a duffel bag filled with papers connected with my autobiography, including the file I was sure I had somewhere. But since we've already begun on this file, I guess we'll finish it for now. There's actually a lot I'd like to cover before I get to Vienna, and I probably won't get to all of it by then.
I really want to find someone who will help me understand the information about my dad's security clearance.
***
In this next article I just want to use one short quote. The article itself is mainly about the Pollard spy case.
Satchell, Michael. (1987, June 1) Why the secrets slip out. U.S. News & World Report, p. 20-25.
"Since January 1984, no fewer than 20 U.S. citizens have been convicted of stealing national secrets, compared with just four in the previous four-year period.
Why the great increase? In the arcane world of espionage, men and women spy for one or more elements in the SMICE formula - sex, money, ideology, compromise and ego." (p. 20)
This quote is relevant to me because the U.S. might have been concerned that the Soviets could get to my dad via one or more of these potential weaknesses on my part and the Soviets may have tried to lure me to get to my dad through one or more of these means.
The time period spoken of in this article is smack dab in the time when I was preparing for Vienna and it was published the same month I actually arrived there.
***
How Russia steals U.S. defense secrets. (1981, May 25). U.S. News & World Report, p. 39-41.
This article was published 4 months before I left for my first Europe trip. I was an undergraduate student ending my junior year of studies. At that time I was generally aware that the KGB existed and my Russian professor somewhere along the line had mentioned that it was thought that the Samovar cafe near Seattle's famed Pike Place Market was run by KGB, or was a KGB front or the like. Other than that I knew very little about the spy world.
"The most obvious facet of Russia's strategy is a surge of classical espionage against firms manufacturing computers, lasers, fiber optics, electronics and other strategic goods. In fact, these companies are now the chief focus of Russia's spy agency, the KGB." (p. 39)
I think this could potentially include Boeing's aerospace division, where my dad worked.
***
"The Russian connection also turned up in another incident that led to the arrest of an Austrian who had business interests in the U.S. and Canada." (p. 40).
This paragraph goes on to discuss briefly discuss the Austrian spy Manfred Swarovski. This was well before I went to Vienna, but it does show how international spy activities would be, and this article discusses others as well, such as the case of the Belgian national, Marc Andre DeGeyter who... "was caught trying to penetrate a U.S. firm for its crucial computer technology." (p. 40)
***
"Allied Actions. Even when Washington can effectively thwart actions benefiting the Soviet Union, America's allies in Western Europe and Japan sometimes move in to fill the breach.
Theoretically, Japan and nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are pledged to cooperate with Washington in curbing military useful exports to Russia. Yet the system is also plagued by a leakage of technology..." (p. 40)
I'm not sure this situation continued like to include the time I was in Vienna beginning some 6 years after this was written, but I expect it did.
***
That's all for now. I hope to have an uneventful day. At some point in my adult life, when talking about hobbies, I used to tell people that I'd given up downhill skiing and hoped to try cross-country skiing instead because my life has enough excitement in it, so I don't need the thrill of speed any more. Uneventful is nice.
~ Meg
