I'm going to gradually whittle away at the material in this file between doing other things. I just portioned out my 10-day supply of hot cereal packets and did some other puttering around.
Also, I just took my temperature and it's 99.3. My temperature is up and down like a yo-yo and this is very early in the day for me to be registering a fever, at least by recent trends. (Yesterday I didn't have a fever, but Saturday it was 99.5... go figure.) I would usually take an Aleve upon reaching a fever of 99.3, but since I see the allergy doctor this afternoon, I want him to see me having a fever. Sometimes if you go to the doctor and they can't get any abnormal readings they think you're getting better; at least that's my experience, although I don't think this is true for all doctors, even all of my doctors. I'll take some Aleve with me though to that appointment so that I can take it afterwards.
**
This next article is also from U.S. News & World Report:
Dudney, Robert. (1979, Dec. 10). America: World's No. 1 Spy Target. U.S. News & World Report, p. 36-40.
***
"In unprecedented numbers agents are infiltrating the U.S. - disguised as diplomats, students, even refugees..." (p. 36)
Didn't I tell you there were KGB among the Soviet emigrants? If you didn't believe me, maybe you'll believe U.S. News & World Report!
***
"'Never,' says an authoritative intelligence source, 'have we had foreign operatives coming into this country in such numbers. It's a totally new phenomenon.'
The principal target of agents from Communist nations has been classified information of a political nature. But the emphasis lately has shifted to secrets of the U.S. military-scientific establishment - especially its increasingly sophisticated satellite technology and communications systems." (p. 36)
I'm not sure when dad began work on Boeing's communication's satellites, but I know that while I was an undergraduate he was working in this area. This article was published while I was in my sophomore year of college. When he made his business trips to Sweden and France it was in this connection, and so his visit to me in Germany in the fall of 1981 was following a business trip to Sweden for his communications satellite-related work. Reagan didn't officially start the Strategic Defense Initiative until March 23, 1983, so this predated that work.
Also, you will note that Soviet intelligence efforts, according to this article, were shifting more to focusing on exactly what my dad was working on. This article gives specific examples of this shift in focus.
***
"Soviet-bloc agents are also concentrating increasingly on the theft of industrial secrets. Recent advances in computers, lasers, microelectronics and production techniques - areas where Communist economics lag far behind the West - are particularly valuable." (p. 36)
To the average person reading this, it probably is only of vague passing interest. But to someone living in a world not of her choosing, this information is personal. I mean myself, of course. Again, I'm sure Boeing's work wasn't overlooked by the Soviets in this shift of focus, especially since they weren't some obscure little factory operating out of a warehouse or something.
***
"A phenomenal growth has been detected in the cadre of Russia's KGB officers residing in the United States. More than 500 have been identified at official missions in Washington, D.C., New York and San Francisco, twice the figure of 10 years ago." (p. 37)
I wonder how many KGB were in the San Francisco Soviet consulate in 1990... the year Anatolii & Galina Grischenko were in Seattle for Anatolii's cancer treatment? (I wrote about this incident in my life in an earlier post. Eventually I'll get around to making links between postings like this, but I don't want to stop to do that now.)
***
"The FBI reportedly has discovered Soviet agents among Jewish emigres leaving Russia. Several have been 'doubled,' or persuaded to work as counterspies." (p. 38)
Again... see, I told you? Now do you believe me that it's possible that I first got on the Soviet's radar when I was working with Soviet Jewish emigres? In any cause, you should admit that it's a plausible theory, even if you're not yet convinced that I've actually proved it beyond the shadow of a doubt.
***
This next source is the chapter of a book.
Adams, J. (1994). The New Spies. London, Hutchinson, Chapter 8, "Same Old Stuff."
This chapter tells about Michael Souther, an American spy and defector to the USSR.
"When is certain is that by the middle of 1986, Souther had raised the suspicions of the FBI. Investigators had interviewed him once, but could find no hard evidence. Clearly spooked, he bought a one-way ticket to Rome and disappeared, reappearing two years later at a press conference in Moscow to denounce the United States and claim he was being persecuted by the FBI." (p. 116).
Now I know I'm getting ahead of myself, and there's a lot you don't know yet about my experiences, but I could relate, at least in part to Souther. I wasn't a spy, for either the US or USSR, although it's possible that useful information was gleaned through me - but not anything even close to military secrets, of which I knew virtually nothing - including much about my dad's work. In fact, I think I'm safe in saying that of my whole family (dad, mom, two brothers and me) I knew the absolute least about dad's work. And I wasn't at all interested in the military aspects of it, for sure. I think I thought of that sphere along the lines of an extension of men's apparent need to flaunt their strength, and that was never anything I was terribly impressed by or interested in. There were other traits that I found more attractive in men, but not that one.
Also, you'll note the chronology here - 1986 for Souther's disappearance and 2 years later for his reappearance at the press conference. I 1986 I was accepted to work in Vienna and I began deputation, which lasted until I arrived in Vienna in June of 1987.
***
"...[T]he Souther affair was the opening salvo in what has become a new phase in the war between Russia and Western intelligence." (p. 117).
If that is the case, then I wonder what all these spy things did for how U.S. intelligence approached my dad and, by extension, me? Did this increase their scrutiny and concern? I'm not saying I know the answers to these, but I find it possible that there could have been a ripple affect that eventually came down to me.
***
That's all for that text, and I'm going to leave off again. This spy topic has been affecting my fibromyalgia a bit, where the other subjects were getting easier in that regard, almost like a release or catharsis to be able to tell my story (even if no one is listening as I write this). But I guess this new topic is hitting a new nerve that is more stressful for me.
I've got to start thinking about lunch though before going to my doctor's appointment.
~ Meg
