78-05-B1

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Spies

Transcript In our country today there is almost a feeling that nothing is lower than a spy-catcher. At least it seems that way with the continuing vendetta against the F.B.I., the C.I.A. and even local police intelligence units. But espionage is regularly practiced by most nations in this less-than-peaceful world and we're naive if we don't think there is a constant effort by the Soviet Union to infiltrate the most sensitive agencies in our government. In 1974 the world learned that Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany had an East German spy at his elbow. Unknown to the chancellor of course this enemy agent had worked his way up to being his top political aide. The West Germans did not fool around. They set out to develop drastic new methods of tracking down spies. They estimated there were at least 6,000 East Germans plus another 1,500 from the Soviet Union and its other satellites. The espionage effort was based on the idea of flooding West Germany with so many agents posing as refugees that the government couldn't possibly catch them all. To counter this the West Germans began feeding information about refugees into a computer. Previously this information had been scattered among several different agencies. Now, gathered together, it is matched against a computer program made up from the behavior patterns and personal characteristics typical of agents already exposed. Each pattern gives them a set of guidelines which can be made more specific as time goes on. The new plan went into operation early in 1976. By late May they had bagged a top agent (who was serving as Secretary to several officials in the foreign ministry) along with 15 spies in the Defense ministry. By Autumn of last year another eight had been caught and the year end total was 35 arrested while another 35 had fled the country. It's interesting that the West Germans made public what they were doing. This saved a lot of time and money because sizable numbers of agents took off for the border without waiting to see if the computer would expose them. One couple sent a cable explaining that their sudden disappearance had been caused by a death in the family. A banker told of an accident in Denmark which would prevent his returning to Germany. There was a dying grandmother, a sick wife--any number of excuses for departure. Some city governments found themselves suddenly without certain employees. Employees were lost to nuclear power plants, a fuel research team and to the rocket division of a firm with NATO contracts. The personnel chief of the Hamburg Criminal Investigating Division and President of the Union of Germ Police Officials was picked up with five other spies. An Englishman and his German wife were caught 48 hours before they were to cross the border into East Germany. Documents were found in their home which led to a secretary in the Chancellors office. She had previously passed a security check with flying colors. Does anyone want to say, "it can't happen here"? This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-05-B1 Production Date 04/03/1978 Book/Page RPtV-284 Audio Youtube? No
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