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Summary Of The Book 'Spies Beneath Berlin'

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Spies beneath Berlin is a book, written by David Stafford, about the Cold War; more specifically, about Operation Stopwatch/Gold. This was a joint effort by the CIA (US’s central intelligence agency) and the SIS (Britain’s secret intelligence service) to intercept soviet messages via a secret tunnel beneath the Russian sector of Berlin. Before Operation Stopwatch/Gold, US and British forces tried unsuccessfully to intercept as much Soviet information as they could. Before Operation Stopwatch, the SIS had other phone-tapping operations such as the “Smokey Joes” which did not produce significant insight to the soviets’ operations. Most of the recorded data consists of location logs and details on how someone seemed over the phone. Much of the data was only speculation and much of it could be dismissed. This prompted higher-ups to find a new way to intercept soviet messages, which began Operation Stopwatch/Gold. …show more content…

Despite the increase of risk, the executives decided to continue with construction, only closer beneath the surface. Success for Operation Stopwatch/Gold was nearly impossible as the tiniest of Moises or vibrations could trigger soviet alarms. An invisible blockade also appeared from the very beginning of this operation. the KGB (Soviet secret service) had George Blake as their eyes and ears spying on the project, making the success even more minute. Overtime, with both sides anxiously waiting for signs of war, Khrushchev wanted to gain the upper hand and gave the signal to expose Operation Stopwatch/Gold. To make the discovery seem “accidental” KGB leaders had to devise an excuse for how they came across the secret tunnel. Luckily, the spring weather worked in their favor causing wires to short from flooding. This gave them the need to make repairs on tapped telephone wires running under the

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