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Article: Poland Helped U.S. Buy Soviet Weapons; At Cold War's Peak, Pentagon Gained Access to East Bloc's Secrets
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 14, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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The freighter left the Polish seaport of Gdynia with a highly
classified cargo, a state-of-the-art air defense system built in the
Soviet Union. Its ultimate destination - the United States - was a
secret, known only to a few people in the U.S. intelligence
community.
The shipment, arranged in the late 1980s, was the culmination of
an extraordinary intelligence effort coordinated by the CIA: the
acquisition of advanced Soviet weapons from Warsaw Pact countries at
the peak of the Cold War.
Using foreign intermediaries, European bank accounts and third
countries, the U.S. government made scores of clandestine purchases,
paying hundreds of millions of dollars to Eastern Bloc officials who ...