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{{Short description|Early 1980s leak of classified documents exposing the USSR's copying of Western technology}}{{Campaignbox Russo-French Wars}}

The '''Farewell Dossier''' was a collection of documents containing intelligence gathered and handed over to [[NATO]] by the [[KGB]] [[defector]] Colonel [[Vladimir Vetrov]] (code-named

"Farewell") in [[1981]]-[[1982]], during the [[Cold War]].

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}

An engineer, Vetrov was assigned to evaluate information on Western hardware and software gathered by spies ("Line X") for [[Directorate T]]. However, he became increasingly dis-illusioned with the Communist system and defected at the end of 1980. Between the spring of 1981 and early 1982, Vetrov handed over almost 4,000 secret documents to the [[France|French]] [[Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire|DST]], including the complete list of 250 Line X officers stationed under legal cover in embassies around the world.

The '''Farewell Dossier''' was the collection of documents that Colonel [[Vladimir Vetrov]], a [[KGB]] [[defector]] "en place" (code-named "Farewell"), gathered and gave to the [[Direction de la surveillance du territoire]] (DST) in 1981–82, during the [[Cold War]].

AnVetrov was an engineer, Vetrovwho washad been assigned to evaluate information on Western[[NATO]] hardware and software gathered by spiesthe ("[[Line X]]") for [[technical intelligence]] operation for Directorate T, the [[Soviet Union]]. directorate However,for scientific and technical intelligence collection from the West. heHe became increasingly dis-illusioneddisillusioned with the CommunistSoviet system and defecteddecided to work with the French at the end of 1980the 1970s. Between the spring ofearly 1981 and early 1982, Vetrov handed overgave almost 4,000 secret documents to the [[France|French]] [[Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire|DST]], including the complete list of 250 Line X officers stationed under legal cover in embassies around the world.

This information led to a mass expulsion of Soviet technology spies. The [[CIA]] also mounted a counter-intelligence operation that transfered modified hardware and software designs over to the Soviets, resulting in the spectacular trans-Siberian incident of 1982. The details of the operation were declassified in [[1996]].

As a consequence, Western nations undertook a mass expulsion of Soviet technology spies.

== Aftermath ==

Vetrov's story inspired the 1997 book {{Lang|fr|Bonjour Farewell&thinsp;: La Vérité sur la Taupe Française du KGB}} by Sergueï Kostine.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMtQHQAACAAJ |title=Bonjour, Farewell&thinsp;: La Vérité sur la Taupe Française du KGB |isbn=2221079086 |first=Sergueï |last=Kostine |publisher=R. Laffont |year=1997}}</ref> It was adapted in the French film {{Lang|fr|[[L'affaire Farewell]]}} (2009) starring [[Emir Kusturica]] and [[Guillaume Canet]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0806029/ |title=L'affaire Farewell |website=IMDb}}</ref>

A direct result of intelligence from the Dossier was the mass expulsion of nearly 150 Soviet technology spies around the world. The French alone expelled 47 Soviet spies, most of who were from Line X. This caused the collapse of a desperately-needed information program at a time when it was particularly crucial.

==Background==

===Trans-Siberian Pipeline Incident===

Vetrov was a 52-year-old engineer assigned to evaluate the intelligence on capitalist hardware and software collected by spies ("Line X") for Directorate T. He became disillusioned, and at the end of 1980 volunteered his services to France for ideological reasons. French intelligence gave him the codename "Farewell" — an English word so that the KGB would assume he worked for the [[CIA]] if they learned of the code-name.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spymaniac.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=670&Itemid=7 |title=Real Spies: Vladimir Vetrov (Farewell) |date=20 February 2012 |website=Spymaniac.com |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130731104021/http://www.spymaniac.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=670&Itemid=7 |url-status=dead |archive-date=31 July 2013}}</ref>

The American intelligence community participated in a more subtle response, instigating an operation of [[disinformation]] and faulty technology transfer. The most famous incident was the sabotage of the new trans-Siberian pipeline, which delivered natural gas from the Urengoi gas fields in Siberia into the West.

Between early 1981 and early 1982, Farewell supplied the [[Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire|DST]] with about four thousand secret documents, including a list of Soviet organizations in scientific collection and summary reports from Directorate T on the goals, achievements, and unfulfilled objectives of the program. He revealed the names of more than 200 Line X officers stationed in 10 KGB residences in the West, along with more than 100 leads to Line X recruitments.<ref name=Weiss1996 />

The Soviets needed sophisticated control systems to automate the operation of the pipeline's valves, compressors, and storage facilities. As the United States was unwilling to provide the necessary technical infrastructure to operate the pipeline, a KGB operative was sent to infiltrate a Canadian software supplier in an attempt to steal the needed software.

In a private meeting on 19 July 1981, at the [[7th G7 summit|Ottawa Summit]], French president [[François Mitterrand]] made President [[Ronald Reagan]] aware of Farewell and offered the intelligence to the United States.<ref name=Weiss1996>{{cite journal |title=The Farewell Dossier: Duping the Soviets |first=Gus W. |last=Weiss |journal=Studies in Intelligence |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |year=1996 |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/96unclass/farewell.htm |access-date=9 August 2007 |archive-date=27 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027171324/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/96unclass/farewell.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Safire2004/>

The CIA was tipped off by Farewell and informed the Canadians about the attempted theft. The U.S. then delivered doctored software through Canadian software firms into Russian hands. This software, designed to run the pumps, turbines, and valves, was a [[Trojan Horse]] programmed to malfunction after a period of smooth running. The malfunction would reset the pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures that were far beyond those acceptable to the pipeline joints, and welds. (Reed p. 268-269)

[[William Safire]] said Mitterrand described the man as belonging to a section that was evaluating the achievements of Soviet efforts to acquire NATO technology. Reagan expressed great interest in Mitterrand's revelations and thanked him for having the material sent to the United States government. It was passed through Vice President Bush and then <ref name=Weiss1996 /> to [[William J. Casey|William Casey]], his [[Director of Central Intelligence]]. Casey called in [[Gus W. Weiss]], then working with [[Thomas C. Reed]] on the staff of the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]]. After studying the list of hundreds of Soviet agents and purchasers (including one cosmonaut) assigned to this penetration in the US and Japan, Weiss counselled against deportation.<ref name=Safire2004>{{cite news |last=Safire |first=William |author-link=William Safire |newspaper=The New York Times |title=The Farewell Dossier |date=2 February 2004 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E6DF173BF931A35751C0A9629C8B63 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227161915/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E6DF173BF931A35751C0A9629C8B63 |archive-date=27 February 2009}}</ref>

The result was the greatest non-nuclear explosion ever seen from space, rated at around three kilotons by the Air Force Chief of Intelligence (Reed p. 269.) There were no casualties of the pipeline explosion, but significant damage was made to the Soviet economy. In time, the Soviets came to realize that they had been stealing faulty technology, but this only exacerbated the situation. As they did not know which technology was sound and which was doctored, all became suspect.

The dossier, under the name of Farewell, reached the CIA in August 1981. It demonstrated that the Soviets had spent years carrying out their espionage of research and development activities.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

== External links and references ==

==CIA response==

* [https://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/96unclass/farewell.htm Weiss, Gus. Duping the Soviets: The Farewell Dossier. 3/20/06]

While Vetrov was recruited by the French, the Western counter-reaction came from the US.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

* [http://www.fcw.com/article82709-04-26-04-Print Tech sabotage during the Cold War]

* [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2004/02/04/2003097438/print 'The Farewell dossier': how a CIA plot helped win the Cold War]

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/cold_war.htm Cold War. Global Security. 3/20/06]

* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4394002 Hoffman, David. “CIA Slipped Bugs To Soviets.” The Washington Post 27/2/04]

Safire was writing a series of hardline columns denouncing the financial backing being given to Moscow by Germany and Britain for the [[Trans-Siberian Pipeline]], a major natural gas pipeline from Siberia to Europe. That project would give control of European energy supplies to the Communists, as well as generate US$8 billion a year to support Soviet computer and satellite research.<ref name=Safire2004/>

==Further reading==

{{blockquote |Intelligence shortcomings, as we see, have a thousand fathers; secret intelligence triumphs are orphans. Here is the unremarked story of "the Farewell dossier": how a CIA campaign of computer sabotage resulting in a huge explosion in Siberia — all engineered by a mild-mannered economist named Gus Weiss — helped us win the Cold War.

* Gordon Brook-Shepherd, ''The Storm Birds: Soviet Post-War Defectors'' (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, New York, 1989) pp. 311-327

* Thomas C. Reed, ''At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War'' (Ballantine, New York, 2004)

*

Weiss worked down the hall from me [Safire] in the Nixon administration. In early 1974, he wrote a report on Soviet advances in technology through purchasing and copying that led the beleaguered president — détente notwithstanding — to place restrictions on the export of computers and software to the U.S.S.R.<ref name=Safire2004/> |multiline=yes |author=William Safire }}

[[Category:Cold War]]

The [[CIA]] mounted a [[Counterintelligence|counter-intelligence]] operation that transferred modified hardware and software designs over to the Soviets. They instigated an operation of [[disinformation]] and faulty technology transfer.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} Thomas C. Reed alleged this was the cause of a trans-Siberian pipeline disaster in 1982.{{efn|These allegations are contained in the 2004 book ''[[At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Reed |first=Thomas C. |author-link=Thomas C. Reed |date=2004 |title=[[At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War]] |isbn=978-0-8914-1821-4 }}</ref> Critics have contested the authenticity of the account.}}

Information from Vetrov also led to the arrest in New York of the spy [[Dieter Gerhardt]], a [[South African Navy|South African naval officer]] who had been passing secrets to the Soviets for 20 years.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.beeld.com/By/Nuus/Spioen-spioen-n-Ware-verhaal-20111111-2 |title=Spioen-Spioen 'n Ware(?) Verhaal |trans-title=Spy-Spy A True (?) Story |language=af |first=André|last=Pretorius |newspaper=[[Beeld]] |date=11 November 2011 |access-date=22 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612083115/http://www.beeld.com/By/Nuus/Spioen-spioen-n-Ware-verhaal-20111111-2 |archive-date=June 12, 2012}}</ref> His handler, [[Vitaly Shlykov]], was arrested and subsequently imprisoned in Switzerland while attempting to meet with Gerhardt's wife, Ruth, who was acting as his courier.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

===Counterintelligence response===

According to Reed, another result was that the United States and its NATO allies later "rolled up the entire Line X collection network, both in the US and overseas." Weiss said "the heart of Soviet technology collection crumbled and would not recover".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB107787406695041047 |title=U.S. Sabotaged the Soviet Economy |last=Hoffman |first=David E. |date=2004-02-27 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |access-date=2019-09-01 |language=en-US |issn=0099-9660}}</ref>

==Discovery==

Eventually, Vetrov's defection led to his death. "Vetrov fell into a tragic episode with a woman and a fellow KGB officer in a Moscow park. In circumstances that are not clear, he stabbed and killed the officer and then stabbed but did not kill the woman. He was arrested, and, in the ensuing investigation, his espionage activities were discovered; he was eventually executed in 1985. CIA had enough intelligence to institute protective countermeasures."<ref name=Weiss1996 />

By 1985 Mitterrand came to suspect that Vetrov had been a CIA plant set up to test him after his election in 1981 to see if the material would be handed over to the Americans or kept by the French. Acting on this mistaken belief, Mitterrand fired the chief of the French service, [[Yves Bonnet]].<ref name=Weiss1996 /> The details of the operation were declassified in 1996.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lichfield |first1=John |title=How the Cold War was won... by the French |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/how-the-cold-war-was-won-by-the-french-1788720.html |access-date=12 November 2017 |work=[[The Independent]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204213657/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/how-the-cold-war-was-won-by-the-french-1788720.html |archive-date=4 February 2017}}</ref>

== Reception ==

[[First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba]] [[Fidel Castro]] wrote in a 2007 article that the campaign of countermeasures based on Farewell's dossier was an economic war; that although there were no deaths in the gas pipeline explosion, the Soviet economy was significantly damaged; and that between 1984 and 1985, the United States and its NATO allies had put an end to the technology spying operation, which had destroyed the capacity of the USSR to capture technology when Moscow was caught between a defective economy on one hand and a US President determined to prevail and end the Cold War on the other.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Castro Ruz |first=Fidel |author-link=Fidel Castro |date=2007-09-18 |title=Deliberate Lies, Strange Deaths and Aggresion [sic] to the World Economy |url=https://www.granma.cu/granmad/secciones/reflexiones/ing-048.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200122123727/http://www.granma.cu/granmad/secciones/reflexiones/ing-048.html |archive-date=2020-01-22 |access-date=2022-07-02 |website=[[Granma (newspaper)|Granma]]}}</ref>

== Notes ==

{{notelist}}

== References ==

{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==

{{refbegin}}

* {{cite book |first=Gordon |last=Brook-Shepherd, ''|title=The Storm Birds: Soviet Post-War Defectors'' (|publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson, |___location=New York, |year=1989) pp. 311-327|pages=311–327}}

* {{cite book |first=Paul |last=Kengor |title=The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism |publisher=Regan/HarperCollins |___location=New York |year=2006}}

<!-- Listed because of the CIA counter-operation -->

* {{Cite book |first1=Sergei |last1=Kostin |first2=Eric |last2=Raynaud |name-list-style=amp |title=Adieu Farewell |publisher=Laffont |___location=Paris |year=2009 |language=fr |postscript=;}} {{cite book |title=Farewell |publisher=AmazonCrossing |year=2011}} First complete investigation of the Farewell Dossier and its international impact. June 2014: publication of ''The Snow Violin'' by French author Michel Louyot, Leaky Boot Press, U.K. A gripping evocation of Farewell/Vetrov and his handler. Gives more insight into the character.

* {{cite book |first=Giles |last=Slade |title=Made To Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America |publisher=Harvard University Press |___location=Cambridge, MA |year=2007 |at=Chapter 8}}

{{refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farewell Dossier}}

[[Category:Cold War documents]]

[[Category:French intelligence operations]]

[[Category:Central Intelligence Agency operations]]

[[Category:France–Soviet Union relations]]

[[Category:1982 in politics]]

[[Category:1982 documents]]

[[Category:1982 in France]]

[[Category:Cold War history of France]]