In 1981, the Americans found that the bugs they had secretly installed in the Okhotsk submarine cable in the Soviet Union had been removed. Four years later, the United States learned that the installation of the bugging device had been sold by one of its intelligence analysts for $5,000.
(Main source: Xinhuanet 2017-04-12 - Intelligence Gold Mine!) Revealing the U.S. Army's Eavesdropping of Soviet Underwater Cables: Helping to Win the Cold War)
Under the haze of the Cold War, the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, launched a protracted contest. This contest is not only manifested in the arms race and ideological confrontation, but also extends to the intelligence war that is being carried out covertly.
In this war without gunpowder, both sides resorted to all their might, trying to snoop on each other's secrets. However, no one expected that a top-secret plan worth hundreds of millions of dollars would eventually be betrayed for a mere $5,000.
The story begins in 1971. That year, the CIA learned through various channels that the Soviet Navy was deploying an important communications cable on the seabed off the coast of the Far East.
This cable carries the core intelligence of the Soviet military, and if it can be successfully wiretapped, it will undoubtedly bring a huge strategic advantage to the United States.
As a result, a top-secret operation codenamed "Project Spiral Flower" came into being. The U.S. government has spared no expense and invested heavily in the development of a bugging device that can work in a deep-sea environment for a long time.
Not only must the device be able to withstand the enormous water pressure at the bottom of the sea, but it must also have sufficient endurance and concealment. In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, the United States has also built a new nuclear-powered submarine in order to be able to quietly dive into Soviet waters.
In 1971, the sea was calm, but the submarine was a tense and busy scene. The crew held their breath for fear of alarming the Soviet alert system at the slightest noise.
After countless surveys and investigations, the submarine finally found the key communication cable in the 10,000-meter abyss.
They seized the opportunity to quickly install the eavesdropping device, which was only six meters long, on the cable.
This tiny device has a plutonium battery built into it, which can theoretically last up to fifty years. It is able to listen to and record surrounding voices, and transmit a steady stream of information back to the United States.
In this way, the United States succeeded in planting an "eyeliner" on the doorstep of the Soviet Union and began a decade-long covert eavesdropping operation.
In the years that followed, this eavesdropping device provided the United States with a great deal of valuable intelligence. Through this information, the United States not only grasped the movements of the Soviet Navy, but also gained a deeper understanding of the Soviet Union's military strategy.
One day, however, in 1981, the United States suddenly discovered that their listening device had lost its signal. At first, they thought it was just a malfunctioning device, but they soon realized that it wasn't simple.
After investigating, they discovered to their horror that the Soviets were dismantling their listening devices.
This discovery sent the United States into a state of extreme panic. They racked their brains and could not understand how the Soviet Union discovered this eavesdropping device, which was so deeply hidden.
What made the United States even more disturbing was that the Soviet Union did not make a big fuss about it. They did not expose this behavior of the United States in the international community, nor did they use it to put pressure on the United States.
On the contrary, the Soviet Union seems to have deliberately kept a low profile, as if nothing had happened.
This strange calm has only made the United States even more uneasy. They began to wonder if the Soviet Union was playing with something bigger. Is there something bigger planning for you?
While the whole United States was preoccupied with this matter, the truth did not emerge until four years later. In 1985, a seemingly unrelated investigation unexpectedly unraveled the answer to this mystery.
It turned out that this priceless top-secret plan was betrayed by the United States itself. And the price of the sale was only 5,000 dollars.
The traitor's name was Pelton, and he was a general analyst at the NSA. He was fired from his job in 1979 for his mediocre performance, and his life has been in limbo ever since.
Filled with resentment, Pelton decides to take the plunge. Relying on his analytical ability, he deduced the existence of the "Spiral Flower Project" from some scattered intelligence, and then took the initiative to contact the Soviet Embassy and sold this top-secret plan worth hundreds of millions of dollars for five thousand dollars.
The failure of the "Spiral Flower Project" marked the end of an important intelligence operation during the Cold War. It not only changed the pattern of the intelligence game between the United States and the Soviet Union, but also provided valuable lessons for subsequent intelligence work.
This incident proves once again that in the intricacies of international relations, it is often the people's hearts that are most unpredictable.
