24. This Man Found it Fiendishly Difficult to Cooperation on His Vendetta Against the Soviet Union
Adolf Tolkachev wanted to screw the Soviet regime. To share with its enemies the secrets of his military R&D work would seriously stick it to the USSR. However, while the concept of betrayal of the Soviet Union was simple in theory, the nuts and bolts of just how to go about with that betrayal proved frustratingly difficult. In January, 1977, Tolkachev tried to approach American diplomats in Moscow, in order to betray some of the Soviet Union’s most sensitive military secrets. He got brushed off. He tried again, only to get brushed off again. And again, and again, and again. Tolkachev had not anticipated that treason could be so fiendishly difficult.
He persisted, and doggedly continued to try and get the Americans to pay him attention. Finally, after seven attempts at contact and more than a year later, the CIA assigned a Russian-speaking officer to contact the Soviet engineer. It quickly became clear that US intelligence had been doing its best to throw away a bonanza. Tolkachev provided intelligence data whose value was described as “incalculable” by American experts. Among other things, the US Air Force completely redesigned the electronics of its then premier fighter, the F-15 Eagle, based on information provided by Tolkachev.