Pyotr Popov | The Brutal End of the CIA's First Soviet Spy

<p><strong>Ways to support the podcast:</strong></p><p>Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ <a href="https://bmc.link/philipthompson">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bmc.link/philipthompson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p>Donate via PayPal: 💸 <a href="paypal.me/PhilipT284">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paypal.me/PhilipT284⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p>In November 1952, a Soviet army officer in Vienna slipped an envelope through the window of a parked American diplomat&#39;s car. Inside was an offer to sell military secrets. Within weeks, the CIA had their first ever source inside Soviet military intelligence.</p><p>For seven years, Pyotr Popov gave the CIA a picture of the Soviet military it had never had: weapons systems, nuclear doctrine, and the identities of hundreds of GRU officers operating across the West. Then the KGB closed in. What followed was one of the most contested exposure cases in Cold War history. Decades later, a document found in a Lithuanian KGB archive suggested Popov had been identified as a CIA source before he ever returned to Moscow.</p><p>📚 Sources &amp; Further Reading (affiliate link):</p><p>📕 <a href="https://amzn.to/4ptZrPn" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Mole: True Story of the First Russian Spy to Become an American Counterspy by William Hood</a></p>