Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Welcome! Log in to stay connected and make the most of your experience.

Input clean

The Value of a Well-Placed Spy in Moscow

The Value of a Well-Placed Spy in Moscow

Saint Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow, Russia

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — I hope CIA has an agent like Dmitry Polyakov operating in Moscow right now.  A Major General in Soviet Military Intelligence (the GRU), Polyakov was the highest ranking – and arguably the most valuable - spy run by US intelligence during the Cold War.  Known to the Agency as ROAM and to the FBI as TOPHAT, Polyakov was described by former CIA officer Sandy Grimes as the Agency’s “crown jewel”.  Highly disciplined and deeply respected by his handlers, he utilized the first two-way encrypted covert communications device ever issued by CIA.  Polyakov’s broad access to information on his own service and its ‘neighbors’ in the KGB, allowed him to pass on a huge volume of material to include counterintelligence investigative leads that were used to identify Soviet spies in the West.  As a decorated Second World War veteran and member of the Soviet elite with commensurate contacts and influence, Polyakov was also able to provide invaluable intelligence on the plans and intentions of the Soviet General Staff and Communist Party Central Committee.

We need an agent with similar access today, as the US moves toward a denouement with its peer competitor adversaries in Moscow and Beijing.  That we have reached such a critical juncture is evident by the recent actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinpeng; two men united by a common enemy.  Ongoing US domestic turmoil and the disastrous US exit from Afghanistan have engendered an impression in Beijing and Moscow of American weakness and a corresponding lessening of Washington’s ability and willingness to counter actions they might undertake.  To paraphrase Victor Davis Hanson, ‘re-establishing deterrence’ that was lost with the Afghan debacle will not be easy, as the US struggles to shift its national security apparatus away from a focus on our two decades-long war against jihadi terror to countering peer competitors. In this environment, ambiguity and a lack of clarity as to US capabilities, policies and intent can easily lead to a disastrous miscalculation by those who are trying to capitalize on the disarray they sense in their chief adversary’s camp.  The repercussions of this moment of danger are most immediately evident in Ukraine. 

Keep reading...Show less
Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Related Articles

Covering the Blaze the World Forgot

BOOK REVIEW: Fuji Fire: Sifting Ashes of a Forgotten U.S. Marine Corps TragedyBy Chas Henry / Potomac BooksReviewed by: Bill HarlowThe Reviewer — [...] More

The Math Behind Trump's $1 Trillion Defense Budget

OPINION — “The President's FY ‘26 [Fiscal Year 2026] National Defense Budget requests $1.01 trillion, which is a 13 percent increase from FY '25 [...] More

The Downward Spiral of Western Counterintelligence

OPINION — Counterintelligence is one of the most vital functions of the intelligence community, helping protect against foreign threats. [...] More

An Urgent Call to Close the Loopholes on Chips and China

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION -- The core lessons from the Cold War should guide us as we face the new “Axis of Aggressors” today. First among these, [...] More

Report for Monday, June 30, 2025

8:29 America/Chicago Monday, June 30 [...] More

A Good NATO Summit, Though Russia Won a Round

EXPERT Q&A — NATO leaders convened in The Hague this week for a summit aiming to strengthen the alliance's defenses, with the ever encroaching threat [...] More

NATO Wins Will Have an Impact

CIPHER BRIEF EXPERT Q&A — NATO leaders convened at The Hague this week and agreed to raise the alliance’s defense spending target to 5% GDP, marking [...] More

Dead Drop: June 27

THIS WEEK: SURPRISES, SECRETS AND SPY COCKTAILS: This week’s best collection of national security gossip is filled with surprises, secrets and a [...] More

NATO Lures Trump Back - at a Cost

NATO Lures Trump Back - at a Cost

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – The stakes at this week’s NATO summit were sky-high – support for Ukraine, a shoring up of Europe’s defenses, and the [...] More