The Worst Intelligence Disaster in FBI History | True Life Spy Stories

Dr.Docs' Take

In 1986 the FBI's Soviet counterintelligence section discovered its prized informants were being executed, betrayed from inside American intelligence itself. I keep this one filed under the true horrors of the spy game, where the leak is coming from the house. Two brave double agents died because a traitor on our side sold their names. A gripping, grim reminder that the most dangerous mole is always the one at your own desk.

Listen to my spy stories (and more!) on the True Life Spy Stories podcast! In 1986, a chilling revelation sent shockwaves through the FBI's Soviet counterintelligence section in Washington. Two prized Soviet informants, Valery Martynov and Sergei Motorin, had been compromised. Once exposed, the men were lured back to Moscow, and brutally executed - a bullet in the head for each, the KGB's grim signature for traitors.

Courtesy of Philip Thompson on YouTube. Watch on YouTube ↗

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