How deeply did the intelligence of the USSR and other Warsaw Pact countries penetrate Britain and NATO?
I don’t doubt that during postwar years a definite amount of valuable technological information was lost due to their penetration in the western security system. But I don’t have such experience. I don’t remember any such event which would cause consternation in our midst when I was State Secretary for Defence. But spying goes on constantly. Do you think that the progress in the relations between the USSR and the West was achieved thanks to the able policy of British diplomats? Gorbachev had not done what he did only because his pro-British position was duly appraised by NATO. The United States played the main role. Gorbachev’s meetings with Reagan were of paramount importance. Along with this he met Margaret Thatcher and Helmut Kohl several times, and had also contacts with Frenchmen, who pursued their own policy which was not too greatly integrated in western one. For instance, they tried to revive the West European Union at the time. As to Mrs. Thatcher’s policy, it was closely affi
