September 13, 2019
Colloquium Topic: The Spy in Moscow Station: A Counterspy's Hunt for a Deadly Cold War Threat
In the late 1970s, the National Security Agency still did not officially exist—those in the know referred to it dryly as the No Such Agency. So why, when NSA engineer Charles Gandy filed for a visa to visit Moscow, did the Russian Foreign Ministry assert with confidence that he was a spy?
Outsmarting honey traps and encroaching deep enough into enemy territory to perform complicated technical investigations, Gandy accomplished his mission in Russia, but discovered more than State and CIA wanted him to know.
Eric Haseltine's The Spy in Moscow Station tells of a time when—much like today—Russian spycraft had proven itself far beyond the best technology the U.S. had to offer. The perils of American arrogance mixed with bureaucratic infighting left the country unspeakably vulnerable to ultra-sophisticated Russian electronic surveillance and espionage.
This is the true story of unorthodox, underdog intelligence officers who fought an uphill battle against their own government to prove that the KGB had pulled off the most devastating penetration of U.S. national security in history. If you think "The Americans" isn't riveting enough, you'll love this toe-curling nonfiction thriller.
Colloquium Speaker: Eric Haseltine
Dr. Eric Haseltine is an author, futurist, and neuroscientist. He has held several senior executive positions in private industry and the public sector. He was the associate director and CTO for national intelligence at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the director of research at the National Security Agency, an executive vice president at Walt Disney Imagineering, and a director of engineering at Hughes Aircraft Company. For the past few years, he has been developing completely new forms of digital media, entertainment, and advertising, in addition to cutting-edge cyber and industrial security solutions.
Eric has authored or co-authored 15 patents in optics, special effects, and electronic media. In addition, he has published more than 100 articles in Discover magazine, on Discover.com, and in journals such as Brain Research and Society for Neuroscience Proceedings. He maintains a blog on Psychology Today. Eric's book, Long Fuse, Big Bang, shows how to prevent the tyranny of the urgent from trumping the pursuit of the important. He is co-author of The Listening Cure, with Dr. Chris Gilbert.