In 1971 Oleg Adolfovich Lyalin--"a man from the darkest core of the KGB," as John Barron, a foremost expert on Soviet intelligence, called him--defected from Department V, or the "wet affairs" section, of the Soviet intelligence agency. Great Britain expelled 105 Soviet intelligence officers in the wake of Lyalin's revelations and the KGB itself called home many more from around the world before other nations could react.
"The tracks left by various Department V officers flushed into the open were revealing," Barron explained. "They showed that Department V was active on all continents, surveying both physical and human targets for destruction. Partial reconstruction of such operations...indicated that the Kremlin contemplated sabotage not only in case of war but in certain peacetime circumstances.
"Threatening as these preparations were, the mentality they mirrored was even more disturbing. For the existence and worldwide deployment of an outfit such as Department V revealed a continuing Soviet commitment to the principle of clandestine violence."
Soviet special purpose forces--Spetsnaz, as the military version is called in the Soviet Union, when these forces are mentioned at all--pose a serious threat to the security interests of the United States and the Free World. Although in peacetime these forces are dedicated largely to the maintenance of internal security in the Soviet Union, their sensitive peacetime missions include foreign political action and the projection of Soviet power abroad. In wartime, certain of these forces would operate in foreign territory independently of their parent units, conducting reconnaissance, carrying out sabotage, assassinating key leaders, and attacking important military, economic, and political targets. These are the "cutthroat soldiers," as they are called by Colonel Viktor Suvorov, a former Soviet army officer now living in the West.
According to Noel Koch, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense,
The development of Spetsnaz is a particularly menacing aspect of the growth aspect of Soviet military power. Their job is to destroy a nation's infrastructure and kill people...The development of Spetsnaz has been rapid, and we are only now recognizing the magnitude of the threat they pose. We must vastly improve our rear-area security to deal with the threat.
They would be formidable enemies in war. Their doctrine, however, also contemplates pre-emptive action in situations short of war. Their mission includes assassination and sabotage; their targets would be both military and civilian. The Western democracies would be especially vulnerable in a crisis, when effective and rapid consultation between leaders within a given NATO country, and between NATO countries would be crucial. Not only would chiefs of state and heads of government be key targets but so would cabinet ministers (or secretaries), military commanders, and so on. But then so would key personnel of nuclear facilities and radar sites, C3I (command, control, communications and intelligence) personnel and so would fighter pilots and submarine crews. There are those who say that important industrial leaders would be at risk as well.
Soviet Spetsnaz
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