You knew who your friends were during the Cold War...

Spying was so much simpler 

during the Cold War

By Sue Cameron

You knew who your friends were during the Cold War 

– and you didn’t snoop on them

The security man at the British embassy in Moscow was troubled. His surveillance equipment was picking up an unusual high-pitched whine. He was aware that the Russians had taken over the buildings on either side of the embassy and spent their time trying to listen in to the conversations of our diplomats. The puzzle was that the whining noise seemed to be coming from underneath the embassy – in fact from beneath the bug-proof “secure speech” room which was on the ground floor. The only explanation was that the Russians must be trying to drill their way up through the floor so as to eavesdrop.

Our men in Moscow took action. They found a pair of enormous loudspeakers, placed them face down on the floor and played Land of Hope and Glory at full blast. The drilling stopped.

“It wasn’t cybersnooping – that hadn’t really started in the Eighties – it was more Black & Decker espionage,” says Sir Christopher Meyer, our former ambassador to Washington, who also spent part of his career in Moscow.

How much simpler it all was 30 years ago, compared to the current furore over leaks showing the US spying on its European allies. 

Sir Christopher tells me three things changed the terms of trade in the spying business. 

• One was the fall of the Soviet Union, 
• another was 9/11, 
• and the third was the advance in technology.

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Read more: www.telegraph.co.uk