Date: 12/30/2020
Author: Kent Moors, Ph.D.
In the 1960s, “I Spy” revolutionized television. It featured Robert Culp, then a major star following one of the several dozen TV cowboy hits of the period (“Trackdown”), and a virtually unknown standup comic turned actor named Bill Cosby.
Nothing like this had ever before exploded on the small screen. What set the series apart was its international flare, big budget, exotic locations, and the first African American lead. Icon Sheldon Leonard was the executive producer (his name in big letters ran before anything else in the titles at the start of each week’s installment). Leonard even showed up upon occasion in the gangster role that had made him famous.
Culp played Kelly Robinson, an erstwhile tennis bum, playing or instructing wealthy folks across the globe. Cosby played Alexander “Scotty” Scott, his trainer. They were CIA under cover. Scott was really the brains of the pair, a language whiz having an Oxford degree. But Kelly usually got the girl.
Each of the three years it was on the air, Culp was nominated for the leading man Emmy. Each time he lost…to Cosby.
Culp died of a heat attack in 2010 while taking his daily walk in Runyon Canyon off the Hollywood Hills neighborhood where one of my daughters now lives.
Cosby, as everybody knows, is biding his time at a state prison in Phoenix, PA.
Well, several of the episodes took place at ports in the Greek Aegean. Today’s edition of my Classified Intelligence Brief “Spy Tales” series brings us back to one of those locations. I thought about this TV connection often during the periods in which I spent time there.
How’s that for a segue?
Before I narrate the intel experience, as usual some history. This time it involves the location. The factual background is wrapped up in the events I will describe.
This all centers about a famous island.
Everybody has seen Santorini at one time or another. It probably appears in more “come to Greece” travel posters than any other single location. However, Santorini is really a municipal district on what is more properly called Thera (Thira in some modern usage), one of the Cyclades islands. The main towns of Santorini – Fira and Oia – provide the famous photos like this one:
Made striking by the whitewashed houses sporting blue cupolas and hugging a rugged cliff side fast by a striking Aegean, Santorini these days is hardly a cheap stop for tourists. But they continued to pack in anyway, at least before COVID-19 sidetracked the cruise ships. It rests about a 180-mile ferry ride from the Athenian port of Piraeus (where we will travel for a later “Spy Tales.”).
The island of Thera is one of several archipelagos in the Southern Aegean formed by volcanic activity, sitting on the northern reaches of an underwater caldera (a cauldron-shaped depression following a volcanic eruption) and stress plate that forms a trench pointing directly south to Crete.
That caldera accounts for the half-moon shaped bay at Santorini and was formed more than 3,500 years ago. Then, Thera and a close by speck of rock I will mention in a moment, were the epicenter for one of the largest volcanic eruptions in known history. A huge shock wave and massive tsunami quickly traveled the 90 miles to Crete, likely destroying in one evening the ancient Minoan civilization, its fabled capital of Knossos, and the sacred Ideon Cave (the birthplace of Zeus).
Thera remains the most active location in the entire Hellenic volcanic arc and the so-called ancient “Thera” or “Minoan” eruption is the most studied volcanic event in history. Even today, the island is coated by a 200-foot layer of white tephra from the ancient blast.
The splendor of Santorini’s rigged coastline was etched by that eruption and probably several others even earlier. Nonetheless, it remains one of the most beautiful places on earth. There are minor tremors now and then to remind the natives that the wrath of the gods is never permanently silenced. Two of them occurred while I was there some four decades ago.
I spent most of my time close to Santorini’s fabled cliffs. The tourist traps were already there. But elsewhere there were still quiet villages and ports only frequented by neighboring fisherman.
On my first stay, the one encompassing this spy tale, I was living on Thólos Naftilos, another hunk of volcanic rock located barely two miles due west of Thera.
It was a simple paradise. On most days I would look out to sea sitting on a makeshift terrace in an exceedingly small village. Maybe village makes too much if it. There were seven buildings total and I rented a large two-floor space in one of them. What there was “in town” closed when the sun went down. These were fishermen and they needed to be up before the next dawn. No tourists then (although some have emerged since as the volcanic history has found an audience) and no night life period. No place if the urge arose to spread your wings.
Back then, it may well have been the most peaceful time I ever spent anywhere. If it were not for the damn KGB.
I would run my operations from someplace else, sailing the few miles to the old port on Thera.
All my meetings would be there at a taverna called the “Kira.” A few years after I left, the owner Dmitri turned it into the best jazz bar on the island. But back in my time it had the distinct feel of a watering hole frequented only by a few weathered locals. The kind of place Bogart would walk into looking for Bacall only to find Zorba the Greek.
Just what I needed. Off the grid and yet near at hand.
Unfortunately, much has changed recently. The old port has been turned into a cruise stop off. When I was last there, you had to hack your way through the day trippers. With each passing year, less of the traditional island remains while the five-star hotels and trendy eateries take up the space.
Could not do now what I was doing then.
That involved spending most of my time overseeing an asset team composed of two Turks, a feisty fellow from the Greek side of Cyprus, and the occasional unlucky intermediary who got caught in our nets.
This was not a team made in heaven. The Turks and Greeks had been at each other’s throats for centuries and the tradition of animosity extended to my team as well. Whenever possible, I tried to keep them apart. Each conveyed material I needed but bringing them together was not an occasion to bring out the ouzo or the raki.
My job was to process intel received and revise an ongoing counterintelligence op. CI would remain my main surface “job description” throughout my career and it usually meant tracking operatives on the other side, attempting now and again to turn them, or just deflecting their latest attempts to make our lives less bearable.
Which set the stage for what happened in late 1981. The KGB stuck its collective nose in an ongoing Greek political crisis following the October parliamentary election.
That election had ushered in a new government led by Andreas Papandreou and his Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). Unfortunately for Washington, the election had resulted in PASOK and its KKE (Greek Communist Party) allies gaining an outright majority of the seats in the legislature (185 of 300).
PASOK was the first Greek mass-based political party that was not blatantly communist, although it was well left of center, and Andreas Papandreou was the most important Greek politician of the latter twentieth century. He served as prime minister three times until his death in 1996. He also came from a famous political family. Both his father before him and his son after served as prime minister.
PASOK would form a leftist cabinet that had a distinct disdain for broader Europe. Usually called “Eurosceptic,” this approach would challenge Greece’s recent admission into the European Community and reflect feelings witnessed more recently during the Greek debt crisis. It would still be some time before the European Union emerged and Greece would become an uneasy member if it, but US policy was keen on keeping Athens on friendly terms with our bigger allies on the continent.
Obviously, the Soviets would like nothing better than to drive a wedge into that relationship. It was hardly their first rodeo in Greece, or ours for that matter. Moscow had heavily supported the communists in the post-World War II Greek civil war that lasted until 1949 and backed down only after the US took over the role of protector from a beleaguered UK. The Truman Doctrine and the policy of containment began as an American attempt to prevent Soviet expansion into Turkey and Greece.
As 1981 was drawing to a close, the KGB was caught providing “under the table” support, money, and arms/supplies to the KKE in an abortive attempt to improve their position in whatever coalition emerged with PASOK. Without question, the assistance had been flowing for some time prior to the election.
It turned out to be a major mistake. Greek newspapers (with some help from their foreign friends) revealed the Soviet involvement and the conservative army promptly gave notice it would intervene if the PASOK/KKE built strong bridges to the USSR.
Meanwhile, Papandreou orchestrated a tight rope walking foreign policy with NATO, sought a US/Western security guarantee against Turkish aggression, and championed a balance of power in the Aegean. These were all issues that found support within the Greek officer corps and allowed the prime minister some ability to control his political flank against any action from the military.
A main point of friction with the army was Papandreou taking personal control over the defense portfolio in his government. He defused a potential hot spot there by appointing a well-regarded former officer as his deputy minister. But the army had taken political power in the past and there was the threat it could do so again.
The CIA was always concerned about the Greek military and its penchant to interfere, either in a straight junta or from the shadows by manipulating political parties.
As an aside, that latter concern recalls one of the best movies ever made – the French movie “Z” and its brilliant treatment of a real Greek assassination in the 1960s. Released in December of 1969, it won a ton of awards, including three 1970 Oscars (one for best foreign film, another for best director). If you have never seen it, do so. I first saw it upon my return from Vietnam and it had a devastating impact. It has a powerful message even today.
Years later, the agency would release a redacted version of a lengthy report on the events following the 1981 election, one I had some hand in earlier putting together. The public version is available at: https//www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RD84S00555R000200010002-9.pdf.
The situation we faced was this. US policy (and the intel marching orders) prioritized a close relationship between Athens and Europe. But there was little leverage. Any moves on my part had the Greek army to contend with, along with a KGB having egg on its face from a political disaster of its own making. That made them both unpredictable.
Meanwhile, the fulcrum was moving away from mainland Greece out into the Aegean, where Greeks, Turks, Moscow, Washington, the KGB, and the CIA were on a collision course. And there the higher pay grades had decided to put me, sitting on a peaceful rock waiting for a geopolitical tremor to hit.
My primary objective was to assist in preventing a Greek-Turkish initiative to defuse the threat levels from being scuttled. Neither liked the other much, but they had a common reason to avoid the region once again becoming a battleground for the major powers.
Any additional material finding its way from Russian sources into Greek internecine politics might do just that. That required we had information about any additional Moscow moves to alter the PASOK/KKE political alliance…and a plan in place to subvert them.
We knew the normal routes for Soviet support passed through communist Bulgaria to the north. But Yugoslav interests were opposed to Russian use of Bulgarian territory for this purpose, a position the Turks also held. Moscow then had one option left.
Use the Aegean basin and sea routes crossing right by my front door.
In fact, we knew the KGB had used Russian commercial shipping to send some of their earlier consignments. Those shipments came across the Black Sea, past Istanbul via the Bosporus, through the Sea of Marmara, the Dardanelles, past Canakkale and into the Aegean.
Enter my small team. Until this little feather duster was over, we needed to have a reading of what Russian ships were doing. How we did that remains classified. But who did it was another matter.
I selected the three main assets for particular purposes, remembering at all times that, as assets (or agents), they were hired help. All were well versed in the Aegean basin, had shipping insight, and could move easily from one location to another. They could also contact players in what we actually called the “unofficial commerce” sector.
OK, they could talk to the primary smugglers who, in turn, had their fingers on anything moving across the Aegean that was not on a manifest. Much of this was run from Nicosia in Cyprus. Hence, the Cypriot Greek on my team.
Then and now that underworld interconnected with a rash of suspect Russian banking operations there. I would briefly come back to this Cyprus money laundering matter later in my career.
The two Turks had close personal connections to shipping and traders essential to follow anything moving in Turkish waters from the Bosporus to the Aegean. One of these was from Izmir on the west coast of Turkey. He was also the son of an elder Turkish colleague with whom I would have a memorable experience several years later (the subject of another tale for another time).
Until the KGB gave up covertly supporting the KKE, we remained on tender hooks. Any actionable intel produced was to be turned over to the Ethnikí Ypiresia Pilroforión (EYP), the Greek national intelligence service.
Only one likely interdiction emerged. A cargo vessel was followed from the same USSR port used in the previous KKE supply runs. I concluded this one may be a target for our operation and advised the EYP. But after passing through the Bosporus-to-Aegean corridor it made a detour down the Turkish coast to (surprise, surprise) the port of Limassol in Cyprus.
Aerial reconnaissance showed the vessel higher in the water upon departure. Our Cypriot operative confirmed that much of the crates it was carrying had been offloaded.
Early in 1982, the KKE imploded after an internal scandal. Shortly thereafter, we could tell the Soviets were easing off their covert support because they began giving the KKE very public verbal praise. Usually that was a signal the surreptitious shenanigans were ending.
Another crisis cooled down. There was only one downside. I was recalled from an idyllic and tranquil Aegean picture postcard to my noisier base in London.
Dr. Kent Moors
This is an installment of Classified Intelligence Brief, your guide to what’s really happening behind the headlines… and how to profit from it.
Dr. Kent Moors served the United States for 30 years as one of the most highly decorated intelligence operatives alive today (including THREE Presidential commendations). After moving through the inner circles of royalty, oligarchs, billionaires, and the uber-rich, he discovered some of the most important secrets regarding finance, geo-politics, and business. As a result, he built one of the most impressive rolodexes in the world. His insights and network of contacts took him from a Vietnam veteran to becoming one of the globe’s most sought after consultants, with clients including six of the largest energy companies and the United States government.
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