Soviet computing technology smuggling
{{short description|Illegal import of computers}}
{{use mdy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{use American English|date=July 2021}}
Soviet computing technology smuggling, both attempted{{cite magazine |magazine=HARDCOPY
|title=Soviet Botch VAX Smuggling, This Time
|quote=customs officials narrowly thwarted clandestine efforts to smuggle a VAX-11/782
|author=B.J.E. |date=April 1984 |page=19}} and actual,{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/01/business/3-gulty-in-smuggling-computers.html
|title=3 Guilty in Smuggling Computers
|author=John Tagliabue |date=December 1, 1984}} was a response to CoCom (Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls) restrictions{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/08/business/computer-imports-sought-by-soviets.html
|title=Computer Imports Sought By Soviets
|author=David E. Sanger |date=February 8, 1985}} on technology transfer.
History
=Mainframe successes=
Initially the Soviet Union focused on mainframe computing technology, particularly the IBM 360 and 370.{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/09/24/soviet-radar-allegedly-stolen-from-us/3a754179-c337-4d60-8471-2e7b1d76f6bd/?noredirect=on
|title=Soviet Radar Allegedly Stolen From U.S.
|author=Michael Weisskopf |date=September 24, 1985}} Between 1967 and 1972 much effort went into reverse engineering what they "acquired."{{cite magazine |date=November 1997
|url=https://www.wired.com/1997/11/heartof
|title=Heart of Darkness |author=David S. Bennahum
|magazine=Wired
|quote=a massive industrial complex to reverse-engineer, copy and produce}} Their first IBM-like machine was based on a 360/40 smuggled in via Poland. The second Soviet-built machine was from a 370/145. Their focus subsequently shifted to super-minicomputers. Failure in 1983 to import a VAX-11/782 did not stop their efforts. "Reverse-engineered and copied Apple IIe parts" brought microcomputers to the Soviet Union; it also brought computer viruses too. IBM PC compatible computers were also smuggled in.
Production of Iron Curtain mainframes, at one point, was estimated to be 180 per year.
=VAX failures=
The failure of the Soviets to acquire a VAX-11/782, a dual-processor variation of the VAX-11/780, the original VAX, unraveled much of their smuggling system. U. S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger made a public display of the system, about which The Washington Post headlined "Seized Computer Put on Display" in later 1983.{{cite news
|newspaper=Washington Post
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1983/12/20/seized-computer-put-on-display/f4f25f5b-6b8c-4653-b4c8-9a01f67fe020
|title=Seized Computer Put on Display
|author=Warren Brown |date=December 20, 1983}} The computer had been exported from the United States to South Africa,{{cite journal
|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/1126/112610.html
|title=How America's high technology gets smuggled to the Soviet bloc
|journal=Christian Science Monitor
|date=November 26, 1984}} from which it was to clandestinely be reshipped; it was seized "moments before its scheduled shipment to the Soviet Union." Weinberger stated at a news conference that the VAX was intended for assisting production of "vastly more accurate . . . and more destructive weapons."
Like the 360/40, the smuggling process involved multiple shipments. The 360 had been disassembled and placed in a large number of suitcases. A smaller number of "huge containers of parts" held the 782. The latter's route involved transhipping, some more than half via Sweden, others via West Germany.{{cite news
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/21/world/moscow-bound-computer-is-seized.html
|title=Moscow-bound Computer Is Seized
|author=Edward C. Burks |work=The New York Times
|date=November 21, 1983}} A U.S. official describe potential "military uses, including the operation of a missile guidance system."
The exact configuration was not released even by over a year later: APnews, which noted that the smuggling operation
was spread across ten countries, cited $1.1 million as the system's price{{cite news
|publisher=Associated Press (APnews)
|url=https://apnews.com/9f765dee9b1b7bf02dbef1cd9bd52f7f
|title=Arrest Breaches High-Tech Smuggling Ring In 10 Countries
|date=December 23, 1988}} The Los Angeles Times described the same system's price as $1.5 million.{{cite news |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times
|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-15-mn-13964-story.html
|title=Russians Sweating: US Deters Technology Smugglers
|date=April 15, 1985}} The New York Times wrote "between $1.5 and $2 million."
Another VAX-smuggling attempt, five years later, involved a VAX 8800; this too ended in a failure.{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/23/us/man-accused-of-smuggling-computers-to-the-soviet-bloc.html
|title=Man Accused of Smuggling Computers to the Soviet Bloc
|date=December 23, 1988}} This time also, the computer involved was a dual-processor system. American government wiretapping revealed that some of the parties involved considered even settling for a VAX 8700, a uni-processor system.{{cite news
|newspaper=The Buffalo News
|url=https://buffalonews.com/news/hearing-airs-details-on-computer-smuggling/article_092a4b41-3df5-532b-81b5-18eb959cc43f.html
|title=Hearing Airs Details On Computer Smuggling
|author=Dan Herbeck |date=July 25, 1989}}
See also
References
{{reflist|31em}}
Further reading
- [https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/1126/112610.html Technobandits, by Linda Melvern, David Hebditch, and Nick Anning]