Analysis of Through the Eyes of the Enemy by Stanislav Lunev

(Chapter 11,12,13)
by Dr. Jeffrey Russell, PhD

Stanislav Lunev was a Soviet GRU agent who defected to the United States in
March of 1992 after a successful career of intelligence gathering from China and
the United States. As the highest-ranking military defector to the U.S., he is in a
unique position to detail the intelligence aspect of the cold war and the
emergence of the Russian mafia as a threat to national security. His only book to
date was published May 25, 1998.
[Note: This book was published 20 years ago and much has changed with
geopolitics. The purpose of this analysis, in relation to Q post #827 on February
24, 2018, is to aid in decoding the meaning of the post.]

Chapter 11 Assignment: America

My family and I returned to Moscow in December 1983. I was now a

lieutenant colonel and I was appointed to the GRU Operational Group in TASS.
For the next 3 years I spent my time writing about China and other countries.
After 2 years of work, I was promoted to deputy commander of the TASS GRU
Operational Group. A short while later, they promoted me to Group Commander
of GRU resident in TASS.
One day I was told to prepare myself for a new assignment—in the United
States. I was trained in American tactics and how to counter them as my cover
would be a TASS correspondent. We left Moscow in August 1988 with mixed
feelings. We really did not know what to expect in America and how we would be
treated there.
 Chapter 12 My Arrival

As we were flying in to Dulles airport, my wife and I noticed that the ground
was sparkling. This was quite a mystery to us until another passenger pointed out
that they were all swimming pools. And this was the middle class that we were
told is small and poor. That was the first lie about capitalism we saw.
Everywhere we went there was FBI surveillance. My first outing with my wife,
there were two beautiful women following us from the FBI—that was a great first
impression! The FBI counterintelligence is superlative with the best technology
and highly trained and educated agents. In high espionage areas, the FBI has set
up surveillance shields that pick up secret transmitters in cars of foreign
operatives. We knew there were 24 vehicles dedicated to surveilling the Soviet
Embassy so when we had an important meeting or drop, we sent out 24 agents in
separate cars all going different directions. Of course, the FBI would call for
backup but that took time during which our agent could sneak out for his mission.
The GRU captain at the Russian Embassy had a “yellow book.” This was a listing
of hundreds of agencies and businesses with yellow marks through some entries,
meaning that particular organization need not be looked at because we had that
covered.
One of the most valuable agents I recruited and developed worked at a DC
think tank. I quickly learned he was having trouble making ends meet. This was a
classical recruitment which took me months to develop in stages. After 6 months
and a continuous exchange of money, he was giving me whatever he had.
In the spring of 1989, we got a new GRU captain in the Soviet Embassy. My
main focus was writing daily cables to Moscow on military or political issues
affecting Russia. I also had to develop a personal schedule to satisfy my cover
assignment as a reporter which took 4 to 5 hours each day. Then, I spent another
4 or 5 hours performing my GRU tasks. After this, about 3 hours were spent at
the GRU field office coordinating with other agents. Later I was to discover that
the FBI never knew that I was actually a spy because I worked harder and better
than the reporters they knew to be “clean.” This was a great complement for me.
A few weeks after the new captain’s arrival, he promoted me to his personal
subordinate. This gave me more free time to pursue contacts and recruits. By
August 1989, my information was going all the way up to Gorbachev himself.

Chapter 13 World War III

One of the most difficult tasks for a spy is to locate a good site for a dead drop,
especially in DC. Eventually, I found a site in the Great Falls area of Maryland. I
was looking forward to sharing my new drop site with the GRU field office and
Moscow when I was summoned to an emergency meeting by a KGB agent which
is out of protocol. As it turned out, a U.S. Marine had been recently executed by
Islamic terrorists in Lebanon. The U.S. Sixth Fleet had been dispatched to the
Mediterranean. And GRU HQ in Moscow wanted to know what their orders
were—either a show of force or direct intervention. I was given 7 hours to find
the answer. After a long day and meetings with my most valuable assets, I was
back around 5 PM to report my findings—Bush was told to avoid any direct
entanglements. For my reward I was given tickets to the Soviet Circus. So, WWIII
was averted and my family got to see the Soviet Circus.