Strategic deception

CIA, NATO and Swedish Military Plotted Regime Change in Sweden in 1980s - Documentary (Video)

According to the documentary, after a period of détente in the seventies, the ‘hawk’ Ronald Reagan came to power in 1981, determined to win the cold war. The arms race gave the US military superiority and exhausted the Soviet Union. It was supplemented by a major disinformation campaign and a war of nerves aimed at sapping the will of the Soviet leadership.

To achieve this, an informal group, known as  the ‘deception committee’ was formed. It answered  directly to President Reagan and was headed by the director of the CIA ,William Casey. Military and intelligence  officers were responsible for operational activities, deflecting responsibility from the White House in case of disclosure.  

The scale of operations was impressive. Among the plots analyzed in detail in the film, the US ramped up naval activity near the Kola Peninsula, which hosts Russia’s main nuclear submarine base. Military exercises were supplemented with  disinformation considerably overstating the scale of maneuvers, leading the Kremlin to believe the US was planning a nuclear strike.