Summary
Overview
This episode concludes the two-part series on Agent Redwood, a KGB officer who volunteered to work for MI6 in revolutionary Iran. The discussion explores how Redwood's intelligence exposed a Soviet plot to overthrow the Ayatollah's regime, the dramatic exfiltration attempt, and the controversial decision to share this intelligence with Iran's Revolutionary Guard—a move that successfully prevented Soviet expansion but inadvertently helped create the brutal theocratic regime that persists today. The story reveals the complex moral calculus of Cold War intelligence operations and their unintended long-term consequences.
Redwood's Intelligence Gold: Exposing the Soviet Illegals Network
Vladimir Kozitskin, codenamed Redwood, provided MI6 with unprecedented access to the KGB's most secretive department—the illegals program. His photographic memory allowed him to expose not just how Department S operated globally, but critically, he revealed Soviet plans for a communist coup in Iran. With the Red Army having just invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, Western intelligence feared Iran would be the next domino to fall, potentially triggering nuclear conflict over control of oil fields and the Strait of Hormuz.
- Redwood cracked open the KGB illegals network for the West, revealing operations of Department S—the largest KGB department that had never before had a defector
- Kozitskin revealed Soviet backing of the Iranian Communist Party and detailed plans for an armed coup to overthrow the Ayatollah's regime
- Western nightmare scenario: if Iran fell to Soviets, Moscow would control warm water ports, the Strait of Hormuz, and oil fields—potentially winning the Cold War
- Pentagon contingency plans included nuclear responses, including man-packed nukes to collapse mountain passes and block Soviet armor
- Kozitskin was personally the linchpin of the Soviet coup planning, organizing Communist Party contacts, funneling money, and preparing arms dumps
" The Soviet Union would win the Cold War. "
" There were not enough conventional forces in that theater to be able to repel a full scale Soviet invasion, which was being considered. And one of the responses would be there were various levels of nuclear response. "
The Human Cost: Redwood's Personal Struggle and Operational Tradecraft
While producing gold-standard intelligence, Kozitskin's personal life was disintegrating. MI6 responded to his erectile dysfunction with sensitivity rather than exploitation, providing vitamin pills and advice while acknowledging they couldn't actually cure his condition. Operating under intense stress—photographing documents during lunch breaks while maintaining his KGB cover—he eventually confessed everything to his wife Galina, who refused to defect with him, precipitating a crisis that would force his exfiltration.
- MI6 dealt with Kozitskin's erectile dysfunction with extraordinary sensitivity, providing medical advice and vitamin pills rather than using it as blackmail leverage
- The stress of his double life made his medical problem worse—he was simultaneously spying for the KGB against Iranians and for MI6 against the KGB
- Kozitskin and McCready developed sophisticated contact systems, using dead drops and brush contacts in Tehran
- Kozitskin had access to the Soviet 'impulse feed' system that intercepted Iranian surveillance, allowing him to know when he was being followed
- He photographed vast amounts of KGB documents with a Minox camera during lunch breaks, material so voluminous that P5 desk at MI6 could barely process it all
" McCready says very, you know, feelingly, you know, we made his problem worse. He was not only spying for the KGB against the Iranians, he was not spying for MI6 against the KGB. It's hard enough to try to orchestrate a communist coup in Iran, but also to be working for MI6. That's stressful. "
" People who are recruited as spies, as double agents, are not necessarily made of heroic material. People come to this world for complicated motives, not all of them creditable, sometimes bizarre. Sex is quite frequently a motivating factor in these stories. "
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