Former KGB Officer Cites Soviet Plan to Sabotage D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. July 9, 2010 — In the mid-1960s the Soviets planted a "sleeper" agent in Washington, D.C. whose main "job" was to "blow up the power line grids" and "poison water supplies" if the United States got close to a military conflict with the USSR, according to retired KGB major general Oleg Kalugin (pictured at left).

Kalugin made the comments during a press conference and panel discussion held Friday night at the International Spy Museum in Washington. The press conference was a promotional event tied to the upcoming release of the movie Salt, starring Angelina Jolie. In the film, Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent who is suspected of being a Russian spy.

Kalugin clarified that the poisoning of the water supply was meant to make the area population ill, "not to kill people." Referring to the recent round-up of Russian spies in the U.S., Kalugin called the Russian strategy "a waste of money and time" adding, "Jesus, that's total decadence."

Also speaking at the press event were Tom Ridge, former head of Homeland Security, and former CIA agent Melissa Boyle Mahle, who served as a consultant to the film. Mahle is author of the book Denial and Deception: An Insider's View of the CIA.

Salt opens in theaters nationally on July 23.

Editor's note: This article was first published in The New Individualist magazine.

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