Spies, Lies and the Distortion of History

Luis Acosta writes \”The Washington Post, in a story about a KGB archivist who meticulously collected and smuggled out information concerning the KGB\’s activities in Afganistan after the 1979 Soviet invasion, calls the archivist\’s work \”one of the most impressive acts of heroism ever performed by a librarian.\” More generally, the story highlights the difficulty of reconstructing history when events are manipulated by layers of misinformation by competing intelligence agencies.

See Steve Coll, \”Spies, Lies and the Distortion of History,\” Washington Post, February 24, 2002, page B1, or On The Web \”