Former Soviet Union spy to speak at California University
Former Soviet spy Oleg Kalugin will speak at California University’s Performance Center (second floor of Natali Student Center) on Monday, April 14. He will address students at 10 a.m. and hold a public lecture and book-signing at 8 p.m. There is no admission charge.
The lectures, sponsored by the Department of History and Political Science, will focus on Kalugin’s career with the Soviet Union and the factors that led him to speak against and abandon his position with that government.
Kalugin was recruited by the Soviet KGB and attended the Intelligence School in Moscow after completing his studies at Leningrad State University.
His first mission was to pose as a journalism student attending Columbia University in New York, in order to perfect his language skills and make friends.
“I wasn’t supposed to spy, then,’ Kalugin says, but he admits that his task was to penetrate America for the benefit of Soviet society.
From 1965 to 1970, Kalugin served as deputy resident and acting chief of the residency at the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C.
He rose quickly and became the youngest general in the history of the KGB.
Known for his aggressive operational methodology, Kalugin eventually became head of the Worldwide Foreign Counterintelligence Unit and worked on the most important espionage cases of the time, including the Walker spy ring.
During his rise, however, Kalugin began to criticize what he saw as the lawlessness and arbitrary rule within the KGB.
His internal criticism caused friction with leadership and he was demoted.
He says that, for the first time, he recognized that the KGB’s internal operations were not about protecting the security of the state, but were about maintaining the positions of corrupt Communist Party officials.
He resigned from the KGB in 1990.
As a public critic of the KGB, Kalugin lost all rank and pension he held with the Soviet government.
Today, as an active member and teacher with the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies (also called the CI Centre) in Alexandria, Va., Kalugin conducts research and analysis for the U.S. government and provides security training to aid federal agencies in counter-intelligence and counter- terrorism.
In addition to his position with the CI Centre, Kalugin has taught at Catholic University and has lectured throughout the U.S.
He contributes regularly to the “Daily Report on Russia and the former Soviet Republics,’ as well as other U.S. publications.
He also has written an autobiography entitled “The First Chief Directorate: My 32 Years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West.’