Line X and the Natural Gas WarsIn the 1980’s the Soviet Union was building a vast network of pipelin

Line X and the Natural Gas WarsIn the 1980’s the Soviet Union was building a vast network of pipelines throughout Russia to transport natural gas from wells in Siberia to Eastern Europe.  An impressive feat of engineering, the Soviets still lacked the industrial technology and know-how to create a fully automated pipeline system.  Unfortunately for the Soviets, only the Americans had the computer software necessary to manage such a huge pipeline infrastructure. Line X, the technical intelligence department of the KGB, drew up a plan to acquire the program.  KGB agents would infiltrate Canadian energy companies and steal the technology for the Soviet Union.  The operation was successful and the Soviet government immediately adapted the technology for the Siberian gas pipeline.In the summer of 1982, NORAD satellites witnessed something remarkable, a massive explosion that erupted in the middle of the Siberian wilderness.  Based on the size of the fireball, the blast was estimated to have the energy of three kilotons, about ¼ the strength of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.  NORAD officials were puzzled, blaming the blast on a secret nuclear test or a meteorite strike.Unbeknownst to NORAD and Soviet officials, the CIA was well aware of the Soviet Union’s nefarious schemes.  Because of a double agent named Col. Vladimir A. Vetrov, US intelligence was well aware of the Soviet Union’s attempts to steal American gas pipeline technology.  The automated program was purposefully leaked to Line X agents, with an extra line of code disguised as a automated system diagnostics program.  When the program was activated the program ordered large amounts of natural gas to be pumped into the system, increasing pressure far beyond the gas lines ability to handle.  The result was a series of ruptured lines resulting in a massive explosion that would have been truly incredible to witness.Fortunately the area where the explosion occurred was uninhabited, and no one was killed or injured.  For the Soviets, however, the “accident” was most unfortunate.  At the time the Soviet Union was suffering the economic consequences of a corrupt kleptocratic government, poor economic planning under communism, and the financial drain of an unending war in Afghanistan.  The Siberian pipeline disaster served to weaken the Soviet economy even further and lead to the collapse of the USSR. -- source link

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