Sunday, November 09, 2014

Spy thriller: "Jack Strong"

My son, Christopher, just sent me the following, which I think some of my readers may find interesting:
Just watched a good Polish spy thriller, "Jack Strong", based on the life of Ryszard Kukliński, a Polish Army colonel who spied for the CIA during the Cold War from 1972-81. The former United States National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzeziński has described him as "the first Polish officer in NATO."

... He seems to evoke a lot of mixed feelings among Poles, mostly depending on how they feel about the Soviet Union (he was later exonerated, but some still consider him a traitor and his grave has been vandalized).

His life also has a rather sad ending -- the U.S. was successful in smuggling Kuklinski and his family out in 1981 (before the imposition of martial law). He was sentenced to death in absentia. Both of his sons died under mysterious circumstances in the 90's -- Kuklinski never affirmed or rejected the theory that the KGB might have been behind it. He did make a return to his homeland after the end of the Cold War.

You can read more about his life here: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/summer00/art03.html

No comments: