Item BRINK OF APOCALYPSE 3/8 - Interview with Rainer Rupp-NATO Senior Staff & Agent for German Democratic Republic Intelligence known as ‘Topaz’, [2007]

Typescript transcript of interview with Rainer Rupp NATO Senior Staff & Agent for German Democratic Republic Intelligence known as ‘Topaz’ .Subjects include his role within NATO’s political affairs division economics directorate in 1983; the role of the economics directorate; the information he was privy to in that; his roles in the North Atlantic Council and Defence Planning Council; Political Affairs division’s interest in Strategic Defence Initiative(SDI); the Current Operation Group (COG), which Rupp chaired, which looked at developments within NATO and the Current Intelligence Group (CIG), which grouped all intelligence received in the east into one central group; HVA (General Reconnaissance Administration) spy role within NATO; his membership before joining NATO ;the political situation within Germany in 1968 that lead him to become a spy; the National Democratic Party of Germany and the role of “old Nazis” in power; his recruitment into the HVA; his training prior to joining NATO; achieving his role at NATO, as an outsider; warnings to look out for surprise attacks plans by his superiors; meeting with his superiors in neutral; physiological operations within NATO against the USSR; USA and NATO searching for holes and deficiencies in the USSR system, focused on the Far East because of weaknesses; shooting down of Korean Airlines flight KAL 007, in the context of Far East division weaknesses; Russians on high alert; the possibility of NATO launching a premeditated strike against USSR; United States as a threat to USSR security; NATO’s reaction to the SS20 missiles; USSR retaliation plans; lack of information about Able Archer within NATO; the unfeasibility of Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI); Europe’s scaled back nuclear arms program; relationship between the NATO member states and United States; taking photographs within NATO; providing documents and photographs to the HVA; passing over information regarding the MC161, a military committee document stating what NATO knew about the USSR; description of the biannual Wintex exercises; his knowledge of the Able Archer 1983 exercise; his use of coded machines during 1983, given to him as a response to Able Archer; transmitting messages during Able Archer; His capture and conviction in 1993; the impact his career had on the Cold War; 73pp