please go to cnn.com/violentearth. i'm liev schreiber. thanks for watching. good night. [narrator] previously on secrets & spies. [tim naftali] he sells their souls to the soviets. tiously entered his flat, and that his flat was bugged. [oleg gordievsky] [alexander vassiliev] so, what do you do to officers who betray their own motherland? you execute them. [crowd cheering] [narrator] this is the unseen story of the cold war... fought not by politicians... but by secret agents. [jack barsky] there was complete misunderstanding on either side. it's very difficult to determine whom you can trust. [narrator] as the soviet union faces off with the west in the early 1980s... two spies play a dangerous game from the shadows. they seek to win the upper hand while the world stands on the brink of nuclear war. these are their stories in their own words. testimony pieced together from interviews over the years... [oleg] after 11 years of secret work, maybe i develop paranoia. ...and never-before-heard recordings... [aldrich, on recording] ...that reveal the deadly intrigues at the heart of the battle between east and west. [alexander] look, this is a war. a secret war. [dramatic music playing] [narrator] it's august 1985, and the leader of the soviet union, mikhail gorbachev, has extended an olive branch to president reagan, potentially shifting the entire dynamic of the cold war. [susan eisenhower] gorbachev had a sense that he had an opportunity here to open this dialogue. he was of a different generation. he was particularly sensitive of the geopolitical situation. this is probably just about the time that world leaders are beginning to think that there may be an opportunity here. aides to president reagan and soviet leader mikhail gorbachev are working to set up a summit meeting later this year. marvin kalb reports it could take place in geneva around november 19th to the 21st. kalb says it's not being considered a full-dress summit, but rather a meeting for the two men to get acquainted. [ken adelman] this summit was carefully, carefully planned out. it was going to be in a neutral country, switzerland. in a neutral city, geneva. even in a neutral venue. not the soviet embassy or the american embassy. [narrator] but the delicate balancing act of this new diplomacy is about to take a hit. oleg gordievsky, the head of the kgb in london and double agent for britain's mi6, has been urgently summoned back to moscow by his bosses. clearly, they were suspect of something. but even in the soviet union, this was not the stalin era, where people were just accused and then tried, convicted, killed, murdered, what have you. his bosses were possibly looking for evidence for what they had believed at this point. [narrator] he is under kgb surveillance for weeks. he knows his days must be numbered. [tim] historically, the soviet union killed traitors. killed those who betrayed soviet secrets. they just shot them. and so oleg understands that he's facing a death sentence. [narrator] gordievsky's family join him in moscow, so he has their fate to think of too. he makes an agonizing decision. [cawing] [quacking] i believe oleg, it was the only way to save his family. only way. they might be arrested. they might be killed. for oleg, it was just like a new future. escape from russia, you have future for your child. maybe a difficult future for yourself. but, again, you have to live this future. it's your chance. mi6 had made a plan which they had discussed with gordievsky about how they might extract him from moscow if things turned badly. and the key to that will be gordievsky alerting them that it was time to get him out. the plan was he had to stand at a particular place holding a particular supermarket bag. british intelligence officers would just regularly look at that spot just to check that nobody was flying the distress flag. [raymond asquith] i wasn't on duty for the head watch that night, but my assistant was on duty. and my wife and i were driving out from our compound to go and have dinner. and as i turned down to go into the center of moscow, i saw a safeways bag on the other side of the road. and it was a bit after the time due for the signal to be an exchange. so i thought possibly my assistant had just missed it. it turned out he had passed gordievsky, and he had eaten his chocolate bar and all the rest. [suspenseful music playing] [narrator] seven years ago, mi6 started operation pimlico, a plan to extract double agents working for the british. every week since then, an agent stood at the same spot eating a candy bar. a secret signal. now, finally, the mission is a go. next day, we went to the embassy and we sent off our telegram to head office, which i think pretty well sort of rather rocked them. and they weren't... i don't think-- they were hoping that this telegram was not gonna come. so there was a lot of tearing and fraying, as i later discovered, back in london. [dramatic music playing] [narrator] the diplomats urge caution. but mi6 argue for the rescue. the final decision is elevated to the very top. very unusually, margaret thatcher was at balmoral at that moment, because normally she went in september. [bagpipe music playing] so the principle private secretary and the foreign affairs had to go up to balmoral, almost force his way in to see her. what was at stake? it was two things. one was the human feeling of the risks to this person who had served the uk so well. the other was the damage that would be done to british relations with the soviet union. [narrator] prime minister thatcher now holds gordievsky's fate in her hands. now, will that disrupt this very fragile but new relationship with gorbachev? that must be a consideration for margaret thatcher. [raymond] this telegram was sent to us, actually, to sis. so it was enciphered. "the prime minister has personally approved this operation... and expressed her complete confidence in your ability to carry it out. we all here join in standing 100% behind you, and are confident you will succeed." i mean, there was a lot of adrenaline going on, and an awful lot to plan. i wasn't excited. i was-- i was bloody frightened, actually. [dramatic music playing] we had developed the story that the wife of my assistant had got some gynecological complaint, and this needed urgent attention in helsinki. and i was gonna be accompanying my assistant and his wife, and take my wife with me. the wife of my assistant had to groan for the microphones and keep up her story, and i was complaining what a bore it was to have to go off, and who was gonna look after the baby? so there was a lot of talking up to the ceiling, as it were, for their benefit. [suspenseful music playing] [raymond] we took our baby because she was still breastfeeding. but, to be honest, i thought that was the best cover story for us. i later learned from a soviet agent who told me that the kgb simply didn't believe that a british intelligence officer would take a baby on such a perilous operation. we drove through the night. it was an incredibly beautiful dawn. you couldn't really believe that anything bad could come of that day. [narrator] gordievsky is ahead of the mi6 team at all times. [wind gusting faintly] [insects buzzing] [narrator] gordievsky must stay hidden until the mi6 team arrives. but their problems are just beginning. a slow network is no network for business. that's why more choose comcast business. and now, we're introducing ultimate speed for business —our fastest plans yet. we're up to 12 times faster than verizon, at&t, and t-mobile. and existing customers could even get up to triple the speeds... at no additional cost. it's ultimate speed for ultimate business. don't miss out on our fastest speed plans yet! switch to comcast business and get started for $49.99 a month. plus, ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. call today! [dramatic music playing] [raymond] i think it was about half past 11 or 12. and that's when i saw that two kgb cars had come behind us. one of the cars came zooming past me and my assistant's car, and then cut in just directly in front of me. and so we were then bracketed by two kgb cars. and to be quite honest, i had never thought of that possibility. i hadn't even planned for it. i didn't think-- i didn't really know what to do. i thought the only way to get out of this is to play a sort of psychological trick on them. and so i slowed the pace right down. the two surveillance cars had to slow down. if they'd been genuine cars, they would have overtaken us or had shot off at a proper speed. the one ahead, his nerve eventually broke, and he shot off at a tremendous speed. [tires squeal] and we were then about 20 kilometers short of the rendezvous point. so our only hope was to outrun the one behind us. so we got faster and faster and faster. [baby crying] and the actual rendezvous point was in a kind of forested glade, and there was a huge rock. and we slammed into this lay-by. [tires screech] and we could see the surveillance cars shooting ahead of us. they had obviously lost us. gordievsky sort of rose up like some kind of norwegian troll out of all this moss and all this undergrowth where he'd been hiding. i said to myself, "luckily, he'd come alone." sadly, that he hadn't been able to bring his wife and children. but from our point of view, i thought, "we might just have a chance of getting away with this." we put him in the boot. as we drove on again, we arrived at the border crossing itself. and then i saw the soviet alsatian dogs. and then they turned up at our cars. and then they started to come down... to the back of the assistant's car where gordievsky was. and i thought that was gonna be tricky. my wife had already got out with our baby daughter. i said, "go and change her nappy. put the baby over the boot, over gordievsky's head." [baby crying] and she did that. changed the nappy, and then dropped it down just below the boot as the dog came around. [suspenseful music playing] the dog looked pretty disgusted and sort of slunk off. [raymond] we drove off to where we were meant to meet this sis reception team. and this wonderful woman, i remember as we got gordievsky out of the boot, she just looked at him and shook her finger at him like that. i thought, "you don't know what he's been through." [laughs] but it was a very affectionate gesture, really. so that's-- that was it. [dramatic music playing] [narrator] such a daring operation is completely unprecedented. but the soviet union will be humiliated. [no audio] [tim] for thatcher, at this moment, the timing is very bad. what is gorbachev gonna think? any points that we wish to raise generally before we go into the main business? [narrator] through diplomatic channels, the british offer to keep news of the escape quiet... if gordievsky's wife and children will be permitted to join him. the soviets are given two weeks to agree. [tim] you never know how a leader's gonna react. is gorbachev self-confident enough to say, "yeah, those are the rules of the road"? or does gorbachev take it personally? "how could she do that? how could thatcher do that?" good evening. there must be a lot of table pounding going on in the inner offices of the kremlin tonight. the soviets are caught in a major embarrassing setback in their spy operations. the head of the soviet kgb in london has defected, and he brought a lot of names with him. so today, the british kicked out 25 soviets. [man] i'm afraid he's not in this afternoon. [reporter] all over london, the soviets to be expelled dropped out of sight, and their co-workers lost their charm. [man] it's none of your business. [reporter] and it's only the beginning of the shock waves from the defection of oleg gordievsky. married, 46 years old, a soviet spy since 1962. [alexander] the fear that he had managed to escape, it was obviously a major failure for the kgb. it was a disaster. um... [sniffles] well, in my opinion, gordievsky was a traitor and a scumbag. he's a very good spin doctor. a spin doctor of himself. it's treason. it's high treason. you betray your country. you betray your people. you betray your fellow officers. it's disgusting. [laughs] that's it. [susan] spying has always created an important tool for policymakers, but because of the nature of it and the secrecy of it, has always, you know, been kind of a threat to the dialogue as well. [sir bryan cartledge] it was pretty soon after the announcement in london that i was called into the foreign ministry. i was told that 18 members of my staff were being expelled for conducting activities hostile to the soviet union. news of today's move by the soviets reached mrs. thatcher during her visit to egypt as she was flying between cairo and luxor. our correspondent keith graves asked her for her reaction as she started a sightseeing tour. i'm not surprised. i think that the russians were caught red-handed, and now the fact is they're red-faced. and that's why they're reacting like this. but i hope this is an end of the matter. we wish to draw a line under it and now get on with a constructive relationship. [narrator] reagan and gorbachev are just two months away from a summit to discuss the future of nuclear arms. but the cia is getting nervous about the fate of their double agents. [diana worthen] we were finally starting to realize that a lot of our assets were not coming back. when you have one, it's not really cause for an alarm. and then the next one that happens... you know, it's like, okay, that's two that didn't come back. finally, somebody says, "i think we've got a problem." you know? and i...yup. i think we do too. [narrator] clearly, someone inside the agency is leaking the names to the soviets. [jim milburn] yeah, this is dmitri polyakov. he was recruited back in the 1960s. he was an outstanding source. provided a lot of information. yeah, we suffered a big loss when he was compromised. [narrator] over the coming months, the cia slowly learns of its spies' fate. [jim] the russians, of course, publicize some of these arrests. they're grabbing his mouth in case he had a suicide pill. [diana] gut-wrenching. oh, i don't even want to see that one. polyakov. i can't watch it. [alexander] oh, their fate is execution, obviously, because what they did was high treason. they pledged allegiance to their motherland. it sounds barbaric for a normal person, for a civilian, but look, this is a war. a secret war. they were officers. and they normally execute traitors. [diana] smetanin was executed. martinov is executed. motorin is executed. [jim] motorin, for me, was probably the most-- the case that impacted mostly because i was part of the team that ran him. you learn about their family. you learn about their fears. the dangers they face. and then you realize what a risk they're taking for us. it is very difficult. [diana] it's more than sad. but... i'm glad that i'm not in that business anymore. [emergency sirens wailing distantly] [tim] these are people who, for various reasons, opted to provide information to the united states about soviet intentions and capabilities. aldrich ames put some of those names to death by sharing them with his kgb case officer. and he does it without a second thought. [dramatic music playing] [narrator] double agent aldrich ames has set into motion a chain of events that threaten to unravel global politics... and his own life. [bianna] not only was the cia and its intelligence sources in the soviet union completely compromised... he also was in a compromised position, not knowing what tomorrow would hold. not knowing who would turn on him. not knowing if he would be found out or discovered. [diana] we knew there was a mole somewhere. nobody wanted to say that. but there was some kind of a problem. [jim] we've got to find this guy before he kills other agents. not only for national security reasons, but for personal reasons. for the agents themselves. and so you feel like it's a race against time. it never leaves your mind for a second, you know. [ominous music playing] [narrator] despite the damage inflicted by spies on both sides, the geneva summit is still on. ronald reagan and mikhail gorbachev will meet for the very first time. fortunately for all concerned, gorbachev was self-confident enough and wise enough to understand that countries spy, even while they're trying to get along. a letter gorbachev was writing to reagan in september wrote that, "let's get together and try to resolve the main issues between us." so he seemed to accept that there's all kinds of back-and-forth in the spy world, at the same time as we have an obligation that's bigger than that, that's broader than that, and that is bigger and more important than that. good morning, everyone. the moment is at hand. president reagan now is at a lakeside mansion about eight miles north of geneva. fleur d'eau, it is called. gorbachev was impatient to meet reagan. and though he normally would consider reagan as an anti-communist, ronald reagan was interested himself to leave a different legacy of his years than just the legacy of someone who launched a crusade against the soviet union. [new anchor] senior white house correspondent charles bierbauer is right outside here on this driveway. -charles, here he comes. -[charles] there he is. [dramatic music playing] [ken] i was with reagan in geneva. the first u.s. summit in six and a half years. first summit for mikhail gorbachev. first summit for ronald reagan. so it was pretty special. [reporter 1] mr. president, what are you going to say to mr. gorbachev, sir, to try to convince him that you want peace? sam, that will be the subject of the meeting. and i believe we both do share the same goals. [reporter 2] mr. general secretary, mr. gromyko once said of you, "you have a nice smile but iron teeth." i guess meaning you're tough. [speaking russian] [translator] it hasn't yet been confirmed. as of now, i am still using my own teeth. ronald reagan never gave up the idea that communism is a threat. communists pose a danger to us. but he was really taken with gorbachev. [bianna] at the end of the day, they can see humanity in each other. and that is something that people like gordievsky was able to reveal. gordievsky's betrayal of his own country actually laid the foundation for a relaxation of tensions. but by the end of the 1980s, the u.s. intelligence community would come to understand that oleg gordievsky was one of the great spies of the cold war, and a tremendous source of information for nato. [ominous music playing] [narrator] the summit in geneva is a first step on the path to the end of the cold war. the u.s. and the soviet union both agree to reduce their nuclear stockpiles and diminish the threat that has paralyzed them for decades. [susan] if there was anything that the gorbachev era really produced, was the opportunity for people to develop relationships with each other. at the end of the day, we're gonna look back at this period and say, "we took a lot of risks." um, and we were lucky. as a matter of fact, most people today who had anything to do with that part of the world would say, "it's just a miracle we got through the cold war without some terrible incident taking place." [narrator] but the spies of the 1980s will have an impact far beyond the cold war itself. [bianna] oleg gordievsky was an outlier in the world of spies who would ultimately turn and be a double agent. in the sense that, in his mind, he convinced himself he was always a patriot to a better soviet union. he did not do this for money, for fame. he did it because he felt it was the right thing to do. he was very lucky to survive. he was very lucky to be the only soviet spy who was able to be exfiltrated out of the country safely. but this was not a fairy tale happy ending. but i would imagine that he didn't expect one. [narrator] his family stay in moscow, prohibited by the state from leaving until the soviet authorities finally let them join him in the u.k. in 1991. just two years later, his marriage to leila is over. [bianna] from his perspective, was that a price worth paying? i bet he toys with that every single day. [narrator] in the decades since his daring escape, gordievsky became an expert witness, briefing the british and their allies on the secrets of the kgb. for years, he had no idea who betrayed him, while ames continued to work undetected at the heart of the cia. [tim] he is not arrested until 1994. and he's caught because the cia begins to connect the dots. they find that he has made $1.3 million on a middle-class salary. so they begin to piece together chronology of his activities and realize that each time he meets with a soviet, he comes back a richer man. then the issue goes to the fbi. by early 1994, they had their man. [narrator] rick ames is convicted of espionage and sentenced to life in prison in terre haute, indiana. [narrator] in the soviet union, the blame for gordievsky's escape lands on the kgb team responsible for tracking british diplomats. chief among them is a certain junior officer working his way through the ranks. [raymond] i know for a fact putin is pretty cross. for him, that gordievsky operation was a time when a lot of his friends were chucked out of the kgb. [susan] but all of those things, as they were framed in the context of the soviet union and then russia, are today really quite relevant to the crisis that we have underway. [tim] in times of war, spying is extraordinarily important. the courage of the individual soldier can never be replaced. but good intelligence can save the lives of courageous soldiers. one of the lessons of the period in 1982 to '85 is you have to know your enemy. if you don't, you can scare your enemy