East German scientific and technical espionage in the Cold War: The case IM "Larsen"

Authors

• Kimmo Elo University of Turku

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37449/ennenjanyt.91514

Keywords:

GDR, foreign intelligence, scientific and technical espionage, Cold War, network analysis

Abstract

This article focuses on the collaboration of a Finnish scientist with the foreign intelligence of the East German ministry of state security, the Stasi. The Finn operated under the cover name “Larsen” and was part of a larger network of scientific-technical espionage. Already in 1971 the Stasi established a dedicated “Sector Science and Technique” (Sektor Wissenschaft und Techinik), which had the task to collect western knowledge applied to compensate the weaknesses of the communist palnned economy, especially in regard to high technology. Further, military intelligence should provide both the state leadership and the arms industry of the USSR with knowledge of military technologies of the Nato. As the analysis shows, “Larsen” was an ideal source in many respect. First, he had a strong political-ideological motive. Second, he had a long, professional collaboration with an East German colleague. And third, and most importantly, he had prospects to gather information about the EISCAT radar technology project the Nato was involved in. “Larsen” joined a small HUMINT network collecting information primarily about space, industrial and military technologies. Although the materials available do not allow a complete analysis about how useful the material gathered by “Larsen” was or how it was applied internally in the GDR, the analysis improves our understanding of operative issues related to scientific and technical espionage in general. Hence, the results of this article are useful also outside the temporal context of this article, the Cold War.