The Secret U.S. Operation That Wiretapped a Soviet Undersea Cable

Faced with an urgent need for intelligence, the U.S. launched one of the Cold War's most daring covert missions.

USS Halibut

As the Cold War escalated in the early 1970s, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a fierce battle for intelligence superiority. This pursuit of secret information led to one of the most audacious espionage operations in history when the U.S. covertly wiretapped a Soviet undersea communication cable.

The undersea communication…