The 2016 presidential election wasn’t the first time Russia attempted to use Silicon Valley and its technologies against the United States. During the 1980s, Soviet spies plied their trade up and down the San Francisco Peninsula, stealing technology, recruiting agents and infiltrating local banks. It’s worth remembering that those efforts were ultimately thwarted and may have contributed in a small way to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The episode almost 40 years ago even inspired an otherwise forgettable installment of the James Bond franchise, “A View to a Kill,” in which a rogue KGB operative tries to flood Silicon Valley. The movie ends as Bond, having foiled what would have been the “greatest cataclysm in human history,” is awarded the Order of Lenin from the KGB. Why? “I would have expected the KGB to celebrate if Silicon Valley has been destroyed,” Bond’s incredulous commanding officer tells a KGB official. “On the contrary, admiral,” explains his Russian counterpart. “Where would Russian research be without it?”
