Alexei Leonov's Comments and Their Probable Incorporation by US Intelligence
Another L-3 participant well-known to readers is former cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. The first space-walker holds a special place in the CIA's pantheon of information sources, as he became-perhaps unwittingly-a major informant on the USSR's manned lunar projects.
In the 2004 volume Two Sides of the Moon, Leonov's co-author David Scott (in the acknowledgement section at the very back of the book, no less) reveals that on a summer evening in Moscow in 1973, Leonov basically "spilled the beans" on the largely-secretive Soviet manned lunar projects. With only the exception of an interpreter also in attendance, Scott wrote that "I heard for the first time the fascinating story of the Soviet thrust to land a man on the Moon."[11] What Leonov couldn't know was that only mere months later, a special meeting was held for US intelligence analysts near Fort George Meade (the NSA's headquarters) about new information relating to the USSR's entire manned lunar program. This intelligence communications conference no doubt contained the information that Leonov imparted to Scott.[12]
Such data retrieval and implementation is not unheard of. I would be remiss to not mention a 1971 CIA report that discusses data about the manned lunar landing project gathered from cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko (while talking to US astronauts) who was participating in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project preparations.)[13]
Further questions should be asked of all surviving Russian cosmonaut participants in ASTP whether or not they discussed the USSR's manned L-1 and L-3 projects with their US counterpart participants. Again, the burden lies upon our Russia-based colleagues to attempt this worthwhile and necessary effort.
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