Operation Ivy Bells

The NSA undersea cable taps in the Sea of Okhotsk during the 1970s

Overview

Operation Ivy Bells began in the early 1970s, when divers delivered from submarines installed recording pods on Soviet communication cables in the Sea of Okhotsk, lines Moscow trusted too much to encrypt. The taps yielded years of fleet intelligence. Disgruntled NSA analyst Ronald Pelton betrayed the program to the Soviets in 1980, and it was wound down following his exposure in 1985. The operation pioneered undersea interception, now a documented staple of great power intelligence. Soviet crews reportedly repaired the cable without ever discovering the recording pods attached alongside.