Cold War espionage describes the intelligence gathering activities during the Cold War between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

During World War II the various allied nations held a tenuous relationship with the Soviet Union, but cooperation persisted due to a common enemy. Never quite trustful of each other, this resulted in espionage of tactics and technology between the Western bloc and Soviet bloc. After World War II ended, the two sides became increasingly confrontational, culminating in the Cold War.

Both blocs spied on each other, though very infrequently did this result in open conflict. Often, a nation would capture an intelligence officer or agent and trade him or her for that own nation's agent which had been captured by the opposing side. While agents often worked for money, many did so for philosophical reasons (eg. an American who held Communist ideals or a Soviet who held anti-Communist ideals.)

See also

• Cambridge Five
• U-2 Crisis of 1960
• VENONA project
• History of Soviet espionage in the United States
• Military Liaison Missions

Espionage

• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg