Georgetown University Press Watching the Jackals: Prague's Covert Liaisons with Cold War Terrorists and Revolutionaries (Georgetown Studies in Intelligence History)

In the 1970s and 1980s, Prague had become a favorite destination for controversial individuals to seek refuge, enjoy recreation, or hold secret meetings aimed at securing training, arms, and other forms of support aimed at securing training and arms.Watching the Jackals is the untold history of Czechoslovakia’s complex relationship with Middle Eastern terrorists and revolutionaries during the closing decades of the Cold War. Based on recently declassified intelligence files, Richterova unveils the story of Prague’s engagement with various factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization as well as some of the era’s most infamous terrorists including Carlos the Jackal, Munich Olympics massacre commander Abu Daoud, and the Abu Nidal Organization. Richterova explains why terrorists and revolutionaries had long gravitated towards Prague, why Prague benefitted from the attraction, and why Czechoslovakia’s powerful security and intelligence apparatus – the StB (Státní bezpečnost) –felt ambivalent about these unpredictable groups. Through research in the remarkable declassified records from the former Czechoslovakia, Richterova offers readers interested in the intelligence world a fascinating history of how states use their spies to pursue covert policies with violent non-state actors. The book also introduces new evidence and nuance into old debates about whether or not the Communist Bloc supported terrorism.