Since this is a thread about spy novels, it’s worth pointing out that there is a Tom Clancy book from 1988 (right around the Gordievsky defection) that in retro

Since this is a thread about spy novels, it’s worth pointing out that there is a Tom Clancy book from 1988 (right around the Gordievsky defection) that in retrospect is obviously inspired by the Able Archer/RYAN Gordievsky story, and describes the US and USSR narrowly averting a nuclear war due to a top-level leak from within the Kremlin. I don’t want to spoil it (it’s a silly fun read) but the ending of the novel is very, very different. Ever since I read The Spy and the Traitor I’ve wondered if Clancy was just enjoying a bit of dramatic license, or if he was subtly nodding to real barroom gossip he’d picked up from his contacts in DC. It tickles me to think that disgruntled folks in the IC might use fiction to say “we all know what you did” to their counterparts in Moscow, and I bet it would have tickled Clancy as well.