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[William Shannon]

http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=97&contentid=468 Tom Clancy: Disinformation Artist by STEVEN AFTERGOOD (fas.org) Tom Clancy's 1984 novel "The Hunt for Red October" was once the unlikely vehicle for a deliberate U.S. Navy disinformation effort targeted at the Soviet Union. According to Sherry Sontag's and Christopher Drew's 1998 book "Blind Man's Bluff," Clancy's novel about the search for a rogue Soviet submarine, which was first published by the U.S. Naval Institute, underwent prepublication review by the Navy. Upon review, the Navy found "that about two-thirds of the technical information was on target and the rest was wrong, and that it typically overstated U.S. abilities," Sontag and Drew wrote. But "rather than blocking publication of the book, or attempting to correct the misperceptions, when Clancy submitted his manuscript to the Navy for clearance, [CNO Admiral James D.] Watkins said he decided to let the book go forward as it was." "'The Hunt for Red October' did us a service," Adm. Watkins told Sontag and Drew. "The Soviets kind of believed it, and we won the battle, and therefore it was a significant part of the noncostly deterrence of submarines." ("Blind Man's Bluff," page 322).