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Glenn Noreen

The Saga of the DoubleTriple Agents and the Fall of the Wall, or How We Really Won the Cold War

Learn a foot-soldier’s perspective on how the U.S. won the Cold War. From 1977 to 1980, Glenn Noreen served as an artillery lieutenant at the tip of two of the most irritating spears pointed at the Soviet Union. After leading Honest John missile teams in Turkey at the closest American tactical nuclear weapon site to the Soviet border, Glenn commanded the sole artillery firing battery in West Berlin—where he was recruited by the KGB in 1979.

After several meetings with the KGB, he told the Soviets that his identical twin brother, a JPL rocket scientist, was coming to visit Glenn in Berlin. When the Soviets asked to meet Gary, Glenn reported the contacts to U.S. Army Military Intelligence, making him a triple agent. Gary joined the operation, making the pair double-triple agents. Glenn and Gary’s KGB connections continued when Glenn left Berlin in 1980 to attend the Harvard Business School. Glenn’s last phone call from the KGB was in May 1989, just a few months before the Berlin Wall fell.

Glenn Noreen

Glenn Noreen (gnoreen@post.harvard.edu | LinkedIn), as a U.S. Army artillery lieutenant, led nuclear-equipped Honest John missile teams in Erzurum, Turkey, and was the Berlin Brigade’s firing battery commander. Recruited by the KGB in late 1979, he was an active double-triple agent while earning his MBA at the Harvard Business School and beyond. He received his last phone call from the KGB in 1989—just a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He later founded Ingenium Schools, a Los Angeles-based charter school management organization.