How a pair of Palos Verdes altar boys grew up to be Soviet spies
Briefly

Christopher Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee, childhood friends from the affluent suburbs of Southern California, became unlikely spies for the Soviet Union during the turbulent 1970s. Boyce, a disillusioned college dropout working at a defense contractor, connected with Lee, a drug addict. Amid political dissent and a lack of oversight in the defense industry, Boyce gained access to sensitive information. Their story reflects the collision of Cold War-era tensions with a counterculture movement in California, demonstrating how a combination of personal rebellion and inadequate security led to espionage.
“Flying a falcon in exactly the same way that men had done centuries before Christ transplanted Chris into their time,” Lindsey wrote.
Everyone agrees it should never have been possible.
Boyce made $140 a week at the defense plant and held down a second job tending bar.
In the summer of 1974, Boyce, a bright but disaffected 21-year-old college dropout, got a job as a clerk at the TRW Defense and Space Systems complex.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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