LT. GEN. ION MIHAI PACEPA was the highest ranking official ever to defect to the United States from the former Soviet Bloc. Before defecting, he was a two-star general in the Securitate--Communist Romania's secret police--and served as President Nicolae Ceausescu's advisor, chief of foreign intelligence, and a state secretary of Romania's Ministry of Interior. Forced to remain in hiding, Pacepa authored six books before his death in 2021.
