In light of all the hullabaloo over supposed Russian hacking, it might be entertaining to remember this little incident

Giant gas pipeline explosion in Siberia engineered by CIA through allowing the Soviets to "steal" bad software.

An explosion that was so big it could be readily seen from space, and fooled some into thinking there had been a nuclear detonation.

A CIA operation to sabotage Soviet industry by duping Moscow into stealing booby-trapped software was spectacularly successful when it triggered a huge explosion in a Siberian gas pipeline.

Leaked extracts  describe how the operation caused "the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space" in the summer of 1982.

Mr Reed writes that the software "was programmed to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to pipeline joints and welds".

After securing President Reagan's approval in January 1982, the CIA tricked the Soviet Union into acquiring software with built-in flaws.

"In order to disrupt the Soviet gas supply, its hard currency earnings from the West, and the internal Russian economy, the pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines and valves was programmed to go haywire after a decent interval, to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to pipeline joints and welds," Mr Reed writes.

The project exceeded the CIA's wildest dreams. There were no casualties in the explosion, but it was so dramatic that the first reports are said to have stirred alarm in Washington.

The initial reports led to fears that the Soviets had launched a missile from a place where rockets were not known to be based, or even had detonated "a small nuclear device"

Now, of course, the current Russian Republic is not the Soviet Union, and relations are much better, even at their worst, but this is the sort of "hacking" that someone might legitimately complain about. Phishing Podesta's email password, and then revealing that information, all of which is admitted to be completely accurate, is hardly a big deal, even if it really was the Russians that did it. Given their Siberian experience, they could hardly expect us to complain if they only help the Obama administration in meeting its pledge to be the most transparent in history!