He defected to Canada, but in 1970. The interview in the 1980s took place during the Reagan administration. The gp's argument is that there was a market for Bezmenov's just-so explanations, due in part to Reagan's policies. Anti-Soviet sentiment in the US was also high at the time, due to the USSR's brutal invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

The more serious criticism in my view is that not many of Bezmenov's specific allegations have been well-corroborated since, although a great deal of information about the KGB became available, eg the Mitrokhin archive - although parts do remain classified (by the UK).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitrokhin_Archive