Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History

459 Pages·2002·21.584 MB·English

by  Jerrold L. Schecter, Leona P. Schecter

SACRED
SECRETS
Also by Jerrold and Leona Schecter
An American Family in Moscow
Back in the USSR: An American Family Returns to Moscow
Special Tasks: The Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness—A Soviet Spymaster
(with Pavel and Anatoli Sudoplatov)
Also by Jerrold Schecter
The New Face of Buddha: The Fusion of Religion and Politics in
Contemporary Buddhism
The Palace File: The Retnarkable Story of the Secret Letters from Nixon
and Ford to the President of South Vietnam and the American Promises
That Were Never Kept
(with Nguyen Tien Hung)
Khrushchev Remembers: The Glasnost Tapes
(Edited with Vyacheslav V. Luchkov)
The Spy Who Saved the World: How a Soviet Colonel Changed the
Course of the Cold War
(with Peter Deriabin)
Russian Negotiating Behavior: Continuity and Transition
SACRED
SECRETS
How Soviet
Intelligence Operations
Changed American Histoiy
Jerrold and Leona Schecter
Foreword by Strobe Talbott
Brassey’s, Inc.
Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2002 by Jerrold L. and Leona P. Schecter, Brasse/s, Inc.
Published in the United States by Brasse/s, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except
in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schecter, Jerrold L.
Sacred secrets : how Soviet intelligence operations changed American history / Jerrold and
Leona Schecter ; foreword by Strobe Talbott—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57488-327-5 (alk. paper)
1. Espionage, Soviet—United States—History—Sources. 2. Soviet Union. Komitet
gosudarstvennoæ bezopasnosti—History. 3. Soviet Union. Glavnoe razvedyvatel§'oe
upravlenie—History. 4. United States. Signal Security Agency—History. 5.
Cryptography—United States—History—20th century. 6. World War,
1939-1945—Cryptography. 7. Soviet Union—Foreign relations—United
States—History—Sources. 8. United States—Foreign relations—Soviet
Union—History—Sources. I. Schecter, Leona. II. Title.
DK266.3 .S364 2002
327.1247'009/04—dc21 2001052809
Printed in the United States of America on add-free paper that meets the American
National Standards Institute Z39-48 Standard.
Brassey’s, Inc.
22841 Quicksilver Drive
Dulles, Virginia 20166
First Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Miriam Goshen Schecter.
To our children, Evelind, Steven,
Kate, Doveen, and Barnet.
To their spouses, Michael, Karen, Ari, Grischa.
To our grandchildren, Belle, Beth, Jeong Hwan,
Isabel, Sophie, Ben, and Zev.

Contents
Chronology ix
Foreword by Strobe Talbott xix
Preface xxv
Prologue xxix
1 Stalin’s Intelligence Game: Playing the United States and Japan against
Each Other 1
2 Operation Snow 22
3 The War Years 46
4 Nuclear Furies: A Love Affair and a Storm of Controversy 68
5 Opening VENONA 90
6 Truman Wrestles an Ogre Named VENONA 110
7 VENONA Hits Pay Dirt 134
8 Cases of the Century 158
9 The Fifties 189
10 The Beginning of the End of the Soviet Empire 207
11 The Secrets of Khrushchev’s Memoirs 226
12 The Overflight Wars 261
13 Deception and Revelation 288
Conclusion: Looking Back, Looking Forward 299
Acknowledgments 309
viii CONTENTS
APPENDIXES:
Appendix 1. FBI letter to David Lilienthal on Robert and Frank
Oppenheimeris monthly contributions to the American Communist Party, April
21 and 23, 1947 313
Appendix 2. Letter to L. Beria on Oppenheimeris cooperation with Soviet
Intelligence, October 1944 315
Appendix 3. Letter to NKVD USSR M. G. Pervukhin on atomic espionage
reports received from the USA, April 1943 318
Appendix 4. Excerpts from I. B. Kurchatov’s reply concerning the content of
intelligence materials received from the USA, April 1943 321
Appendix 5. Letter to NKGB USSR M. G. Pervukhin on the content of
intelligence material from England and the USA, August 1943 324
Appendix 6. Establishment of Special Committee of the [USSR] State
Committee for Defense on the utilization of the internal energy of uranium,
August 1945 328
Appendix 7. Protocol no. 1 of the meeting of the Special Committee of the
[USSR] State Defense Committee 332
Appendix 8. The Morgenthau Plan, from Russian Intelligence Archives 336
Appendix 9. VENONA message no. 1822, Washington to Moscow, March 30,
1945, identifying Alger Hiss as ALES 339
Notes 341
Index 381
About the Authors 403
Chronology
1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki signed following Japanese victory in war with
China over Korea. China cedes Formosa, Pescadores Islands, and
Liaotung Peninsula with Port Arthur to Japan.
1896 Russia, Germany, and France “advise” Japan, with threat of force, to
return territories to China.
1897 Russian activity in Far East follows construction of Trans-Siberian
Railroad in 1891. Russians eager to control good harbors in Manchu­
ria and Korea. Triple alliance among France, Russia, and Germany
takes advantage of Chinese weakness, leads to scramble for conces­
sions. Great Britain allied with Japan.
1904 The clash of Russian and Japanese interests in northeast Asia ignites
the Russo-Japanese War, in which Japan prevails militarily but not
conclusively. The war’s high cost in lives lost and financial instability
is enormous to both sides. Losses foment popular revolt in Russia.
1905 In the Straits of Tsushima between Korea and Japan, the Japanese
navy annihilates a Russian fleet in one of the greatest naval batdes
in history. The treaty signed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with
mediation by President Theodore Roosevelt, forces Russia to ac­
knowledge Japanese influence in Korea. It transfers the Liaotung
Peninsula and Southern Manchurian railway to Japan. Treaty pro­
vides no reparations from Russia, which causes riots in Japan.
1914 World War I begins in the Balkans; because of interlocking secret
treaties, the war quickly engulfs Europe. Germans attack Belgium,
France, and Luxembourg; the British come to their aid. First use of
airplane raids on cities, for reconnaissance and bombing. First use of
submarines to attack shipping and blockade Britain; airplanes attack
submarines. Introduction of poison gas and tanks.
1917 In March, Tsar Nicholas II abdicates. In April, U.S. enters WWI on
Allied side. November 6, Bolsheviks seize power.
IX
X CHRONOLOGY
1917-1921 Under name of “War Communism,” Bolsheviks nationalize banks,
trade unions, factories, church properties, repudiate national debt,
nationalize landholdings, requisition farm production to feed cities.
1918 Establishment of Czech, Yugoslav and Polish independent govern­
ments. In January, President Woodrow Wilson outlines peace pro­
gram of 14 Points, declaring independence for smaller nations, free­
dom of navigation, lowering of armaments. The Brest-Litovsk treaty,
signed in March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers,
negotiates a separate peace for Russia. An attempt on Lenin’s life
instigates a reign of terror against intellectuals and the bourgeoise.
October 1918, after sustained joint Allied military operations the
Germans sue for peace. November 11 hostilities cease.
1919 June 1919 Paris Peace Conference leads to Treaty of Versailles.
Founding of Third Communist International (COMINTERN) for
propagation of communist doctrine for world revolution, which Lenin
believes would be accomplished.
1918-1921 Russian Civil War: Leon Trotsky commissar of war against Whites
(counter-revolutionaries) and foreign armies attempting to overthrow
Bolsheviks. British, French, Americans intervene in the Civil War on
behalf of the anti-Bolshevik factions.
The Japanese and Czechs enter Vladivostok, Siberia, and Eastern
Russia. After heavy fighting, Bolsheviks retake territory and set up
buffer state, the Far Eastern Republic.
1921-1928 Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP) abolishes the food levy and
implements a more moderate grain tax. New land statute allowed
small individual farms, hired labor and lease of land. Private commer­
cial trade resumed but only on small scale. Less repression, emphasis
on erasing illiteracy.
1922 Soviet Russia and Germany conclude the Treaty of Rapallo, bringing
closer political and economic cooperation.
1924 Lenin dies, after which Stalin and Trotsky struggle for power within
the Communist Party.
1927 New Economic Policy ends. Stalin prevails in his fight with Trotsky,
who is expelled from the political bureau of the party.
1928 Stalin implements the first Five-Year Plan, speeding industrialization.
1929 Trotsky is exiled from the country and takes refuge in Constantinople.
Bukharin and the Rightists are also expelled, leaving Stalin in com­
plete control.
1930 Forced collectivization replaces small farmers. The most successful
farmers are destroyed. Unsuccessful attempt to build economy, fol­
lowed by trials of technicians for inefficiency and sabotage.