Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America

513 Pages·2000·34.87 MB·English

by  John Earl Haynes

Praisefor
VENONA:DecodingSovietEspionageinAmerica
"ThefullimplicationsofSovietespionageintheUnitedStatesduringand
immediatelyafterWorldWarIIareonlynowbeingrealized.Inyetanother
superblyfascinatingvolume,HaynesandKlehrmakewondroususeoftheevi
denceintheVenonacablestorevealthescopeofthislimited,butveryreal
(attack'whichremainedsecretfortoolong:'-DanielPatrickMoynihan
"WithunmatchedknowledgeofAmericancommunismandSovietespionagein
America,HaynesandKlehrsettlesomeofthemostpersistenthistoricalcon
troversiesofthedomesticcoldwar:'-RichardGidPowers
"ProbablythedefinitivepublicstudyofSovietespionageintheUnited
States:'-ArnoldBeichman,WeekryStandard
"Thereverberationsfromthiscool,balanced,anddevastatingappraisalwillbe
heardformanyyearstocome:'- KirkusReviews
"AcarefulexplanationofthegreatestcodebreakoftheColdWar:'
-DavidIgnatius,WashingtonMonthly
"PreeminentauthoritiesonAmericancommunismprovidethefirstcomprehen
siveexaminationofthesefiles,oneofU.S.counter-intelligence'sgreatest
achievements:'- RorinM.Platt,ForeignServiceJournal
"Readslikeafast-pacedspynove!:'-JohnHanchette,GannettNewsService
"MayopenafundamentalrevisionofU.S.history:'-GilbertTaylor,Booklist
"BetterthananythingJohnIeCarrecouldproduce,becauseinthiscase,truthis
reallystrangerthanfiction:'-LibraryJournal

VENONA

John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr
~
Yale Nota Bene
Yale University Press
New Haven and London
To my wife, Marcia Steinberg
- HARVEY KLEHR
To my wife, Janette
-JOHN EARLHAYNES
FirstpublishedasaYaleNotaBene TheLibraryofCongresshascatalogedthe
bookin2000. hardcovereditionasfollows:
Copyright©1999byYale Haynes,JohnEarl.
University. Venona:DecodingSovietespionagein
Allrightsreserved. America/JohnEarlHaynesand
Thisbookmaynotbe HarveyKlehr.
reproduced,inwholeorinpart, p. cm.
includingillustrations,inany Includesindex.
form(beyondthatcopying ISBN0-300-°7771-8
permittedbySections107and
108oftheU.S.CopyrightLaw I.CommunistPartyoftheUnited
andexceptbyreviewersforthe StatesofAmerica-History-
publicpress),withoutwritten Sources. 2.Espionage,Soviet-
permissionfromthepublishers. UnitedStates-History-Sources. 3.
Communism-UnitedStates-History
Forinformationaboutthisand Sources. 4.Spies-SovietUnion
otherYaleUniversityPress History-Sources. 5.Spies-United
publications,pleasecontact: States-History-Sources. 6.
Cryptography-UnitedStates
U.S.office [email protected] History-Sources. I.Klehr,
Europeoffice [email protected] Harvey. II.Title.
JK239I.C5H39 1999
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica. 327.1247'073'0904-dc21 98-51464
ISBN0-3°0-08462-5(pbk.)
Acataloguerecordforthisbookis
availablefromtheBritishLibrary.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Contents
Acknowledgments Vll
A Note about Transcription ofthe Documents IX
Glossary xi
Introduction: The Road to Venona 1
I: Venona and the Cold War 8
2: Breaking the Code 23
3: The American Communist Party Underground 57
4: The Golos-Bentley Network 93
5: Friends in High Places 116
6: Military Espionage 164
7: Spies in the U.S. Government 191
8: Fellowcountrymen 208
VI CONTENTS
9: Hunting Stalin's Enemies on American Soil 250
IO: Industrial and Atomic Espionage 287
I I: Soviet Espionage and American History 33I
APPENDIX A: Source Venona: Americans and u.S. Residents
Who Had Covert Relationships with Soviet Intelligence
Agencies 339
APPENDIX B: Americans and u.S. Residents Who Had Covert
Relationships with Soviet Intelligence Agencies but Were
Not Identified in the Venona Cables 37I
APPENDIX c: Foreigners Temporarily in the United States
Who Had Covert Relationships with Soviet Intelligence
Agencies 383
APPENDIX D: Americans and u.S. Residents Targeted as
Potential Sources by Soviet Intelligence Agencies 387
APPENDIX E: Biographical Sketches of Leading KGB
Officers Involved in Soviet Espionage in the United States 39I
Notes 395
Index 477
Acknowledgments
Everyone who studies Sovietespionage owes a debtofgratitudetoSen.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who was instrumental in persuading the
American intelligencecommunityto expeditethe release oftheV~nona
material. We are also grateful for the work of Michael Lostumbo, a
member ofSenator Moynihan's staff, and Eric Biel, the director ofthe
Commission on the Protection and Reduction of Government Secrecy.
Weareparticularlyappreciativeofthehelpandencouragementwehave
received from Robert Louis Benson and the late Cecil Phillips of the
National Security Agency. They not only patientlyansweredoursome
times naivequeries aboutcryptology;theyalsoreadthemanuscriptand
saved us from many errors. A number ofscholars, writers, journalists,
retired FBI agents and intelligenceofficers, andindependentresearchers
helpedusinavarietyofways.Weareintheirdebt.TheyincludeJoseph
Albright, Alan Cullison, Michael Dobbs, Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov,
Robert Harris, David Horowitz, Gary Kern, Marcia Kunstel, Robert
Lamphere, David McKnight, Harry Mahoney, Eduard Mark, Daniel
Menaker, Hayden Peake, Richard Powers, Ronald Radosh, Rosalee
Reynolds, Herbert Romerstein, Stephen Schwartz, Sam Tanenhaus,
John Walsh, and Michael Warner. None of these people, however, is
responsible for any ofour interpretations, and our errors and mistakes
are ours alone.
vii