Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (124 page)

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Authors: Harvey Klehr;John Earl Haynes;Alexander Vassiliev

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28. Note by "Albert," 12 November 1945, KGB file 40132, V.1, pp. 122-25, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 85-86.

29. "`Albert's' meeting with `Sergey' and `Peter,"' 23 June 1945, KGB file 40132,
v.i, p. 100, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 84-85.

30. Venona 337 Moscow to KGB New York, 8 April 1945. "They were deactivated," 23 November 1945; "Julia' met with `Art,"' 25 November 1945, KGB file
40132, v.1, pp. 126-27, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 86.

31. Ladd to Director, 12 December 1945, serial 235; Harold Kennedy FBI New
York report, 7 December 1945, serial 248; Scheidt FBI New York report, 9 June
1947, serial 2558; Alexander Koral interview summary, 9 June 1947, serial 2571;
Francis O'Brien FBI New York report with Koral statement, ii June 1947, serial
2608; FBI memo, "Existing Corroboration of Bentley's Overall Testimony," 6 May
1955, serial 4201, FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402.

32. Francis O'Brien FBI New York report with Koral statement, 11 June 1947,
serial 2608, FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402.

33. Scheidt FBI New York report, 9 June 1947, serial 2558; Alexander Koral interview summary, 9 June 1947, serial 2571; Scheidt FBI New York report, Helen Koral interview, 14 June 1947, serial 2593; Scheidt FBI New York report, Alexander
Koral interview, serial 2595; Francis O'Brien FBI New York report with Koral statement, ii June 1947, serial 2608; Francis O'Brien FBI New York report, Helen Koral
interview, 25 June 1947, serial 2630, FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402.

34• Graur to Kukin, September 1947; KGB New York to Moscow Center, 13 October 1947; "Alex. Koral is testifying," circa 1948, KGB file 40132, v.1, pp.135-38,141,
143, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 87-88. Testimony of Alexander Koral, g August 1948, U.S.
House Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding Communist Espionage in the United States (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1948), 674-75,
704-11; Report addressed to the Chairman of the KI in view of Vladimir's cipher
telegram dated 25.12.48, KGB file 43173, v.2c, pp. 36-38, Vassiliev, Black, 76.

35. Anatoly Gorsky, "Failures in the USA (1938-48)," December 1948, KGB
file 43173, v2c, pp. 54-55, Vassiliev, Black, 79.

36. Venona 1234 KGB New York to Moscow, 29 August 1944. Andrew and
Mitrokhin mention in passing that "Grigulevich's couriers to New York included
the Chilean Communist Eduardo Pecchio." Christopher M. Andrew and Vasili
Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History
of the KGB (New York: Basic Books, 1999), 591, n61. Given the multiple translations involved (Spanish, Russian, and English), it is possible that Andrew and
Mitrokhin's "Pecchio" is Vassiliev's " Pequeno." The exact spelling of "Teacher"/Leah
Melamed's name is uncertain. Melamed occurs in Vassiliev, Black, 79. A second
spelling, Melament, appears in White #1, p. 58, where "Teacher" is identified as Leah
Melament, along with her father, Joseph Melament ("Old Man"), and it is noted that
Joseph was born in 1874 in Ukraine in the Russian Empire. Boris Morros, assisted
by Charles Samuels, in My Ten Years as a Counterspy (New York: Viking Press,
1959), 47, 50, 55, also described an espionage contact of his in New York as Lea
Melament. However, the 1930 census showed a third spelling, with Leah Melement
living in Bronx, New York, with her father, Joseph, who was noted as having been
born in Russia in 1874. Moscow Center to "May," 28 July 1944, KGB file 35112, v.8,
p. gg, Vassiliev, White #1, 58. Zarubin to Merkulov, "Memorandum (on the station's
work in the country)," 30 September 1944, KGB file 35112, v.i, p. 384, Vassiliev,
White #1, 2. On Sylvia's relationship to Helen, Alan Koral to Harvey Klehr, 7 April
2007. Venona 1791 KGB New York to Moscow, 20 December 1944.

37. Interview with Marjorie Brockman, "Student Voices from World War II and
the McCarthy Era," http://www.ashp.curry.edu/oralhistoiy/brockmanscript.html; "3
Seized as Vandals in Furniture Factory," New York Times, 20 October i95i.

38. Biographical information can be found in FBI Amadeo Sabatini file ioo-
244909, particularly FBI Los Angeles report, 5 October 1944, serial 5; FBI Los Angeles report, 22 July i95o, serial ,59; FBI Los Angeles report, 26 July i95o, serial 99.
This file, including Sabatini's confession, is heavily redacted so that very few details
about his activities are available. References to his work as a Comintern courier can
be found in Comintern radio messages deciphered by the "Mask" project. In 1997
the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the British equivalent of
the American NSA, released for public access thousands of these messages. GCHQ's
1930s predecessor had intercepted the broadcasts during 1934 to 1937 and broken the Comintern's code in a project given the name "Mask." Radio messages regarding Sabatini can be found in Mask i959/H, Comintern Moscow to Amsterdam 13, 5
January 1935, and Mask 376o/H, Comintern Moscow to Amsterdam 326, 3 September 1935, Mask collection, National Cryptologic Museum, Ft. Meade, MD.

39. Roster and assignment list of American Communists with the International
Brigades, Archive of the International Brigades, RGASPI 545-6-846; FBI memo,
"Existing Corroboration of Bentley's Overall Testimony," 6 May 1955, serial 4201,
FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402; Arthur H. Landis, The Abraham Lincoln Brigade
(New York: Citadel Press, 1967), 305, 311; FBI New York report, 15 September
1953, serial 14x1, FBI Thomas Black file 65-61847.

40. Details about the Krivitsky surveillance operation are in FBI Los Angeles
SAC to Director, 17 November 1959, serial iii, FBI Amadeo Sabatini file ioo-
244909. Butkov to Prudnikov, ii April 1941, KGB file 35112, v.i, p. 91, Vassiliev,
Black, 176.

41. Larry Kerley testimony, 15 September 1949, U.S. Senate Subcommittee on
Immigration and Naturalization, Communist Activities among Aliens and National
Groups (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., i95o), part 2, 811. FBI Los Angeles to FBI Washington, 18 November 1943, serial 2; Hoover memo for Attorney
General, 15 November 1943, serial 3; FBI Los Angeles report, 5 October 1944, serial 5; FBI Los Angeles report, 22 July 1950, serial 59, FBI Amadeo Sabatini file
100-244909. Venona 1220 KGB New York to Moscow, 26 August 1944. The source
Sabatini met was identified as "Engineer" in Venona 1220, but the details, particularly the reference to a lost report, corresponded to Jones York, who in other documents had the cover name "Needle." It is possible that his code name had been
changed.

42. Venona 942 KGB New York to Moscow, 4 July 1944; Venona 1015 KGB
New York to Moscow, 22 July 1944; Venona 1087 KGB New York to Moscow, 30
July 1944; Venona 1220 KGB New York to Moscow, 26 August 1944; Venona 1266
KGB New York to Moscow, 6 September 1944; Venona 1313 KGB New York to
Moscow, 13 September 1944; Venona 1370 KGB New York to Moscow, 27 September 1944; Venona 1523 KGB New York to Moscow, 27 October 1944; Venona
1649 KGB New York to Moscow, 25 November 1944; Venona 29 KGB New York
to Moscow, 8 January 1945; Venona 130 Moscow to KGB New York, ii February
1945; Venona 446 KGB San Francisco to Moscow, 31 October 1943; Venona 55
KGB San Francisco to Moscow, 8 February 1944; Venona 298 KGB San Francisco
to Moscow, 13 July 1944.

43. Moscow Center to Vladimir, 18 October 1948, KGB file 40159, v5, P. 249,
Vassiliev, Black, 130. FBI memo Belmont to Ladd, 15 May 1950; FBI memo Ladd
to Director, 28 February 1951, in Venona-related FBI documents released to Senator Daniel P. Moynihan. FBI Los Angeles SAC to Director, 26 September 1948, serial 27; FBI Los Angeles report, 22 July 1950, serial 59, FBI Amadeo Sabatini file
100-244909.

44. FBI New York report, 21 November 1946, serial 1g8o, FBI Silvermaster file
65-56402.

45. Ovakimyan and Graur, report to Merkulov on "Enormous," February 1944,
KGB file 82702, V.1, p. 142, Alexander Vassiliev, Yellow Notebook #1 [2007 English
Translatiotti], trans. Philip Redko (1993-96), g. Louis Budenz affidavit, 11 November 195o, U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities, American Aspects of
Assassination of Leon Trotsky (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1951), part
1, v-ix; Louis F. Budenz, Men without Faces: The Communist Conspiracy/ in the
USA (New York: Harper, 1950), 123-26.

46. "Glan" to Moscow Center, 21 August 1941; "Glan" to Moscow Center, 23
August 1941; KGB New York to Moscow Center, 5 November 1941, KGB file 35112,
v4a, pp. 444, 455, 644, Vassiliev, White #1, 23-24, 27. "Chap" report on Clarence
Hiskev, 28 March 1942, KGB file 82702, v.1, pp. 69-71, Vassiliev, YC1101c #1, 2-3;
Moscow Center to KGB New York, 27 March 1942, KGB file 40159, v.3, p. 16o,
Vassiliev, Black, 106.

47. "Maxim" to Moscow Center, 9 February 1943, KGB file 35112, v.7, p. 234,
Vassiliev, White #1, 49.

48. Venona 749 KGB New York to Moscow, 26 May 1944; Venona 1523 KGB
New York to Moscow, 27 October 1944.

49. Klehr, Haynes, and Firsov, Secret World, 205-26; Browder to Comintern, 15
January 1943, RGASPI 495-184-7, 1943 file; "Veterans of International Brigades,"
circa 1940, KGB file 35112, v.1, p. 22, Vassiliev, Black, 168. Emphasis in the original. The Cohens are discussed extensively in Joseph Albright and Marcia Kunstel,
Bombshell: The Secret Storm of America's Unknown Atomic Spit Conspiracy (New
York: Times Books, 1997).

50. KGB New York to Moscow Center, 17 February 1945, KGB file 40594, v.7,
p. 21, Vassiliev, Black, 120. Although the message says that Chmilevski was recruited
by "Volunteer" in August 1942, Morris was already in the Army by that time, so pre-
sumnably his initiation of the recruitment took place earlier. Moscow Center to
"Bob," 5 October 1948, KGB file 40159, v.5, p. 208, Vassiliev, Black, 129; Albright
and Kunstel, Bombshell, 71-74; Venona 1239 KGB New York to Moscow, 3o August 1944.

51. Semenov to Fitin, circa 1944, KGB file 40129, v.3a, pp. 212-13, Vassiliev,
White #1, 112-13.

52. Venona 5o KGB New York to Moscow, 11 January 1945; "Victor" to "Anton,"
23 February 1945, KGB file 40159, v3, p. 474, Vassiliev, Black, 133.

53. Moscow Center to "Claude," 1g April 1948; Moscow Center to "Claude," 27
April 1948, KGB file 40159, v.5, pp. 107, 118, Vassiliev, Black, 127. The Cohens' relationship with Hall is discussed in Albright and Kunstel, Bombshell.

54. The FBI investigation of the Coliens can be followed in FBI Morris and
Lona Cohen file 100-406659.

55. Report by "Callistratus" on his trip to the U.S., 27 February 1947, KGB file
40129, v.4, P. 353, Vassiliev, White #i, 120. Feklisov also discussed his work with the
radio in Alexander Feklisov and Sergei Kostin, The Man behind the Rosenber;s,
trans. Catherine Dop (New York: Enigma Books, 2001), 28-31.

56. Handwritten and typescript notes in John Barron Papers, Hoover Institu tion, Stanford University, Box 2, Folders 4 and 5, derived from FBI New York SAC
to Director, 26 September 1952.

57. Report by "Callistratus" on his trip to the U.S., 27 February 1947, KGB file
40129, v.4, p. 377-79, Vassiliev, White #1, 121.

58. KGB Washington to Moscow Center, i October 195o, KGB file 43173, v.12,
pp. 201-3, 216, Vassiliev, Black, 97.

59. Gilbert J. Gall, Pursuing Justice: Lee Pressman, the New Deal, and the CIO (Albany: State University of New York Press,1ggg); Gilbert J. Gall, "A Note on Lee Pressman and the FBI," Labor History 32, no. 4 (Fall 1991); Gilbert J. Gall, To the Editor,
Labor History 33, no. 2 (Spring 1992); Earl Latham, The Communist Controversy in
Washington: From the New Deal to McCarthy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1966), 107-8; Joseph P. Lash, Dealers and Dreamers: A New Look at the New
Deal (New York: Doubleday, 1988), 218, 316, 434-37; Steve Rosswurm, "The Wondrous Tale of an FBI Bug: What It Tells Us about Communism, Anti-Communism,
and the CIO Leadership," American Communist History 2, no. i (June 2003).

6o. KGB Washington to Moscow Center, 23 August 195o, KGB file 43173, v.12,
p. 181, Vassiliev, Black, 96; Testimony of Lee Pressman, 20 August 1948, U.S. House
Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding Communist Espionage,
1022-28.

61. Lee Pressman testimony, 28 August 1950, U.S. House Committee on UnAmerican Activities, Hearings Regarding Communism in the United States Government (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1950), pt. 2, 2844-2901.

62. "A report from `Raid,"' September 1949; "Raid was given," October 1949,
KGB file 45100, v.i, pp. 171, 214, Vassiliev, White #3, 84; Report, 2 March 1951,
KGB file 43072, v.1, p. 159, Vassiliev, White #3, 65. Bruslov, "Measures for improving the work of the Washington station," 21 January 1950, KGB file 43173, v.2c,
p. 59, Vassiliev, Black, 8o.

63. Report, 2 March 1951, KGB file 43072, v.1, p. 159, Vassiliev, White #3, 65;
Gall, Pursuing justice, 256-58; Hans Moses, "The Case of Major X [Studies in Intelligence 18, 1 (1974)]," in Inside CIA's Private World: Declassified Articles from
the Agency's Internal Journal, 1955-1992, ed. H. Bradford Westerfield (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1995).

64. Gorsky, "Failures in the USA (1938-48)," KGB file 43173, v.2c, p. 49, Vassiliev, Black, 77.

65. Berle, "Underground Espionage Agent"; Whittaker Chambers, Witness
(New York: Random House, 1952), 436; Lee Pressman testimony, 28 August 1950,
U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding Communism, pt. 2, 2844-2901.

66. Bentley autobiography, circa 1944; NKGB sent an inquiry, December 1944,
KGB file 70545, PP. 242-43, 1193-94, Alexander Vassiliev, White Notebook #2 [2007
English Translation], trans. Steven Shabad (1993-96), 13-14. Elizabeth Bentley,
FBI Deposition, 3o November 1945, serial 220, pp. 5-9; Michael Endelman interview on 2 June 1947 in Washington Field Office report, 7 June 1947, serial 2583;
Washington Field Office report based on FBI New York report of 3 January 1946,
serial 329, FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402.

Chapter 8: Celebrities and Obsessions

i. Meeting with "Chap," i October 1941, KGB file 14449, v'•1, pp. 75-76,
Alexander Vassiliev, White Notebook #2 [2007 English Translation], trans. Steven
Shabad (1993-96), 56-58.

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