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Venona and Alexander Vassiliev’s Notebooks:

Confirming and Correcting Identified Venona Cover Names and Revealing the Unidentified

2009 Symposium on Cryptologic History

By John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr

 

            In March 2009 former KGB officer Alexander Vassiliev gave nine notebooks with 1,115 pages of detailed notes on KGB archival documents to the Library of Congress.  He had written the notebooks during an authorized SVR research project in the early 1990s.  Along with the original notebooks, hand-written in Russian, came transcriptions into word-processed Russian and translations into English as well as a concordance cross-indexing cover names and real names.  All three versions of the notebooks, with identical pagination, were also made available on the web for examination and downloading.  At the same time Yale University Press released Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America authored by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, and Vassiliev.  The provenance of the notebooks is discussed at length in the preface (by Haynes and Klehr) and the introduction (by Vassiliev) to Spies.

            Vassiliev’s notebooks focus on archival records of the activities of the KGB’s predecessor agencies in the United States in the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s with some material on espionage in Britain during World War II related to the ties between the British and American atomic bomb programs.  The notes include both summaries and lengthy quotations complete with archival file and page citations, document titles, document authorship, and dating.  A good deal of Vassiliev’s material overlaps the period covered by the decrypted messages of the Venona project.  They offer an excellent opportunity to review and examine the reliability of the work done by American code-breakers and to fill in some of missing information from the Venona decryptions.  In this talk we will largely concentrate on the second point but make a few observations about the first.

            The Venona decryptions contain many cover names.  Sometimes the real name behind the cover name is stated in plain text.  More often, NSA and FBI analysts had to use the information in the messages to identify the real name.  In many cases the information provided was sufficiently detailed and ample that identification of the real name was easy.  In other cases it required extensive field investigation by FBI agents.  Hundreds of Venona cover names were thus identified, mostly with confidence, some less so.  Additionally, there remained hundreds of other cover names where the information was insufficient to make even a tentative identification of the real name. 

            Vassiliev’s notebooks also contain hundreds of cover names.  The notebooks provide the real name in plain text for many of these cover names.  In other cases the real name is not given but the details about that person are sufficient to make a confident identification.  There are also cover names that remain entirely unidentified.  Based on our earlier work on Venona and our examination over the past three years of Vassiliev’s notebooks, we were able to provide corroboration for the real names identified by the Venona project for 177 cover names.  These are listed in Appendix 1.    

            Significantly, we discovered only four cases where Venona analysts made incorrect identifications.  These are the subject of Appendix 2.  The most notable correction is that Venona’s “Veksel” appears to be a decoding error in constructing the Soviet code book and the correct cover name was “Vector.”  More importantly, “Vector” wasn’t Robert Oppenheimer as asserted but Enrico Fermi.  The notebooks also show that KGB attempts to contact Fermi failed (as did its attempts to contact Oppenheimer).  Oppenheimer’s cover names in the notebooks, by the way, were  “Chester” (early 1944 to mid-1945), “Chemist” (September 1944), and “Yew” (late 1944-1945), none of which occur in the deciphered Venona cables The other significant misidentification is that in Venona “Arena” was identified as Mary Price, when in fact it is clearly linked to Gerald Graze in the notebooks.  Only four errors in identification out of hundreds of correct ones is impressive and reflects well on the care and thoroughness of NSA/FBI analysts. 

            What is, of course, of special interest are the real names that Vassiliev’s notebooks attach to cover names that are unidentified in Venona.  These are the subject of Appendix 3, and there are sixty-three of these.  Some of these cover names unidentified in Venona appeared to be important sources and were the subject of much speculation as to the real names hidden behind the cover names.  Vassiliev’s notebooks allow us to attach real names to these ‘high-profile’ unidentified cover names in Venona.

            “19”:  In Venona 812, KGB New York to Moscow, 29 May 1943, KGB illegal station chief Iskhak Akhmerov told Moscow that agent “19” had provided information from a conversation in which he took part that included President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and a senior American with the cover name “Deputy” whom NSA/FBI analysts thought might have been Vice-President Wallace or, less likely, presidential aide Harry Hopkins.  (The conversation would have been in connection with the “Trident” conference of 12-27 May 1943 in Washington that brought together top British and American military and diplomatic policy makers.)  This message was, however, only partially deciphered and provides little information about the identity of “19,” and this is also the only Venona message in which “19” appears.

            The identity of “19” is intriguing because he was sufficiently senior to take part in a conversation that involved FDR and Churchill, and it prompted considerable speculation.  The late Eduard Mark argued in “Venona’s Source 19 and the Trident Conference of May 1943: Diplomacy or Espionage?” that an analysis of a variety of records of meetings at the Trident conference suggest that “19” probably was Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt’s right-hand man.  Further, Mark argued that it was likely, but not a certainty, that the message was a report of “back-channel” diplomacy rather than espionage.  Vassiliev’s notebooks show that Venona 812 was reporting espionage, not back-channel diplomacy, but that “19” was not Harry Hopkins, but Laurence Duggan, then advisor to the Secretary of State on inter-American affairs.  The KGB had recruited Duggan the mid-1930s, and he had cooperated with Soviet intelligence KGB until he left the State Department in the spring of 1944. 

            “Fogel”/“Persian”: Another much-discussed unidentified cover name in Venona was “Fogel,” later renamed “Persian.”  “Fogel”/“Persian” commanded attention because he was clearly an atomic source, reporting information about the Manhattan Project’s facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  But, as with “19,” there was almost no identifying information in the four deciphered messages about him, “and NSA/FBI analysts left him unidentified.  After the release of Venona, however, various researchers offered candidates, including the American physicist Philip Morrison and the refugee German, naturalized British physicist Rudolph Peierls.  Neither was correct.  He was Russell McNutt, a civil engineer who was part of the design team for Kellex, the contractor that built the massive K-25 gaseous diffusion plant at Oak Ridge.  McNutt’s name barely shows up in the massive literature on atomic espionage, but his recruiter, Julius Rosenberg, is another matter.  The notebooks show that McNutt was another of the young Communist engineers whom Rosenberg persuaded to assist Soviet intelligence, giving Julius Rosenberg the distinction of recruiting two Soviet atomic spies: one at Los Alamos (his long-known brother-in-law, David Greenglass) and one source on Oak Ridge (the hitherto unknown McNutt).  Escaping public involvement in the postwar revelations of Soviet atomic espionage, McNutt enjoyed a distinguished career as senior engineer for Gulf Oil and one of the developers of the planned community of Reston, Virginia. Interestingly, the FBI interviewed him after Rosenberg’s arrest, in part because David Greenglass gave his name to the Bureau.  Although agents knew he had worked at Kellex and thought he was probably a Communist, there is nothing in his FBI file to indicate that the bureau ever considered him as a candidate for “Fogel/“Persian.

            Nil/Tu...”: While identifying McNutt as a previously unknown member of the Rosenberg ring, Vassiliev’s notebooks also provide the name of one of its sources left unidentified in Venona.  The Venona project decrypted only part of the code-name of one of Julius Rosenberg’s sources- “Tu...”, later changed to “Nil.”  Documents in the notebooks show the full code-name was “Tuk” and it was Nathan Sussman, a college friends of Julius, who specialized in aviation radar at Western Electric.  The FBI extensively questioned Sussman; after first lying, he eventually admitted being a Communist, but denied spying.  He agreed to testify that Julius was also a Communist, but was not used at the trial when the Rosenbergs’ defense chose not to contest the point.  Sussman later was a cooperative witness before Senator McCarthy’s investigation into communist activities at Fort Monmouth; while he named a number of other engineers as fellow party members, he was never asked if he himself had been a spy and he escaped prosecution.

            Incidentally, the Vassiliev notebooks also provide Morton Sobell’s cover name, “Senya,” which does not occur in Venona.  Some of you may recall that at a previous conference on Venona, Sobell dramatically stood up and rolled up his pant leg to demonstrate that he could not have been “Serb” whom analysts had suggested was possibly Sobell.  “Serb” had an artificial leg.  He too is identified in the notebooks as Joseph Chmilevski, a Philadelphia engineer who had lost his leg fighting in Spain.

            “Quantum”: Another unidentified atomic source was “Quantum.”  Only three deciphered Venona cables mentioned “Quantum.” All three dealt with his meeting with a senior Soviet diplomat and two KGB officers at the Soviet Embassy in Washington in June 1943. Thereafter “Quantum” disappeared from sight.  What made “Quantum” interesting was that the messages showed he had handed over information on the diffusion method for separating bomb-grade U-235 from unwanted U-238.  “Quantum” appeared to be a scientist or engineer of some sort and senior enough to warrant a meeting with a high-ranking Soviet diplomat.  But beyond that and the fact he was in Washington in June 1943, there were no clues to his identity.  NSA/FBI footnotes to the “Quantum” messages simply stated “unidentified.”  Candidates for “Quantum” have ranged from George Gamow and Louis Slotin (a Canadian physicist with Communist ties in his youth who died in a plutonium accident at Los Alamos in 1946), to Bruno Pontecorvo (an Italian physicist who worked at the atomic research laboratory at Chalk River during World War II and defected to the USSR in 1950).

            All of the speculation was wrong.  Vassiliev’s notebooks identify “Quantum as Boris Podolsky, a scientist never suspected of any association with Soviet intelligence. Born in Russia in 1896, Podolsky had immigrated to the United States in 1911.  After receiving his PhD in physics from the California Institute of Technology, he returned to the USSR from 1930 to 1933, working as director of theoretical physics at the Ukrainian Physio-Technical Institute. Back in America in 1933, he took a post at the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.  In 1935 with Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen, Podolsky co-authored one of the most famous theoretical articles ever written on quantum mechanics. After a quarrel with Einstein, Podolsky left Princeton to become a professor of mathematical physics at the University of Cincinnati.  After some initial meetings, however, the KGB dropped Podolsky.  He was a theoretical physicist and sought a senior position in the Soviet academic world.  The KGB, however, took the view that the USSR had plenty of theoretical physicists; what it wanted was someone working directly on the Manhattan project, and cut contact when Podolsky failed to get a position in the bomb program.

            “Huron”: Another unidentified source in Venona was “Huron,”  who appeared in five deciphered cables that indicated he was a scientist and had some connection with Soviet atomic intelligence. Like “Quantum,” however, he was not identified by American counterintelligence.  And just as in “Quantum’s” case, the connection to atomic espionage encouraged widespread speculation.  Candidates suggested included Bruno Pontecorvo (also suggested for “Quantum”) and Ernest Lawrence.  Again, the speculation was wrong. “Huron” was Byron Darling, who had received a PhD at the University of Michigan in 1939 and had taken a position as a research physicist at the U.S. Rubber Company in Detroit in 1941. He had become a secret member of the CPUSA probably in the late 1930s and had begun assisting the KGB in 1942.  In addition to his ready access to research on synthetic rubber, the KGB wanted to use him to contact some of the physicist he knew who worked directly on the Manhattan project, such as Enrico Fermi.  The notebooks suggest, however, that Darling was never successful at his recruiter role. 

            “Eric”: Yet another unidentified atomic source in Venona was “Eric,” a major source in England reporting on the British atomic program and also passing along information on the Manhattan Project that was shared with the British program.  Again, there was speculation on “Eric’s” identity, including suggestions he was Sir Eric Rideal, a prominent British scientist.  But the notebooks show that “Eric” was Engelbert Broda, a refugee Austrian physicist and secret Communist who worked on the British atomic program at the Cavendish laboratory at Cambridge.  Recently released MI-5 files show that British intelligence was suspicious of Broda and concluded after Allen Nunn May was released from prison in 1952 and married Broda’s ex-wife that Broda had been a Soviet spy and had recruited May into espionage.            

            “Ramsay”:  The final Venona atomic-related unidentified cover name is “Ramsay.”  Again there was little information in the deciphered messages to enable analysts to identify him, although there were some suggestions it might be the physicist Norman F. Ramsey.  However, the notebooks show “Ramsay” was Clarence Hiskey, a Manhattan Project physicist who worked first at its facilities at Columbia University and then at the University of Chicago.  (The KGB never recruited Hiskey; unaware he was already working for the GRU, Soviet Military Intelligence.  The FBI, however, spotted Hiskey meeting with a GRU agent.  Hiskey held an Army reserve commission, and the U.S. Army removed him from the Manhattan Project by lifting his exemption from military service and sending him to a remote Army base in northern Canada.)

            “Reed”/“Solid”: A source code-named “Solid,” changed to “Reed” in 1944 resisted the efforts of Venona investigators.  Although he is not named in Vassiliev’s notebooks, there is enough information about him to establish his identity with certainty.  A 1943 memo describes him as “chief of the Chem. Division of the U.S. Tariff Commission,” a position held by James Hibben from 1939 until his death in 1959.  His older brother Paxton was a one-time State Department employee turned radical, whom the Soviets buried in a Moscow cemetery reserved for leading Bolsheviks and friends of the Bolshevik revolution.  James began working for the KGB in 1935 and was paid a regular stipend.  The KGB broke off contact with him in 1939 and it was not reestablished until 1943.  Although he was briefly investigated when the FBI’s surveillance of those named by Bentley showed he was friendly with several of them, he escaped serious scrutiny.       

            “Vick”: Although “Vick” appeared in only one decrypted Venona cable from 1943, indicating some connection with the State Department, his story, revealed by Vassiliev’s notebooks, is fascinating.  He was Henry Ware, the son and grandson of presidents of Atlanta University, a college founded for freed slaves by radical abolitionists.  Henry studied in Russia in the mid-1930s and was recruited in 1935 to spy on other Americans in Moscow.  After receiving his doctorate in economics at Columbia University, he became a high-ranking staffer in the Commerce Department and was re-recruited by the KGB in 1942; he recommended the KGB approach two of his Columbia friends, Bela Gold and William Remington, both of whom were recruited.  In October 1944 Ware was in Moscow, where he was serving as an interpreter for the American Military Mission to Russia.  Although the KGB tried to contact him, he apparently refused to help.  He went on to translate at Yalta and Potsdam before returning to the Commerce Department.  Although he was the subject of a cursory investigation when a wiretap indicated he was in contact with William Remington and another Bentley source, he avoided trouble.  Ware went into business in Arlington, establishing a bartering service in Fairfax emulated around the world; he died in 1999.

            “Pol”: The famous “Ales” message of March 30, 1945, decrypted by the Venona project, mentioned that “Ales,” whom analysts believed was Alger Hiss, had worked in recent years with “Pol,” whom neither the NSA, FBI, or scores of scholars was able to identify.  Pol', with the Cyrillic soft sign, is one of the two ways the Latin alphabet name Paul is rendered into Russian.  Vassiliev’s notebooks have more information about “Pol.”  Harold Glasser, for example, sent in a report to the KGB that “Pol” had contacted Glasser after Chambers’ disappearance.  And Chambers noted in Witness that “Paul” was the covert name used by his long-time friend and fellow underground agent working with the GRU, Maxim Lieber, the well-known literary agent.  In our view there is now sufficient information to be confidant that “Pol” was Lieber.

            Vassiliev’s notebooks also provide us with insight into names redacted when the Venona material was released to the public.  Although the full explanation for why some material was blacked out has never been made public, one of the logical explanations is that some, perhaps most, were people who, after being identified, cooperated with American government investigators.  Appendixes 4 and 5 deal with redacted names.  Appendix 4 lists eight cover names where NSA/FBI analysts made an identification, but NSA redacted the real names when it released Venona. None are prominent or previously known people; several were involved with the ring of aircraft engineers assembled by Andrey Shevchenko in upstate New York.  A few of his recruits became public witnesses; others apparently quietly cooperated.

Appendix 5 is a special case of redaction not involving cover names.  When NSA released Venona 1354, KGB New York to Moscow, 22 September 1944, it redacted all but a single name of a list of eighteen OSS employees identified by OSS security as suspected secret Communists.  Duncan Lee, a Soviet source in the OSS supplied the list to the KGB.  The list NSA redacted, however, is provided in one of Vassiliev’s notebooks, and you can see the names in Appendix 4.  Of these names a number assuredly were covert Communists, including Irving Goff, Manual and Michael Jiminez, David Zablodowsky, and Donald Wheeler, the latter the one name NSA did not redact.  But OSS’s security’s suspicion about the most prominent name on the list, Arthur Goldberg, later a Cabinet Secretary, Supreme Court Justice and Ambassador to the United Nations, was mistaken.  We know of no significant evidence suggesting Goldberg was a covert Communist and throughout his career as a labor lawyer and leading liberal political activist he was a vocal and very effective anti-Communist activist.

            Finally, attaching real names to unidentified cover names does not work just one way.  Vassiliev’s notebooks also have many cover names to which no real name was attached.  In a number of cases the description of the person involved was sufficient to attach a real name, but not all.  And, in any case, as we see in Appendix 6, there are twenty-eight unidentified cover names in Vassiliev’s notebooks where Venona supplies a real name.

                        Vassiliev’s notebooks go a long way to filling in the blanks in the history of Soviet espionage in the United States.  But while the broad outlines and many of the details are known, there are still holes and gaps in the picture.  A number of cover names, including some active sources that provided important information to the KGB, remain unidentified both in Venona and in Vassiliev’s notebooks.  More importantly, we still know relatively little about GRU operations in the United States after Whittaker Chambers’ defection, other than that Maxim Lieber stepped in for him.  Recent revelations about the role of George Koval, a GRU atomic spy, make it clear that the GRU remained active in running agents during World War II and we know little about them.  There are other details we do not know and there may be some surprises left to be found, but between Venona and Vassiliev’s notebooks, likely we have a grasp of the main contours of Soviet espionage in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. 


 

Appendix 1

Cover Names Similarly Identified in Venona and Vassiliev’s Notebooks.

 

            Following the convention used in Vassiliev’s notebooks, cover names are within double quote marks. 

 

            Transliterated Russian cover names and titles are in Bold using the BGN/PCGN system for transliterating Russian from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet. The BGN/PCGN system is relatively intuitive for anglophones to read and pronounce and is familiar to many American readers because it is used by major publications. In many publications a simplified form of the system is used to render English versions of Russian names, typically converting ë to yo and simplifying -iy and -yy endings to -y.  That convention will be used here.  The Cyrillic soft sign ь is represented by a single straight quote mark, ' and the soft sign ъ by a double straight quote mark, ".  To avoid confusion, some names and titles that have well established Latin alphabet spellings under different transliteration systems are spelled in accordance with the their predominance in the literature.  For example, “Grigory Kheifets” rather than “Grigory Kheyfets” as called for by BGN/PCGN.  Over its several decades of existence translators for the Venona project used several different transliteration systems. 

 

1 .  Abram” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Soble, Jack.  Soble appears in Venona under the cover name “Abram.”

2 .  “Acorn”  [Zholud'] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Bela (William) Gold.  “Acorn” was identified in Venona as Gold.

3 .  Adam” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Eva Getzov  in 1948.  (Alternative translation Getsov, Getzoff)   “Adam” was was identified in Venona for 1944 and 1945 messages as Rebecca Getzoff.  While it seems likely, it is not firmly established that Eva Getzov and Rebecca Getzoff are the same person.  “Adam” as a cover name for ‘Eva’ Getzov looks like a KGB play on words (Adam and Eve).

4 .  “Aileron” [Eleron] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Abraham George Silverman.  “Aileron” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Abraham George Silverman.

5 .  “Albert”  [Al'bert] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov.  “Albert” was identified in Venona as Akhmerov. 

6 .  Aleksey” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Anatoly Antonovich Yatskov (also used the pseudonym Anatoly Antonovich Yakovlev).  (Alternative translation: Aleksej, Alexey, Alexsei)   “Aleksey” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Yatskov/Yakovlev.

7 .  Ales” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Soviet intelligence source/agent, 1945.  Identified in a marginal note by Vassiliev as likely Alger Hiss.  “Ales” was identified in Venona as likely Alger Hiss.

8 .  “Announcer” [Diktor] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): William Donovan. “Announcer” as “Radio Announcer” was identified as Donovan in the Venona decryptions.

9 .  Ant” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Mrs. Kristal Fuchs Heineman.  “Ant” was identified in Venona as Kristal Fuchs Heineman.

10 .  Antenna” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Julius Rosenberg.  “Antenna” was identified in Venona as Julius Rosenberg.

11 .  Anton” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Leonid Kvasnikov, KGB officer.  “Anton” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Kvasnikov.

12 .  Arno” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Harry Gold.  Arno” was identified in Venona as Harry Gold.

13 .  Arsenal” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): U.S. War Department.  “Arsenal” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the U.S. War Department.

14 .  Arseny” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Soviet intelligence officer working on aviation intelligence in upstate New York.  “Arseny” was identified in the Venona decryptions as KGB officer Andrey Ivanovich Shevchenko who worked on aviation intelligence in upstate New York.  Shevchenko may be the pseudonym used the in the U.S. by KGB officer Andrey Ivanovich Raina.

15 .  Art” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Helen Koral beginning in September 1944.  “Art” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Helen Koral.

16 .  Artem” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): A. Slavyagin, KGB officer.  “Artem” was identified in the Venona decryptions as likely the cover name of either G. N. Ogloblin or M.N. Khvostov, two young Soviet diplomatic staff.  Those latter two names may be pseudonyms, and A. Slavyagin identified in Vassiliev’s notebooks as “Artem” may be the real name of one of the former.

17 .  “Author” [Avtor] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Vladimir Borisovich Morkovin in 1945.  “Author” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Morkovin.

18 .  Babylon” [Vavilon] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): San Francisco.  Babylon” was identified in the Venona decryptions as San Francisco.

19 .  Bank” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): U.S. State Department, 1941-.  “Bank” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the State Department.

20 .  “Bear Cubs” [Medvezhata] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Republicans and Republican Party, circa 1944. 

21 .  “Beck” [Bek] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Sergey Kurnakov starting in September 1944.  “Beck” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Kurnakov.

22 .  “Big House” [Bol'shoy Dom] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Communist International. “Big House” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the Communist International.

23 .  “Black” [Cherny] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Thomas Black prior to October 1944. “Black” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Thomas Black.

24 .  Blerio” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Stanislav Shumovsky, KGB officer, aviation espionage.  “Blerio” as “Bleriot” was identified as Shumovsky in the Venona decryptions.

25 .  “Boar” [Kaban] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Winston Churchill.  “Boar” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Churchill.

26 .  Bob” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Boris Krotov, Soviet intelligence officer in the U.S., 1947-1950 NY.  “Bob” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Boris Krotov on the London-Moscow channel in 1945.

27 . “Bumblebee” [Shmel'] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): David Greenglass in October 1944, paired with the cover name “Wasp” for his wife.  “Bumblebee” was identified in the Venona decryptions as David Greenglass in November 1944   By December 1944 Greenglass’s cover name in the Venona decryptions appeared as “Caliber,” likely changed when KGB noticed that it was already using “Bumblebee” as the cover name for the journalist Walter Lippmann.

28 .  “Cabaret” [Kabare] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks):  Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (Rockerfeller committee). 

29 .  “Cabin” [Izba] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Office of Strategic Services, OSS starting in 1942.  KGB cover name for OSS was “Izba”, in Vassiliev’s notebooks translated as “Cabin”.  KGB cover name for FBI was “Khata”, in Vassiliev’s notebooks translated as “Hut”.  Izba and Khata have overlapping meanings in Russian (with Khata as a generic peasant’s hut) and one could reverse the chosen translation.  “Izba” was identified in the Venona decryptions as OSS starting in 1942.

30 .  “Caliber” [Kalibr] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): David Greenglass, December 1944-March 1950.  “Caliber” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Greenglass.

31 .  “Callistratus” [Kalistrat] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Alexander Feklisov.  “Callistratus” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Aleksandr Fomin, pseudonym used in the U.S. by KGB officer Alexander Feklisov when under diplomatic cover. 

32 . “Camp 1” [Lager' 1] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Oak Ridge Manhattan atomic project facility.  “Camp 1” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified Manhattan atomic project facility and in a context that suggests Oak Ridge.

33 . “Camp 2” [Lager' 2] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Los Alamos Manhattan atomic project facility.  “Camp 2” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the Los Alamos Manhattan atomic project facility.

34 . “Captain” [Kapitan] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Franklin D. Roosevelt.  “Captain” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Roosevelt.

35 .  “Carmen” [Karmen] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Helen Koral prior to August 1944.  “Carmen” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Helen Koral.

36 .  Carthage” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Washington, DC.  Carthage was identified in Venona as Washington.

37 . “Carthage” [Karfagen] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Washington, DC.  Carthage” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Washington.

38 .  “Chap” [Chep] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Zalmond David Franklin.  “Chap”/“Chep” was identified in the Venona decryptions [translated as “Chap” and “Chen”] as Salmond Franklin, a variant spelling of Zalmond Franklin.

39 .  “Charles” [Charl'z] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Klaus Fuchs starting in October 1944. “Charles” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Fuchs.

40 . “Charon” [Kharon] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): KGB officer Grigory Kheifets. “Charon” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Kheifets.

41 .  Chester” (party name used as a cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Bernard Schuster.  Chester” was Schuster prior to June 1943 when KGB replaced “Chester” with “Echo,” but “Chester” occasionally was still used later, likely because “Chester” remained Schuster’s party name.  Chester” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Schuster.

42 .  “Clever Girl” [Umnitsa] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Elizabeth Bentley, circa 1940 until August 1944. (Alternative translations Miss Wise, Smart Girl, Good Girl)  “Clever Girl” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Bentley.

43 .  “Constructor” [Konstruktor] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Abraham Brothman prior to October 1944. “Constructor” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Brothman.

44 .  “Corporal” [Kapral] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Edward Stettinius, Jr.  “Corporal” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Stettinius.

45 .  “Country” [Strana] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): the United States of America.  “Country” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the USA.

46 .  “Czech” [Chekh] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Jack Soble starting in September 1944.  “Czech” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Jack Soble.

47 .  “Decree” [Dekret] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): U.S. Lend Lease program and agency, circa 1944.  “Decree” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Lend Lease.

48 .  “Depot” [Depo] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): War Production Board, U.S.  “Depot” was identified in Venona as the WPB.

49 .  Dir” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Mary Price from late 1941 to August 1944.  (Alternative translations: Dear, Deer).  “Dir” appeared in the Venona decryptions as Mary Price.

50 .  “Dock” [Dok] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): U.S. Department of the Navy.  “Dock” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the Navy department

51 .  “Donald” [Donal'd] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): William Ludwig Ullmann begining in August 1944 (after “Polo”), changed to “Pilot” in September 1944. “Donald” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Ullmann.

52 .  Dora” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Helen Silvermaster.  “Dora” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Helen Silvermaster.

53 .  “Douglas” [Duglas] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Joseph Katz beginning in August 1944, changed to “X” in September 1944.  Douglas” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Katz.

54 .  “Echo” [Ekho] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Bernard Schuster beginning in June 1943.  “Echo” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Schuster.

55 .  “Editorial Office” [Redaktsiya] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): TASS ( Telegraf-noye agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza —Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union).  “Editorial Office” was identified in the Venona decryptions as TASS. 

56 .  “Elsa” [El'za] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Helen Lowry (mid-1945)  (Alternative translation: Elza).  “Elsa” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Lowry.

57 .  “Enormous” [Enormoz] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): cover name given to the intelligence project targeting the Anglo-American atomic bomb development and the Manhattan atomic project. “Enormous” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the Manhattan project.

58 .  “Express Messenger” [Gonets] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Richard Setaro.  “Express Messenger” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Setaro.

59 .  “Factory” [Fabrika] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Amtorg.  “Factory” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Amtorg.

60 .  “Farm” [Khutor] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): U.S. Foreign Economic Administration (FEA), December 1944.  “Farm” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the Foreign Economic Administration.

61 .  “Fellowcountryman” and “Fellowcontrymen” [Zemlyak, Zemlyaki] (cover names in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Local Communists, members of the CPUSA or other fraternal Communist party/organization.  “Fellowcountryman” was identified in the Venona decryptions as a member of the CPUSA.

62 .  Ferro” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Alexander N. Petroff after October 1944.  “Ferro” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Petroff.

63 .  Frank” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Laurence Duggan’s designation in reports of “Mer” in 1942-1943.  “Frank” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Duggan.

64 .  “Fraternal” [Bratsky] (cover name): Refers to a local Communist party, such as the CPUSA, or other local Communist-aligned institution.  “Fraternal” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the CPUSA.

65 .  Frost” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Boris Morros.  Morros anglicized his Russian family name of “Moroz” as Morros.  Moroz is also the Russian work for frost.  His cover name, then, is a play on his Russian family name.  “Frost” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Morros.

66 .  Gennady” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): KGB officer Gayk Badalovich Ovakimyan.  (Alternate transliteration Guennady). “Gennady” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Ovakimyan.

67 .  “Gift” [Dar] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): KGB station chief San Francisco, 1944.  Likely Grigory Kasparov.  “Gift” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Kasparov, chief of the San Francisco station. 

68 .  “Gnome” [Gnom] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): William Perl prior to September 1944.  “Gnome” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Perl.

69 .  “Goose” [Gus'] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Harry Gold prior to October 1944. “Goose” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Harry Gold.

70 .  “Grandfather” [Ded] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): USSR Consul Genenal in New York or the USSR’s ambassador.  “Grandfather” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the Soviet Consul General in New York and also as possibly the USSR’s ambassador. At places in Alexander Vassiliev’s notebooks, “Grandfather” is clearly designated as the Soviet consul general in New York, but other occurrences place “Grandfather” at the embassy in Washington, suggesting the ambassador.

71 .  “Gymnasts” [Fizkul'turniki] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Young Communist League and YCL members and circa 1944.  “Gymnasts” were identified in the Venona decryptions as YCL members.

72 . “Hare” [Zayats] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Maurice Halperin.  “Hare” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Halperin.

73 .  “Helmsman” [Rulevoy] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Earl Browder.  “Helmsman” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Browder.  “Helmsman” was identified in Andrew and Mitrokhin as Browder.

74 .  “Hicks” [Khiks] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Guy Burgess.  “Hicks” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Burgess.

75 .  “Homer” [Gomer] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Donald Maclean.  “Homer” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Maclean.

76 . “Hughes” [Kh'yuz] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Alfred Epaminondas Sarant.  “Hughes” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Sarant.

77 .  “Hut” [Khata] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  KGB cover name for FBI was “Khata”, in Vassiliev’s notebooks translated as “Hut”.  KGB cover name for OSS was “Izba”, in Vassiliev’s notebooks translated as “Cabin”.  Izba and Khata have overlapping meanings (with Khata as a generic peasant’s hut) and one could reverse the chosen translation.  There is at least one instance in Alexander Vassiliev notebooks when “Hut” in context appears to refer to British counter-intelligence (MI5) rather than FBI.

78 .  “Ide” [Yaz'] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Samuel Krafsur.  The Ide is a type of fish found in Europe and Asia.  “Ide” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Krafsur.

79 .  Imperialist” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Walter Lippmann.  “Imperialist” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Lippmann.

80 .  “Informer” [Stukach] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Joseph Katz prior to August 1944.    “Informer” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Joseph Katz.

81 .  “Island” [Ostrov] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Great Britain.  “Island” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Great Britain.

82 .  Izra” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Donald Wheeler.  “Izra” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Wheeler.

83 .  “Julia” [Yuliya] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): O. V. Shimmel, KGB officer/agent, 1945.  “Julia” occured in the Venona decryptions in a number of messages as the cover name of Olga Khlopkova, a Soviet consulate staff member and KGB operative.  Khlopkova likely is the pseudonym used in the U.S. by O. V. Shimmel.

84 .  “Jurist” [Yurist] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Harry Dexter White, 1941-August 1944. “Jurist” was identified in the Venona decryptions as White.

85 .  Kant” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Harry Magdoff prior to 29 December 1944 (when changed to “Tan”).  “Kant” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Magdoff in May 1944 messages.   Note September-December 1944 overlap with “Kant”/Zborowski.

86 .  Kant” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Mark Zborowski starting in September 1944.  “Kant” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Zborowski in September 1944 - April 1945 messages.  Note September-December 1944 overlap with “Kant”/Magdoff.

87 .  “Kinsman” (Rodstevennik) (cover name in the Venona decryptions): Very likely James H. Hibben.  “Kinsman” does not appear in Alexander Vassiliev’s notebooks.  But in the Venona decryptions, “Solid” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified technical source in 1943 and 1944 that was name changed to “Kinsman” in October 1944.  And “Solid” is identified in Alexander Vassiliev’s notebooks as Hibben, thus “Kinsman” is Hibben.  However, the “Kinsman” cover name may not have been implemented or was used only briefly because “Solid” had become “Reed” in Alexander Vassiliev’s notebooks by 1945.  See “Solid.”

88 .  Klo” (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Soviet intelligence source/agent, after September 1944.  Likely Esther Trebach Rand.  “Klo” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Rand.

89 .  “Koch” [Kokh] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Duncan Lee.  “Koch” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Lee.

90 .  Kulak” (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Thomas Dewey, crica 1944.  “Kulak” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Dewey.

91 .  “Lawyer” [Loyer] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Harry Dexter White in August 1944.

92 .  “League” [Liga]  (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): U.S. government.  “League” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the U.S. government.

93 .  Leonid” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks):  Soviet intelligence officer/agent, New York, early 1940s.  First name Aleksey.   Likely Aleksey N. Prokhorov.  “Leonid” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Aleksey N. Prokhorov.

94 .  Liberal” (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Julius Rosenberg (September 1944-1950).   “Liberal” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Rosenberg.

95 .  Liza” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Martha Dodd Stern (1936-1950s).   “Liza” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Martha Dodd Stern.

96 .  “Louis” [Lui] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Alfred Stern.  “Louis” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Stern.

97 .  Luka” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Pavel Panteleimovich Pastelnyak who used the pseudonym Pavel P. Klarin in the U.S.  “Luka” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Pavel P. Klarin.

98 .  “Matchmaker” [Svat] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Chairman of Amtorg.  “Matchmaker” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the chairman of Amtorg.

99 .  “Maxim” [Maksim] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Vasily Mikhailovich Zarubin, early 1940s.  “Maxim” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Vasily Zubilin, the pseudonym Zarubin used in the U.S.

100 .  Men” (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Averell Harriman, beginning in December 1944. “Men” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Harriman.

101 . “Mer” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Iskhak Akhmerov, 1942-1944.  KGB illegal officer Iskhak Akhmerov was referred to in Vassiliev’s notebooks in Russian Cyrillic as both “Мер” and “Мэр”, words so phonetically close that both are transliterated under the BGN/PCGN transliterations system identically as “Mer”.  Мер means nothing in Russian while Мэр means “Mayor”   Whether this use of two phonetically close cryptonyms for the same person was a product of confusion on the part of KGB cipher clerks, an artifact of the ciphering system, or two distinct cryptonyms for the same person is unclear.  To reduce confusion, in the Vassiliev notebooks the transliteration “Mer” will be used for both.  “Мер”/“Mer” and “Мэр”/”Mayor” both occur in the Venona decryptions as cover-names for Akhmerov.

102 .  “Meter” [Metr] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Joel Barr starting in September 1944.  “Meter” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Barr.

103 .  Miranda” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Helen Koral begining in August 1944.  “Miranda” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Helen Koral.

104 .  Mlad” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Theodor Hall.  (Alternative translation: Young).  “Mlad”/ Hall as a cover name is pared with “Star” (Saville Sax) as in the Russian expression "y star, y mlad" (old and young people).  Hall, a physics prodigy and Harvard graduate at age 18, offered his services to the KGB at age 19, assisted by his friend Saville Sax, only a few years older.  The KGB deemed them “Mlad” and “Star”.  “Mlad” sometimes translated as “Young” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Hall.

105 .  “Myrna” [Mirna] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Elizabeth Bentley after August 1944.  “Myrna” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Bentley.

106 .  Nabob” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Henry Morgenthau, jr.  “Nabob” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Morgenthau.

107 .  Nazar” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Soviet intelligence officer/agent.  Likely Stepan Nikolaevich Shudenko.  “Nazar” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Shudenko.

108 .  “Needle” [Igla] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Jones York.  “Needle” was identified in the Venona decryptions as York.

109 .  Nemo” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): William Pinsly, starting in October 1944.  “Nemo” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Pinsly.

110 .  “Old Man  [Starik] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Leon Trotsky, 1937-1942.  “Old Man” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Trotsky.

111 .  Oleg” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Mikhail Sergeevich Vavilov.  “Oleg” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Vavilov.

112 .  “Page” [Pazh] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Lauchlin Currie, 1942-1948.  [Page as in a knight’s pageboy].  “Page” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Currie.

113 .  “Pal” [Pel] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Nathan Gregory Silvermaster, 1942 until August 1944.   “Pal” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Silvermaster.

114 .  “Pancake” [Blin] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): I.F. Stone, 1936-1945.  “Pancake” was identified as Stone in the Venona decryptions.

115 .  “Peak” [Pik] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Frank Coe.  “Peak” appeared in the Venona messages as Coe.

116 .  “Peer” [Per] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Winston Churchill, circa 1944. “Peer” was identified as Churchill in the Venona decryptions.

117 .  “Peter” [Piter] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Thomas Black starting in October 1944. “Peter” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Black. 

118 .  Petrov” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Very senior offical at Moscow Center, 1944, cited as highly interested in “Enormous.”  Likely Lavrenty Beria.  “Petrov” was identified in the Venona decryptions on the U.S.-Moscow line as a senior official at Moscow Center and on the Mexico City line as Lavrenty Beria.  Beria also supervised the Soviet atomic bomb program.

119 .  “Photon” [Foton] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Ivan Kamenev.  In the Venona decryptions “Photon” was identified as the cover name of Leonid G. Pritomanov, likely Kamenev’s diplomatic pseudonym.

120 .  Pilot” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Ludwig Ullmann after September 1944.   “Pilot” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Ullmann.

121 .  “Plumb” [Lot] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Charles Kramer, 1944.  “Plumb” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Kramer.

122 .  “Polecats” [Khor'ki] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Trotskyists. “Polecats” were identified in the Venona decryptions as Trotskyists.

123 .  Polo” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Ludwig Ullmann until August 1944.  “Polo” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Ullmann.

124 .  “Preserve” [Zapovednik]  (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Los Alamos Manhattan atomic project facility in February 1945. “Preserve” was identified in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Manhattan atomic project facility but possibly Los Alamos.

125 .  “Prince” [Knyaz'] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Laurence Duggan, after September 1944.  “Prince” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Duggan.

126 .  “Provinces” [Provintsiya] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Latin America / South America. “Provinces” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Latin America.

127 .  “Radio Station” [Ratsiya] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Initially “Donovan’s Committee,” i.e., the Office of the Coordinator of Information, in late 1941 and the first half of 1942.  After the Office of the Coordinator of Information was split into OSS and OWI in June 1942, “Radio Station” became the cover name for OWI while “Cabin” became the cover name for OSS.  “Radio Station” was identified in the Venona decryptions as OWI. 

128 .  “Raid” [Reyd] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Victor Perlo.  “Raid” (as “Raider” rather than “Raid”) was identified in the Venona decryptions as Perlo.  The difference between Venona’s “Raider” and “Raid” given in Vassiliev’s notebooks is likely a matter of Venona code breakers making a minor error in reconstructing the KGB code book.

129 .  Ras” (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Charles de Gaulle.  “Ras” was identified in the Venona decryptions as de Gaulle.

130 .  “Rasists” [Rasisty] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Gaullists. “Rasists” were identified in the Venona decryptions as Gaullists.

131 .  “Rats” [Krysy]  (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Zionists in particular but applied broadly to Jewish ethnic organizations and their adherents that were not under Communist leadership.  “Rats” were identified in the Venona decryptions as Zionists and Jews.

132 .  Rest” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Klaus Fuchs prior to October 1944.  “Rest” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Fuchs.

133 .  Richard” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Harry Dexter White starting in September 1944.  “Richard” was identified in the Venona decryptions as White.

134 .  Rio” (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Argentina crica 1944.  “Rio” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Argentina.

135 .  Robert” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Nathan Gregory Silvermaster beginning in August 1944.  “Robert” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Silvermaster.

136 .  “Ruble” [Rubl'] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Harold Glasser.  “Ruble” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Harold Glasser.

137 . “S-1” [“C-1”] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Herman Jacobson.  “S-1” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Jacobson. [Venona supplies Herman Jacobson, notebooks only Jacobson]

138 .  “S-2”  [“C-2”] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent.  Female secretary in the Aviation Division of the Department of the Navy, source from early 30s through WWII.  Also appears as “S-II” and “S/2”.   “S-2” appeared in the Venona decryptions as a Soviet intelligence source/agent, female, age 45 in 1944 whose name was redacted.

139 .  “Sailor” [Matros](cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Harry Truman.  “Sailor” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Truman.

140 .  “Satyr” [Satir] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Sylvia Callen prior to August 1944.  “Satyr” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Callen.

141 .  “Scout” [Skaut] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Joel Barr prior to September 1944.  “Scout” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Barr.

142 .  “Seal” [Tyulen'] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Konstantin Umansky.  “Seal” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Umansky.

143 .  Sergey” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Vladimir Pravdin.  “Sergey” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Pravdin.

144 .  “Shah” [Shakh] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Konstantine. A. Chugunov.  “Shah” occured in the Venona decryptions as the cover name of Soviet diplomat and KGB officer Konstantin A. Shabanov or Chabanov.  Likely Shabanov was Chugunov’s pseudonym.

145 .  “Shelter” [Priyut] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, UNRRA.  “Shelter” was identified in the Venona decryptions as UNRRA.

146 .  “Sherwood” [Shervud] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Laurence Duggan beginning in August 1944, changed to “Prince” in September 1944.  “Sherwood” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Duggan.

147 .  “Shore” [Bereg] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): North Africa.  “Shore” was identified in the Venona decryptions as North Africa.

148 .  Si” (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Manager of the Soviet Consulate in New York, circa 1944.  “Si” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the cover name used for the third secretary of Soviet NY consulate. 

149 .  Sidon” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): London, U.K.  Sidon” was identified in the Venona decryptions as London.

150 .  “Slang” [Sleng] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Jane Foster.  Also known as Jane Foster Zlatowski (married name).

151 .  Slava” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Ilya Elliott Wolston.  “Slava” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Wolston.  Slava translates as Glory, but Wolston was know to Jack Soble and Boris Morris, two of his KGB contacts, by the untranslated “Slava.”

152 .  Smyrna” [Smirna] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Moscow.  Smyrna” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Moscow.

153 .  “Sound” [Zvuk] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Jacob Golos.  “Sound” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Golos.

154 .  “Spa” [Kurort] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): broadly, U.S. military intelligence, the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department and Army G-2.  “Spa” was also identified as U.S. military intelligence in the Venona decryptions.

155 .  Star” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Saville Sax, 1944-1945.  “Star” (Saville Sax) as a cover name was pared with “Mlad” (Theodore Hall) as in the Russian expression "y star, y mlad" (old and young people).  Hall, a physics prodigy and Harvard graduate at age 18, offered his services to the KGB at age 19, assisted by his friend Saville Sax, only a few years older.  The KGB deemed them “Mlad” and “Star”.  “Star” sometimes rendered as “Old” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Sax.

156 .  Stepan” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Soviet intelligence officer and acting chief of the New York station 1947-1948.  Likely Pavel I. Fedosimov.  “Stepan” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov, arriving at the New York station in 1944.  It is likely but not certain that Venona’s “Stepan”/Fedosimov is the “Stepan” of Vassiliev’s notebooks

157 .  “Stepfather” [Otchim] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Soviet Ambassador to the U.S.  “Stepfather” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Soviet Ambassador Gromyko.

158 .  “Stock” [Shtok] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Mikhail A. Shalyapin. “Stock” was identified in Venona as Shalyapin.

159 .  “Store” [Magazin] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Soviet Government Purchasing Commission  “Store” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the Soviet Government Purchasing Commission.

160 .  “Tea Shop” [Chaynaya] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): U.S. Department of Commerce, circa 1944.  “Tea Shop” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the Commerce Department.

161 .  Ted” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Edward Fitzgerald.  References to in 1944.  “Ted” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Fitzgerald.

162 .  Temple” [Khram] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): White House circa 1944.  Temple” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the White House.

163 .  “Territory” [Kray] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Canada. “Kray” translated as “Land” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Canada.

164 .  “Townsman” [Gorozhanin] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): An American, circa 1944. “Townsman” was identified in the Venona decryptions as an Amererican

165 .  “Trust” [Trest] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Embassy of the USSR. “Trust” was identified in the Venona decryptions as the Soviet embassy. 

166 .  “Tulip” [Tyul'pan] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Mark Zborovsky prior to September 1944.  “Tulip” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Zborovsky.

167 .  “Twain” [Tven] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): KGB officer Semen Markovich Semenov.  “Twain” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Semenov.

168 .  Tyre” [Tir] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): New York City.  Tyre” was identified in the Venona decryptions as New York City.

169 .  Vadim” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Anatoly Gorsky.  “Vadim” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Gorsky under his diplomatic pseudonym of Anatoly Gromov.

170 .  Vardo” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Elizabeth Zarubin, early 1940s. Also known as Yelizaveta Zarubina.  (Vardo means Rose in Georgian.) “Vardo” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Elizaveta Zarubin.

171 .  “Victor” [Viktor] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Pavel Fitin.  “Victor” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Fitin.

172 .  “Wasp” [Osa] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Ruth Greenglass, beginning October 1944-1950.  “Wasp” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Ruth Greenglass.

173 .  “X” [Iks] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Joseph Katz.  (The cover name in Russian is “Iks”, not the Cyrillic letter “X”.)  “X” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Katz.

174 .  Yakov” (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): William Perl starting in September 1944.  “Yakov” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Perl.

175 .  Yun” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Stephen Laird.  References to in 1942.  “Yun” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Laird.

176 .  “Zero” [Nul']: Soviet intelligence source/agent.  Leona Oliver Franey until October 1944.  Alternative translation “Null”.  This “Zero”, spelled Nul' in Russian, is not the same cover name as “Zero”, spelled Zero in Russian.  Nul'” was translated as “Zero” in the Venona decryptions and to avoid confusion that translation is used here.  “Zero” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Franey.

177 .   Zhenya” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Sonia Steinman Gold.  “Zhenya” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Sonia Gold.

 

Return to Text

 

 


 

Appendix 2

Cover Names where Vassiliev’s Notebooks Correct an Identification of Real Names in Venona

 

 

1 .   Arena” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Gerald Graze.  “Arena” appeared in Venona and was identified by NSA/FBI as the cover name of Mary Price in messages of April and May 1944 and as unidentified in a message of June 1943. In light of the detail supplied in the Vassiliev notebooks, the identification of “Arena” in the Venona cables as Mary Price appeared to be incorrect.

2 .  “Salt” [Solt] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence. In Venona, “Salt” was identified as “Possibly Counter Intelligence Corps, G-2.”

3 .  “Squirrel” [Belka] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent, 1945, 1947, 1950.  Wife of “Hudson”.  “Squirrel” was identified in a single 1945 Venona message as “may possibly be Ann Sodorovich,” a message that also discussed “Lens”/Michael Sidorovich.  Based on Alexander Vassiliev’s notebooks, this suggestion was mistaken.  Instead, “Squirrel” was a courier who serviced a safe house hosted by “Lens” and “Objective” (Michael and Ann Sidorovich).

4 .  “Veksel” [Veksel'] (cover name in Venona] and “Vector” [Vektor] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks).  In Venona “Veksel” is identified as Robert Oppenheimer.  In Vassiliev’s notebooks Enrico Fermi unambiguously has the cover name “Vector.”  In view of what the notebooks say of “Vector”/Fermi, and what the two Venona messages that mention “Veksel” say, Venona’s “Veksel” was likely a decoding garble for “Vector”.  See particularly  Venona 259 Moscow to New York, 21 March 1945, about “Veksel” and compare with the reference in the notebooks to KGB attempts to fin and approach to “Vector”/Fermi.  Venona’s identification of “Veksel” as Oppenheimer was based on Venona 799 KGB New York to Moscow, 26 May 1945, which had indicated that “Veksel” headed work at Los Alamos. At that time Fermi had moved to Los Alamos for the final phases of the project, and the KGB officer sending Venona 799 apparently made the mistake of assuming Fermi was in charge of the New Mexico facility. Since Oppenheimer directed Los Alamos, that misled NSA/FBI analysts into identifying “Veksel” as Oppenheimer. Arnold Kramish, a physicist who had worked in the Manhattan Project, suggested in 1997 that “Veksel” was not Oppenheimer but Enrico Fermi. Arnold Kramish, “The Manhattan Project and Venona,” paper presented at 1997 Cryptologic History Symposium, 29–31 October 1997, Fort George Meade, Maryland.

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Appendix 3

Unidentified Cover Names in Venona where Vassiliev’s Notebooks Supply a Real Name.

 

 

1 .   “19” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Laurence Duggan starting in 1935, and appearing as Duggan as late as August 1944.  In the Venona decryptions “19” appears as an unidentified source of diplomatic information in a 1943 report from Iskhak Akhmerov.

2 .  Alan” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Mikhail Korneev, KGB officer.  “Alan” is an unidentified KGB officer meeting with an American agent in London in 1945 (enona 68 KGB Moscow to London, 15 September 1945). 

3 .  “Alexander” [Aleksandr] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Leopol Arenal.  “Alexander” appears in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified cover name associated with Central and South American matters.

4 .  Arnold” [Arnol'd] (cover name in the Venona decryptions):  Andrew Steiger.  Arnold” does not appear in Alexander Vassiliev’s notebooks but “Fakir” appears and is identified as Andrew Steiger.  In the Venona decryptions “Fakir” was unidentified but indicated that the cover name was changed to “Arnold” in October 1944.

5 .  Berg” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Alexander Koral.  “Berg” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified but in a context that suggests Alexander Koral.

6 .  Bir” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Alfred Slack starting in October 1944.  (Alternative translation: Beer)  “Bir” (translated as “Beer”) appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent, earlier “Ell”.

7 .  “Block” [Blok] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Stephen Urevich starting in September 1944.  “Block” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent.  

8 .  “Blue Tit” [Sinitsa] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Vladimir Stepankowsky. “Blue Tit” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet source whose activities were compatible with those of Stepankowsky.

9 .  Bolt” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Inoke N. Varie (also know as Innokenty Nikol. Vorozheyka).  “Bolt” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent.

10 .  “Charlie” [Charli] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Cedric Belfrage, 1944. “Charlie” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified but the context would fit Belfrage.

11 .  “Colleague” [Kollega] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Mrs. Bella Joseph.  Wife of Julius Joseph and employed in the photographic section of OSS.  “Colleague” appeared in the Venona decryptions as the unidentified cover name of someone in a photographic section of an unidentified agency and is compatible with Bella Joseph.

12 .  Dan” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Stanley Graze.  “Dan” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified but in a context that suggests Stanley Graze.

13 .  “Davis” [Devis] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Norman Hight after October 1944. Davis is not directly named in Vassiliev’s notebooks as Hight.  However.  Davis” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent whose cover name was earlier “Long,” and “Long” is identified in Vassiliev’s notebooks as Norman Hight.  

14 .  Ell” (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Alfred Slack prior to October 1944.  Variant of “El.”  “El” and “Ell” both appears as the cover name Alfred Slack in Alexander Vassiliev’s notebooks.  “Ell” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent whose cover name was changed to “Bir” in October 1944.

15 .  Emma” (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Helen Lowry.  The New York KGB station proposed changing Lowry’s cover name from “Stella” to “Emma” in September 1944, but it does not appear that this change was adopted.  “Stella” continued to appear as Lowry’s cover name into 1945.  New York KGB station’s proposed cover name shifts of 2 September 1944 are in the White notebook #1, p. 55 and in the Venona 1251, New York to Moscow, 2 September 1944.  The substantive text is nearly identical, indicating that Alexander Vassiliev made his notebook entry from a copy of the cable sent to Moscow.  One minor difference between Vassiliev’s notes and the cable as deciphered by NSA is that Vassiliev’s notes have the New York station proposing changing “Stella” to “Emma” while NSA’s deciphered version has the New York station suggesting changing “Stella” to “Emiliya”.  (“Emiliya” is unidentified in Venona.)  The difference between “Emma” and “Emiliya” may be a product of a minor error in NSA’s recreation of the KGB code book.

16 .“Eric” [Erik] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Engelbert Broda, 1942-44. “Eric” was an unidentified source on the British atomic program in Venona. 

17 .  Erie” [Iri] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Paul G. Nahin.  Erie” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified scientific source/agent.

18 .  Ernst” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Byron Darling from October 1944 to February 1945.  “Ernst” is unidentified in the Venona decryptions.  In Venona “Huron” (unidentified) was changed to “Ernst” in October 1944 but this was canceled by Moscow Center in February 1945, and the cover name reverted to “Huron.”

19 .  Ernst” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Paul Nahin, 1945.  “Ernst” under the alternative translation as “Ernest” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified scientific source/agent (the former “Erie”) from February 1945 onward.

20 .  Fakir” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Andrew Steiger prior to October 1944. “Fakir” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent.

21 .  “Fisherman” [Rybolov] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Stephen Urewich until September 1944.  “Fisherman”  “Rybolov”, with an alternative translation as “Osprey”, appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent.   “Fisherman” is not directly identified as Urevich in Vassiliev’s notebooks.  However, “Fisherman” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent later changed to “Block”.  “Block” in Vassiliev’s notebooks is identified as Stephen Urewich.  Therefore, “Fisherman” is Urewich.

22 .  Flora” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Ruth Rivkin, staff of UNRRA.  “Flora” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified cover name reporting on UNRRA.

23 .  “Fogel” [Fogel'] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Russell McNutt prior to September 1944.  “Fogel” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent. 

24 .  “Girl Friend” [Podruga] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Elsie Fairfax-Cholmeley.  “Girl Friend” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent.

25 .  Gor” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Joseph Gregg (alternative translations: Gore, Hor)  “Gor” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent of American diplomatic information on South America, a context compatible with Gregg’s position in the Office of the Co-ordinator of Inter-American Affairs.

26 .  Grin” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): John Spivak.  The cover name is thought to derive from the popular Russian writer of the 1920s, Alexander Grin, but treating it phonetically would produce Green.  “Grin” is used here.  “Grin” as “Green” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified and in a context highly compatible with Spivak.

27 .  “Herdsman”  [Pastukh]  (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Anton Lavrentyevich Nikunas, 1943. “Herdsman” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidetified technical source compatible with Nikunas.

28 .  “Huron” [Guron] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Byron T. Darling prior to October 1944 and from February 1945 and later.  “Huron” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified, a scientific source in the Venona decryptions assigned at one point to contact Manhattan project physicists.

29 .  “Jack” [Dzhek] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Bernard Schuster, December 1943.  “Jack” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified GRU contact/agent in 1943 who appeared to play an intermediary role with CPUSA, and Schuster, who also performed that role for KGB, would be a very likely candidate for performing that task for GRU as well.

30 .  “Leslie” [Lesli] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Lona Cohen.  “Leslie” translated as “Lesley” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified but in a context that would be compatible with Lona Cohen.

31 .  “Long” [Dlinny] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Norman Hait prior to October 1944. “Long” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent but in a context that would fit Norman Hait.

32 .  Map” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Louise Bransten.  “Map” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified but in a context that suggests Louise Bransten.

33 .  “Mirage” [Mirazh] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Robert Miller.  “Mirage” appeared as an unidentified Soviet source in the Venona cables, and the context supports identification of “Mirage” as Miller.

34 .  “Mole” [Krot] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Charles Kramer.  “Mole” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent but in a context compatible with Kramer.

35 .  Mon” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Bernard Redmont.  “Mon” occured in the Venona messages as an unidentified Soviet source compatible with identification of “Mon” as Redmont.

36 .  “Muse” [Muza] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Helen Tenney.  “Muse” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified but in a context that would fit Tenney.

37 .  “Nelly” [Nelli] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Helen Lowry, 1939-August 1944.  “Nelly” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent in 1944.

38 .  “Neutron” [Neytron] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Aristid Victorovich Grosse in 1942.  “Neutron” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified in 1942.

39 .  Nil” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Nathan Sussman after September 1944.  (Alternative translations Nile, Neil, Neal).  “Nil” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified member of Julius Rosenberg’s technical intelligence apparatus.

40 .  “Octane” [Oktan] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Dr. Maurice Bacon Cooke, 1938-1945.  “Octane” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent. 

41 .  Pavel” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Lavrenty Beria, early 1940s.  “Pavel” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified authoritative official at Moscow center.

42 .  “Persian” [Pers] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Russell McNutt starting in September 1944.  “Persian” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent with attributes compatible with McNutt.

43 .   “Plucky” [Smel'y] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Jan Patek.  “Plucky” appeared in Venona as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent with attributes compatible with Patek.

44 .  “Quantum” [Kvant] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Boris Podolsky.  Alexander Vassiliev’s notebooks do not directly provide a real name for “Quantum” but stated that Podolsky “approached the [Soviet] embassy with a proposal to go to the Soviet Union to work on the problem of Uranium-235” that matches the description of “Quantum’s” proposals to Soviet intelligence officers posing as senior diplomats. “Quantum” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source who in mid-1943 provided detailed information about the gaseous diffusion method of separating U-235 from U-238.

45 .  “Ramsay” [Ramzay] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Clarence Hiskey.  “Ramsay” appeared in the Venona decryptions as a unidentifed target of recruitment associated with the Manhattan atomic program in a context that would fit Hiskey.

46 .  “Redhead” [Ryzhaya] (female) (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Hede Massing.  “Redhead” occured in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified cover name in a context that suggests that it was Massing and was later identified as Massing in retrospective NSA histories.

47 .  “Reed” [Rid] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): James H. Hibben, references to in January-June 1945.  Former cover name “Solid.”  “Reed” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified technical line source in November 1944 and is compatible with being Hibben.

48 .  Relay” [Rele] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Joseph Chmilevski prior to September 1944.  “Relay” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent.

49 .  “Ruff”  [Yersh] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Franz Neumann.  “Ruff” occured in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet source in the OSS.  (Ruff is a type of fish.)

50 .  “Sachs” [Saks] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Solomon Adler, 1941-1945.  “Sachs” appeared in the Venona cables as an unidentified Soviet source and in a context compatible with Adler.

51 .  Sam” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Michael Bogart, 1943-1945.  “Sam” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source but as working in California and as the younger brother of Burton Perry, also a Soviet source. 

52 .  “Senor” [Sen'or] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Alexander Koral in August 1944.  “Senor” changed to “Berg” in September 1944.  “Senor” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent in 1944 whose cover name was changed to “Berg” in September 1944.

53 .  Serb” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Joseph Chmilevski starting in September 1944.  Earlier “Relay”.  “Serb” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent with an artificial leg, an attribute that matchs Chmilevski.

54 .  “Siskin” [Chizh] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Eduardo Pequeño.  Siskin (a type of bird) occured in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified cover name of a Soviet agent operating in South and Central America.

55 .  “Skiers” [Lyzhniki] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Britains, English, post war. “Skiers” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified.

56 .  Smart” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Elliot Goldberg, engineer for an oil equipment company in New York.  “Smart” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified technical source/agent passed to GRU.

57 .  “Solid” [Solidny] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): James H. Hibben prior to October 1944. “Solid” appeared in the Venona decryptions as unidentified technical source in 1943 and 1944.  In the Venona decryptions “Solid” was changed to “Kinsman” in October 1944.  “Kinsman” does not does not appear in Alexander Vassiliev’s notebooks and the name may not have been implemented because “Solid” had become “Reed” in Alexander Vassiliev’s notebooks by 1945.  Additionally, a New York KGB station Venona cable shortly after the shift from “Solid” to “Kinsman” stated that the reported change in “Solid” cover name was garbled.   “Reed” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified technical intelligence source in November 1944, and this likely was “Reed”/Hibben.   Hibben’s real name does not appear in Vassiliev’s notebooks, but “Solid”/“Reed” is unambiguously identified as the chief of the Chemical Division of the U.S. Tariff Commission, a position James Hibben held at the time.  FBI also identified Hibben as an associate of Soviet agent Mary Price and had information that he was using his position to access documents on military explosives that were unrelated to his official duties.

58 .   Stella” (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Helen Lowry, August 1944 to mid-1955. “Stella” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent whose activities were compatible with Lowry.

59 .  “Storm” [Shtorm] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Josef Peters.  Storm occured in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified cover name and one that is consistent with it being Peters.

60 .  Tan” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Harry Magdoff, 1945-1948.  “Tan” appeared only once in the deciphered Venona traffic, in a 1945 message, and was unidentified; but the context was consistent with it being Magdoff.

61 .  Tuk” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Nathan Sussman, a member of Julius Rosenberg’s espionage apparatus prior to September 1944.  A partially decoded cover name, “Tu..,” appeared in the Venona decryptions as a unidentified member of Julius Rosenberg’s technical intelligence apparatus, very likely a partial decoding of “Tuk.”

62 .  “Vick” [Vik] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Henry Ware. “Vick” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent, 1943.

63 .  “Volunteer” [Volonter]  (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Morris Cohen.  “Volunteer” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent.

64 .  “Zone” [Zon] (cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Mary Price starting in September 1944.  “Zone” appeared in the Venona decryptions as an unidentified Soviet intelligence source/agent with attributes compatible with Price.

 

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Appendix 4

Cover Names where Vassiliev’s Notebooks Supply a Real Name where the

Real Name in Venona was Redacted.

 

1 .  “Ampere” [Amper] (cover name in the Venona decryptions): Emma Phillips’ husband.  “Ampere” does not occur in Vassiliev’s notebooks but is in the Venona decryptions but with the real name identification redacted.  However, Venona indicates “Ampere” was married to “Cora”, “Cora” is identified in Vassiliev’s notebooks as Emma Phillips, consequently, “Ampere” was Emma Phillips’ husband.

2 .  “Armor” [Bronya] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Harold Smeltzer starting in October 1944. A technical intelligence source at Bell aircraft. References to in 1945.  “Armor” (earlier “Stamp”) was identified in the Venona decryptions as a source at Bell Aircraft in New York but whose real name was redacted.

3 .  Cora” [Kora] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Emma Phillips.  Soviet intelligence source/agent.  “Cora” was a cover name in the Venona decryptions whose identity was established but which NSA redacted when it released the messages.  The Venona messages indicated that “Cora” was married to another Soviet source, cover names “Roy” and “Ampere”, who was also identified but whose identify was also redacted.

4 .  “Noise” [Shum] (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Michael K. Cham starting in October 1944.  “Noise” appeared in the Venona decryptions as a Soviet intelligence source/agent but the NSA/FBI identification of the real name was redacted.

5 . “Roy” (cover name in the Venona decryptions): Husband of Emma Phillips.  Roy” does not occur in Vassiliev’s notebooks but is in the Venona decryptions but with the real name redacted.  Venona indicates “Roy” was married to “Cora”, and “Cora” is identified in Vassiliev’s notebooks as Emma Phillips.

6 .  Karl” (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Soviet intelligence source/agent, technical line, 1944-1945.  Likely William Stapler.  Described as “chemical engineer at the Hercules Powder Company.  With us since ’34.”   Prior to October 1944 designated as “Ray.”  “Karl” was identified in the Venona decryptions but the real name was redacted by NSA.

7 .  “Ray” [Skat]  (cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Soviet intelligence source/agent, technical line, prior to October 1944, later changed to “Karl”.  As “Karl” described as “chemical engineer at the Hercules Powder Company.  With us since ’34”.“Ray” and “Karl’s” real name is not provided in Vassiliev’s notebooks but the details provided easily identify him as William Stapler.  “Ray” was identified in the Venona decryptions but the real name was redacted by NSA.

8 .  “Stamp” (Shtamp) (cover name in the Venona decryptions): “Stamp” was identified in the Venona decryptions as a Soviet intelligence source/agent for a source at Bell Aircraft in New York and whose real name was redacted.  “Stamp” became “Armor” in October 1944.  “Armor” is identified in Alexander Vassiliev’s notebooks as Harold Smeltzer, therefore “Stamp” was Harold Smeltzer.

 

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            Appendix 5

            The Special Case of Venona 1354

           

            When NSA released Venona 1354, KGB New York to Moscow, 22 September 1944, it redacted all but a single name of a list of eighteen OSS employees identified by OSS security as secret Communists.  The list was supplied to the KGB by Duncan Lee, a Soviet source in the OSS.  Venona 1354 as redacted reads:

**********************************************************************************

            To Viktor.

                        Further to number 741.  On the Security Division of IZBA’s list of Fellow Coutrymen are the following:  REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, DONALD WHEELER, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED

           

            Both the REDACTED and REDACTED are included in a list of persons “concerning whom it is known that they give information

                        [10 groups unrecoverable]

such persons and a proposal

                        [6 groups unrecovered]

dismissal

 

no. 768

23 September                                                                                        Maj

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White notebook #3 on page 110 contains Vassiliev’s notes on this cable and supply the redacted names:

 

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            List of OSS employees who allegedly “pass info. to the Russians and are known members of the CP.”

            Major Arthur Goldberg, T.D. Schocken, E.A. Mosk, Fleisher, A.O. Hirshman, Julius Rosenfeld Carlo A. Prato, Manuel T. Jiminez, Irving Goff, Michael A. Jiminez, David Zablodowsky, Carl Marzani, Virginia Gerson, Bert D. Schwartz, Victor Dimitrievich, Leo Drozdov, Alexander Lesser, Louis E. Madison, Donald Wheeler, Gerald Davidson, Seymore Shulberg, Fena Harrison, Robert M. McGregor, Netty Solovitz, Tilly Solovitz, Frederick Pollock. 

            Both Jiminezes and Zablodowsky are on a list of individuals “known to pass info. to the Russians.”

 

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Appendix 6

Cover names were Venona provides a real name for a cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks.

 

1 .  “Henry” [Genri] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Henry” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Malisoff.  References to in 1945.

2 .  Aida” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): “Aida” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Rand.

3 .  Bar” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Unidentified institution to which “Charlie”/Cedric Belfrage was connected in 1943.  “Bar” was identified in the Venona decryptions as British Security Coordination.

4 . “Cavalryman” [Kavalerist] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Unidentified Soviet intelligence agent linked to Ruski Golos.  “Cavalryman” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Sergey Kurnakov, a military affairs writer for Ruski Golos.

5 .  “Condenser” [Kondensator] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Condenser” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Kenneth Richardson.

6 .  “Contractor” [Podryadchik] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): “Contractor” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Alexander Saffian.

7 .  “Countryside” [Derevnya] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): “Countryside” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Mexico.

8 .  Dak” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Dak” was identified in the Venona decryptions as James Cannon. 

9 .  “Dicky” [Diki] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Dicky” was identified in the Venona decryptions as journalist Johannes Steele

10 .  “Fir” [El'] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Fir” (Alternative translation: Spruce) was identified in the Venona decryptions as Helen Grace Scott Keenan.

11 .  “Gnat” [Komar] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): “Gnat” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Victor Kravchenko.

12 .  Grimm” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Unidentified KGB officer, possibly cipher officer, late 1930s.  “Grimm” in 1944 was identified in the Venona decryptions as KGB officer Nikolay Alelseev Golovin who may have been a cipher officer.

13 .  Igor” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Soviet intelligence officer/agent. Likely Konstantin Mikhailovich Kukin.  “Igor” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Konstantin Mikhailovich Kukin, Counselor Soviet embassy, London in 1943. 

14 .  Korobov” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): Soviet intelligence officer in London, 1947.  Identified in the Venona decryptions in 1944-1945 as KGB officer Nikolay Ostrovsky in the U.S.  Ostrovsky could have been a pseudonym.

15 .  “Lens” [Linza] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Lens” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Michael Sidorovich who ran a safe house in Cleveland, Ohio

16 .  “Light” [Svet]  (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Light” was identified in the Venona decryptions as KGB officer Aleksandr Andreevich Raev.  (Raev may the the diplomatic pseudonym of Aleksandr Rogov.) 

17 .  May” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Unidentified KGB station chief in San Francisco 1945. “May” was identified in the Venona decryptions as KGB officer Stepan Apresyan.

18 .  “Nick” [Nik] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Nick” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Amadeo Sabatini.

19 .  Osipov” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): “Osipov” was identified in the Venona decryptions as  Nikolay W. Orloff.

20 .  Pa” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Pa” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Richard Lauterbach.

21 .  “Perch” [Okun] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev’s notebooks): “Perch” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Tkach.

22 .  Petrov” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): Very senior offical at Moscow Center, 1944, cited as highly interested in “Enormous.”  Likely  Lavrenty Beria.  “Petrov” was identified in the Venona decryptions on the U.S.-Moscow line as a senior official at Moscow Center and on the Mexico City line as Lavrenty Beria. 

23 .  Roman  (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Roman” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Robert Soblen.

24 .  Said” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Said” was identified in the Venona decryptions as probably Valentin Matveevich Sadovnikov.

25 .  “Scout” [Skaut] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Scout” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Joel Barr

26 .  “Talent” [Talant] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Talent” was identified in the Venona decryptions as William Marias Malisoff (Malisov) prior to October 1944.

27 .  “Uncle” [Dyadya] (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Uncle” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Isaac Folkoff.

28 .  Zora” (unidentified cover name in Vassiliev notebooks): “Zora” was identified in the Venona decryptions as Flora Don Wovschin.

 

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