Victor Cherkashin was a foreign Counterintelligence Officer for the KGB assigned to the Soviet Union Embassy in Washington, DC from 1979 until 1989. Cherkashin is responsible for “the recruitment in 1985 and running of Rick Ames” (Ehrman, 2008). In addition to Ames, Cherkashin supervised the recruitment of Ronald Pelton, a former National Security Agency employee and FBI employee Robert Hanssen. The recruitment process of Ames was limited because, he had gone willingly to the Soviet Embassy and his only motivation was money. Cherkashin confesses, Ames “fell into (my) lap” and the only thing the Soviets needed to do was provide monetary compensation (Ehrman, 2008). Cherkashin recognized the sensitivity of the information Ames was providing …show more content…
“CIA spies targeted against the Soviet Union began disappearing at an alarming rate” (People of the CIA, 2009). The initial response to the disappearance of spies in the Soviet Union was to simply review individual case files, and identify technical means by which the Soviets could have attained the information. The CIA did not want to accept the fact; someone within the own organization was leaking the compromised information. In 1986, the CIA finally decides to open an investigation into the disappearance of its human assets. Jeanne Vertefeuille, “an expert on the workings of the Soviet intelligence services” (People of the CIA, 2009) responsible for leading a special task force leading the investigation into the missing …show more content…
First, the KGB penetrated communications within the CIA and have been able to intercept transmissions. Second, the KGB has access to classified documents and has been able to identify assets; the third reason, and the one they did not want to believe, someone within the CIA is providing information to the Soviets. During this time, CIA was conducting a separate investigation into a former employee, Edward Howard, fired due to security concerns. The investigation of Howard was also for providing the names of sources operating in the Soviet Union. The task force originally believed Howard was the source of the leak, but quickly realized he did not have access to the identities of certain compromised individuals. In 1989, the task force received its first big break in their investigation. “Diana Worthen, a colleague and friend of Ames and his wife Rosario, noticed that he seemed to have more money than his salary should provide” (People of the CIA, 2009) and reported this behavior to the task force. The task force initially ignored the reported behavior because during the initial background investigation of Ames’s wife, Ames said she came from a wealthy background. With the support of the FBI, the task force would finally review Aldrich Ames financial records in 1992. During this review, they would identify a connection between his reported meetings with Soviet sources and
Ronald William Pelton, Sold Secret Information About the NSA to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. In doing this act of Espionage Mr. Pelton was caught and sent to Prison for three concurrent sentences and one ten year sentence for the act of Espionage and conspiracy toward the United States.
In Overthrow, some of the CIA’s actions that brought massive destruction, death, and chaos to foreign countries are dissected. The disposing of Iranian leader Mohammed Mossadegh by Secretary of State John Dulles can only be described as unfounded and irrational. Which, as told by Kinzer, was a common thread in US foreign policy during the 50’s. Fueled by hate and fervor against communism- many nations faced the brunt force of US policy- by the hand of our leaders. All of which, was done legally and with authorization- sometimes encouragement from US Presidents. Such incidents are certainly blunders on behalf of the US. Although, what Kinzer fails to mention or recognize is instances where Covert Actions helped achieve ends which would never be possible otherwise. The Cold War was a turbulent time for the US and most of the world’s history. One country, the Ukraine- formerly a part of the Soviet Union, has an especially sordid past. The ethnic inhabitants, Ukrainians, suffered under Soviet oppression for many years and endured a man made famine- orchestrated by Stalin to suppress Ukrainian Resistance movements. Such an event, “Holodomor” which killed approx. 3 to 12 million people are considered by many countries to be a genocide. The US, while not directly intervening in warfare, did send agents to assist
...ary 1997, Earl Edwin Pitts plead guilty on two counts of espionage. On 23 June, Earl Edwin Pitts was sentenced to 27 years in prison by a Federal judge who stated that the former agent was guilty of “the most egregious abuse of trust.” When asked why he spied, Pitts cited a number of grievances he had against the Federal Bureau of Investigations and stated that he “wanted to pay them back.” (12) This could have been prevented if the Federal Bureau of Investigations had a program similar to the Army’s TARP (Threat Awareness Reporting Program) to train fellow employees what to look for and how to report on espionage indicators. Another preventive measure would be to work with employees on job preferences to duty locations, If Earl Edwin Pitts would not have been transferred he would not have thought to get payback and the nations secrets would still be secure today.
Taubman, Philip. “Death of a Spy Satellite Program.” Public Administration: Concepts and Cases. Stillman, Richard Joseph. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. 361-369.
There was a lack of sharing information amongst agencies. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) refused to share information with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) (or any other agency) about the arrival of at least two well-known Al-Qaeda operatives in the United States in 2000, even though they were tracking them closely for years. In the days leading up to the attacks, three of the hijackers received speeding tickets from local law enforcement.
Imagine being stuck in a chair for five hours while someone transformed your face into some monster. John Matuszak had to tackle that challenge everyday of his acting job in The Goonies. John’s legacy still lives on for a few decades after his death in the role of Sloth. For him, it was nothing compared to his NFL career. John was an amazing defensive end, mostly for the Oakland Raiders. The phrase Renaissance man truly defines John Matuszak.
Evans, M. Stanton. “Mccarthyism: Waging The Cold War In America.” Human Events 53.21 (1997): S1. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.
Therefore, establishing anti-Bolshevism in the United States was Robert F. Kelley’s mission. Kelley an Irish Catholic trained by Russian refugees ran the Eastern European Affairs division in the State Department (Leffler, The Specter of Communism, 19). Kelley’s intense dislike for the Bolsheviks demands that his aides join actively in his views. One of his service officers is George F. Kennan who joins in the close observation of Bolshevik destabilizing and expansionist activities that cause unrest in Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Spain and Greece (Leffler, The Specter of Communism, 19). Was Kennan’s containment strategy thinking set off with Kelley’s training? Was Kennan’s awareness of the ongoing Russian Communist activities the basis for his ideas? History proves that George Kennan’s ideas on containment were the basis of NSC-68 and...
Prados, John. Safe for Democracy The Secret Wars of the CIA. Chicago, IL: Ivan R Dee, Publisher, 2006.
Sulick, Michael J.. Spying in America espionage from the Revolutionary War to the dawn of the Cold War., Georgetown University Press, 2012
knowledge of the CIA and who would later would be involved in the clash between the
Pitts’ spying activities provided Russia and the former Soviet Union with the names of KGB officers being targeted by the FBI for recruitment. From 1987 to 1992, Pitts, while working as a counterintelligence officer in the FBI New York office, sold classified information pertaining to Russian defector sources and FBI operation procedures (Thomas, 1997). Among other things, it involved double agents, surveillance “schedules” of Russian preferred meeting locations, and the FBI’s list of KGB officers operating within the New York region ( Serrano & Martinez, 1996). Additionally, he disclosed personal data information of FBI agents to his Russian handler. Pitts contributed to an undisclosed amount of FBI operations failing throughout his five-years worth of traitorous acts. Pitts’ information might not of compared to the likes of Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, but his acts were nonetheless criminal and all for a reward of $224,000 (Thomas,
?Espionage.? 2000-2004. The War to End All Wars. Michael Duffy. Original Material. Primary Documents Online.
Among the spies of the 20th century, Kim Philby was a master of his craft. “To betray, you must first belong,” Kim Philby once said. Philby betrayed his colleagues, his friends, his wives, and most of all his country. He did all this in the secret service of the Soviet Union. The effects of this master spy’s operations set the stage for post-World War II in Europe.
Throughout the years most country's governments have established some sort of secret police. No matter what the government called it, whether it is the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or her Majesty's secret service (MI6), whatever name the government used, the international term of "secret police" could always be applied. Many agencies of secret police have had their success and failures, some more than others. The KGB, which in English means "the Committee of Public Safety," has had their share of both successes and failures. Most secret police agencies have been used primarily to obtain information from other countries. This was also a primary goal for the KGB, but one of their other goals, which was just as important, was to keep unwanted outside information from the Russian people. This was only one out of many the KGB's objectives. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to prove that the actions of the KGB were, all in all, a success.