What is the role of a spy? Why are they significant to the countries they work for?

 A spy is someone who is used to steal secrets for an intelligence organization, such as the CIA, KGB, or M16. Information on what the enemy is planning to do, strategizing, or preparing could help determine who wins and what to do against the enemy’s attack. “Espionage is a very serious matter for some… It violates international law… and yet it is virtually universal everywhere because it is considered a matter of vital… importance to states. Espionage generates its own rules.” Soviet Affairs expert and former U.S. State Department official Raymond L. Garthoff describes in A Journey Through the Cold War. Espionage is the gathering of information about others, be they enemy, possible enemy, other spies, or suspicious neutrals. Spying goes back to biblical times, when individuals spied on nearby enemies and informed their leaders. For the United States, the American Revolution was the first time spies appeared. Robert Gates, former Director of Central Intelligence, says that during the Cold War, no side was sure of the mentality of the other, which is why espionage became handy. However, we should never doubt the quality of intelligence only people can provide. Because of the intelligence people can provide, the superpowers could gather intelligence on their enemies’ worldview, why they reacted in specific ways, and their preoccupations. During the Cold War, the role or purpose of a spy was to gather enemy information on military and technical abilities. Spies are brave people that venture into enemy territory and try to gather intelligence while still staying under the radar. Spies decode encrypted information, using technology to gain an advantage over their opponents. Spies are meant to help protect their country by different means. Some spies go after businesses, which is called economic espionage. Others gain trust in the military or government to be able to send back information. Finally, some just observe everyday life,  like Rudolf Abel. He was left alone in America when Lona Cohen, another spy, left on orders from Yuri Sokolov. He established a typical life in America, strolling through New York while noting possible dead-drop locations. He also made gadgets such as pencils with hidden compartments or a hollow nickel with a small hole to open it up.

Who were some well-known spies of the Cold War? What was their impact?

Julius Rosenberg, 1918-1953, and Ethel Rosenberg, 1915-1953, were an American couple that got executed for spying for the Soviet Union. They were convicted of providing confidential intel about radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and nuclear weapon designs. They were executed at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York. They became the first American citizens to be executed for espionage and the first to receive that penalty during peacetime. They were executed by an electric chair. Julius was a courier and recruiter and Ethel helped recruit her brother, David Greenglass and typed up documents that Julius passed to the Soviets. Many people thought that Julius and Ethel were innocent, and disagreed with the government’s decision. Not until the Cold War came to a close did they know just how many crimes they committed. David Greenglass, 1922-2014, worked at Los Alamos for the Manhattan Project. Because he and his wife supported communism, he had to disguise or omit any sign of his connection with communism. He was arrested in 1950 and exposed Julius but denied his sister’s involvement. Later, he exposed Ethel as well. Igor Gouzenko, 1922-1985, who was a Russian GRU(Glavnoye razvedyvatel’noye upravleniye/Main Intelligence Directorate) cipher clerk, defected to Canada. He had over 100 confidential documents and gave intelligence on Soviet cipher codes, and other spies in Canada, Britain, and the US. Elizabeth Terrill Bentley, 1908-1963, an ex-American Communist, defected to the FBI. She exposed more than 100 people as Soviet spies, most of whom were working in the US government. In 1946, using the intel provided by Gouzenko and Bentley, Meredith Gardner, 1913-2002, began to crack a few Soviet messages that mentioned the atomic bomb. Gardner began working with Robert Lamphere, 1918-2002, to uncover Soviet cases. Many KGB spies were exposed. Klaus Fuchs, 1911-1988, was a communist supporter. He worked in the Tube Alloys program, the British atomic bomb research project. He was soon transferred to work in the Manhattan Project, the American atomic bomb research project. He was secretly passing notes to Harry Gold, 1911-1972, a Soviet courier. One of the Cambridge Five, Kim Philby, 1912-1988, was head of Section IX in 1944. Section IX is part of the British anti-communism section, and Philby, a communist, was now ahead of it. This was extremely important to the Soviets. Julius Rosenberg, a US Army engineer, was arrested in 1950 for passing information to a Soviet courier. Ethel Rosenberg was also targeted. Finally, they were sentenced to death by electric chair in 1952. Francis Gary Powers was recruited by the CIA for his pilot skills. He was a U-2 pilot that was supposed to fly across Soviet territory and take photos. The U-2 plane was said to be too high in altitude to be caught by missiles, but Powers was shot down. He was trapped until exchanged with Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy caught by the FBI.

What are the dangers of being a spy? What could happen to you if you are caught?

Penalties vary depending on the seriousness of the crime. Gathering or losing defense information could put you in prison for 10 years while giving defense information to a foreign government could put you in prison for life or you could get a death sentence. Economic espionage (foreign coordinated intel-gathering aimed at U.S. businesses, establishments, or persons) could lead to 15 years or more and fines up to five million dollars. You could get deported, imprisoned, charged with treason, or executed. You can get executed by an electric chair, like the Rosenbergs. You might also get captured, imprisoned, interrogated, tortured, and kept for a spy trade, like Francis Gary Powers. He was traded for Rudolf Abel. You will first get interrogated if you are a mole. Some spies confess everything they know, while others explain true but useless information. Also, like Allen Nunn May, some people get a 10 or more years sentence. Rudolf Abel was on trial for espionage, having his spy gadgets, hollow coin story, and Reino Hayhanen’s testimony used as evidence against him. There were two possible punishments for him: a long prison sentence or an electric chair. He was given the prison sentence in case any spy trade needed to be made.

Whose job is it to coordinate spy missions? Whose job is it to stop them?

Spymasters are people that lead spy rings or intelligence agencies. Some famous spy organizations are the Russian Federal Security Service, Foreign Intelligence Agencies, and Main Intelligence Directorate. The KGB used to be a Soviet Union spy agency and so was GRU, but the KGB disbanded in 1991 and GRU in 1992. American spy organizations include the CIA and DIA. Agent spotting involves investigating the targeted person’s personal life for possible weaknesses. Agent training includes learning codes, constructing concealment devices, and dead drop scouting. Advanced training could include resistance to interrogation. “Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency’s intelligence program from an opposition’s intelligence service”. This could be achieved by spying, sabotaging, or assassination. FBI and M15 are both involved in counterintelligence, however, M15 is an agency established specifically for counterintelligence. Agent handling is the handling of spies. The ones who agent-handle are called case officers. Case officers manage human agents and human intelligence networks. They recruit and train agents. Agents are usually working under case officers. Agents that work alone are called “singletons”.

How was the end of the Cold War affected by the success of spy missions?

Dmitri Polyakov (TOP HAT), a Soviet Union mole, provided intel to the US for nearly 25 years. He informed the U.S. about China and how to deal with the Soviet missiles. Some people think he was a triple agent that gave false intel to the US. He photographed many documents and gave them in a secret compartment in his fishing rod or fake stones. Polyakov was said to have kept the Cold War from boiling over. John Cairncross worked for Sir Maurice Hankey so he was working in the Tube Alloys program. He may have leaked a report on building a uranium bomb. He was caught in the 1960s and was identified as the fifth man in the Cambridge Five spy ring. Melita Norwood, the longest Soviet Union spy serving in the UK, was caught in the 1990s. Klaus Fuchs became a British citizen during the rise of Nazism. He was transferred to Los Alamos and passed key intel to the Soviets. He was discovered in the 1950s and exposed Harry Gold, a Soviet courier. David Greenglass was recruited to spy by his brother-in-law and sister Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. He passed notes and sketches to the Soviets and when found, exposed the Rosenbergs in exchange for immunity for his wife, Ruth. Russell McNutt had a job at Kellex, a plant-builder company. He gave the Soviets the design of the plant. Clarence Hiskey worked at Met Lab and gave intel to GRU. He was seen meeting with Arthur Adams, a Soviet agent. VENONA revealed that Theodore Hall (Mlad) was a Soviet spy. Oscar Seborer (Godsend) worked at Los Alamos and no one knew how much information he gave the Soviets. VENONA was a program meant to collect and break coded messages. Meredith Gardner, with help from Igor Gouzenko, uncovered many spies. They unmasked the Cambridge Five and Atomic Spies and started gaining suspicion about Alger Hiss. It changed the Cold War substantially, keeping the US, Britain, and other allies alert of Soviet spies within their borders. The CIA was authorized to carry out operations “against hostile foreign states or groups or in support of friendly foreign states or groups”. The CIA carried out many Cold War coups. Once, the CIA trained 1,500 Cuban exiles, trying to overthrow Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator. This attempt was called the Bay of Pigs Invasion and ended up failing. Many other attempts to kill Castro were made, including one to kill his beard rather than himself. CIA pilots collected data using U-2 planes. The CIA also recovered many codebooks and nuclear research documents from a sunken Soviet submarine. Oleg Penkovsky gave much information to the CIA and MI6, a high-ranking Soviet Colonel. He helped change the course of the Cold War by giving military strategies and plans to the other side.