Rosenberg Case: Not Closed

Rosenberg Beginnings

There are more than a few accounts in the literature of Julius Rosenberg’s beginnings and uptake as a Soviet agent. At present there is just one fully documented, coherent narrative. It is in the 2009 book, Spies, The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev. Specifically, the account is found at pages 333-337, under the subtitle, Origins of the Rosenberg Apparatus. An abstract:

In the late 1930’s, Julius Rosenberg was an engineering student at CCNY. He was also at that time a leader in the Young Communist League (YCL), as well as a member of the YCL club at CCNY’s engineering school. In 1940, after graduation, Rosenberg went to work for the Army Signal Corp. Similarly, a number of his YCL engineering friends found employment with companies such as Western Electric, Zenith, Bell Labs and others. Such companies were hiring due to the needs of the U.S. military then being put on a war footing. Rosenberg understood that the classified work he and his fellow Communists were engaged in, or privy to, would be of value to the Soviet Union. Consequently, “he decided to seek out Soviet intelligence to deliver these secrets to the USSR.” In 1941, Rosenberg’s “repeated inquiries in Communist circles came to the attention of Bernard Schuster (“Echo”), a key figure in the CPUSA’s underground apparatus.” Schuster put Rosenberg in touch with Jacob Golos (“Sound”), a Russian refugee who nonetheless had the status of a senior KGB officer. Along with Rosenberg, the Schuster referral also included 3 of Rosenberg’s engineer associates. A Vassiliev Notebook document then shows that at some point in 1941 Golos recommended Rosenberg to his residency for use in the espionage technical line. Rosenberg collected technical materials and delivered them to Golos. To arrange a contact with Golos, Rosenberg called Elizabeth Bentley, Golos’s Communist consort.

In January 1942 Vassily Zarubin [“Maksim”] arrived in the U.S. as Resident for all KGB activity and assets in America. An early decision by Zarubin was to make changes to Golos’s operation, which was too independent and lacking in proper tradecraft. Specifically, Zarubin directed that Golos concentrate on political intelligence and relinquish his technical agents, such as Rosenberg and his sources. Golos’s KGB contact at this time was Aleksey Prokhorov. “Zarubin replaced Prokhorov with his own wife, Elizbeth, a veteran KGB officer who had accompanied her husband on his American assignment.” Prokhorov took Elizabeth Zarubin (“Vardo”) to a meeting with Golos and advised him that Elizabeth would be his new contact and control officer. Golos resisted this change and paid “Vardo” little accord. However, Vassily Zarubin insisted and the transfer of the Rosenberg network was effected in 1942. The intelligence officer Zarubin chose to take over the Rosenberg network from Golos was Semen Semenov, the lead technical line [XY] officer at the New York residency. By late 1942 Rosenberg had acquired the covername “Antenna.” Semenov supervised the Rosenberg apparatus for about a year and a half. In 1943 Semenov was compromised by an anonymous letter sent to FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, resulting in suppressive surveillance. His cover blown, Semyonov was recalled to Moscow. “In April 1944 Alexander Feklisov took over liaison and managed Rosenberg until he returned to Moscow in 1946.” [1]

Summary: In 1941 Rosenberg sought to work directly with Soviet intelligence. His repeated enquiries came to the attention of Bernard Schuster, a CPUSA clandestine operative. Schuster was persuaded, and passed Rosenberg to Jacob Golos, a KGB intelligence officer connected to the Amtorg line. At some later point in 1941, Golos recommended Rosenberg for technical intelligence work to his superiors, ostensibly with himself as control officer. Instead, in 1942, new U.S. Rezident Vassilii Zarubin transferred Rosenberg and his group to the XY technical line run out of the Soviet Consulate in NY. The exact dates of the milestones, Rosenberg-to-Golos and Rosenberg-to-XY line, are not firmly established.

Other Rosenberg Beginnings

Inexplicably—given the well-founded account in Spies—there are other, differing reports in the literature about Rosenberg’s path to becoming a Soviet agent. At first blush, these reports appear to be unconnected and farfetched. However when carefully analyzed and developed they offer a compelling narrative, one that need not necessarily conflict with Spies. The reports in brief:

• The Brother, Sam Roberts. In personal interviews, David Greenglass told Roberts that Julius had boasted about walking into the Soviet Embassy with an offer to spy for Russia. The time context for this alleged gambit was circa 1938, when Rosenberg’s CCNY friends were graduating, but Rosenberg's graduation was a year away.

• Special Tasks, Pavel Sudoplatov. Twice in his memoir, Sudoplatov asserted that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were recruited by Gaik Ovakimian in 1938. Ovakimian was KGB resident in New York from 1932 to mid-1941.

• The Rosenberg File (Second Edition), Ron Radosh and Joyce Milton. In their Introduction to the Second Edition, the authors supply much new data, confirmed and unconfirmed, on Rosenberg. One example: "But another source, who has asked to remain confidential, told us that Anatoli Yatskov had shown him a document from KGB files that indicated that it was Morris Cohen who recruited Julius Rosenberg to work for the Soviet Union."

• Bombshell, Joseph Albright and Marcia Kunstell. Based on interviews in Moscow with former KGB officers, the authors supplied this tidbit: “The Machine-gun caper was Lona’s first triumph. But the KGB version omitted one key detail, the name of a young American communist who allegedly covered Morris [Cohen] as a backup agent while he was transporting the machine-gun. That backup agent—or so one KGB veteran has claimed—was Julius Rosenberg, a CCNY engineering graduate who supposedly worked in tandem with Morris more than once.”

The hypothesis that emerges is straightforward, logical and virtually ordained. It starts with crediting Greenglass’s anecdote about a walk-in attempt by Rosenberg at the Soviet Embassy. If in fact that happened, the event should have been brought to the attention of U.S. KGB Resident Gaik Ovakimian, whose employment and cover was the Soviet Trading Commission (Amtorg) in New York. In 1939, after returning from Spain as a newly minted KGB agent with the covername “LUIS,” Morris Cohen was an Amtorg employee under the control of Ovakimian. Given Cohen’s own YCL background and CPUSA activities in New York before going to Spain, he was the perfect resource at hand for Ovakimian to conduct an initial vetting of such a report from the Embassy. [2]

Greenglass-Rosenberg

The expanded account of David Greenglass's anecdote about Rosenberg approaching the Soviet Embassy and volunteering to recruit a spy network for the Soviet Union:

“It was during one of those jaunts that David and Ruth joined Julius and Ethel at the movies. David doesn’t remember which film was playing—it might have been Mission to Moscow. But he distinctly recalls his private conversation with Julius as the girls were gabbing while in line outside the Capitol Theater in Times Square: Julius says to me, ‘I tried to get into the Russian embassy.’ … So he goes in, and they thought he was a plant, so they didn’t let him do that. But finally he told them his credentials. ‘Look, I got all these guys recruited into the Young Communist League. I’ve done this. I did that.’ And he mentioned all their names and said they’re all engineers and they’re going to go out in the field and so on.” The Brother, Sam Roberts

Assuming Greenglass accuracy, Rosenberg traveled to Washington, DC, either for this specific purpose or in conjunction with some other circumstance, perhaps job hunting. Joel Barr, Morton Sobell and Rosenberg were scheduled to graduate from CCNY in June 1938. Barr and Sobel did, but Rosenberg needed another semester. Assuming Greenglass accuracy, Rosenberg’s pitch was indeed provocative: He was a member of the YCL and had recruited others to the YCL; he was a member of the Steinmetz (Engineering) YCL Club at CCNY; he named specific individuals that he could recruit and who would become employed as engineers, etc. All diplomatic staff and guards are trained to effectively screen such encounters. Assuming Greenglass accuracy, Rosenberg's approach, particulars and copmpelling offer would have been recorded and reported to the in-country Soviet Intelligence authority, i.e. Ovakimian. Greenglass's story is completely in character with Rosenberg’s known history of zealous, impetuous behavior. [3]

Rosenberg-Ovakimian

Gaik B. Ovakimian (“Gennady”), a Foreign Intelligence INO officer, came to the U.S. in 1933 as deputy head for Scientific and Technical intelligence (S&T). His cover position was that of Engineer, American-Soviet Trading Commission (Amtorg). In 1938, Ovakimian became U.S. Rezident, i.e. head of all KGB operations in America. His reporting command/control was the American Section of the Center’s Foreign Directorate. Ovakimian’s deputy in America was Pavel Pastelnyak (“Luka”), a member of the consular staff at the Soviet Consulate in New York.

In Special Tasks, Pavel Sudoplatov twice stated that Gaik Ovakimian recruited Julius and Ethel Rosenberg:

• "Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were recruited by Gaik Ovakimian, our rezident in New York, in 1938."
• "Semyonov was the case officer of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, after Ovakimian recruited them."

The authority for such statements comes from the fact that in 1939 Sudoplatov was made a Deputy Director of the First Chief Directorate with the assigned mission of mobilizing "all available NKVD resources to eliminate Trotsky." This assignment, and future responsibilities, required Sudoplatov to be thoroughly familliar with both Ovakimian’s service record (delo formular) and operational case file (litrnoye delo). An example of this is a tense moment in front of Stalin after a failed attempt in Mexico to assassinate Trotsky. In answer to a pointed question from Stalin, Sudoplatov advised that, although Ovakimian had minor logistical involvement (money, documents) in the failed Siqueiros operation, the underway Eitingon-Mercader operation was completely separate from Ovakimian. Trotsky was assassinated by Ramon Mercader in Mexico City on 20 August, 1940. [4]

Ovakimian-Cohen

In 1991 the SVR (nee KGB) embarked on a public relations campaign to enhance its image and standing in the new political environment of Perestroika. Toward that end, two past KGB successes were chosen for public disclosure: the theft of the atomic bomb from the U.S., and the recruitment of a mole in the bosom of British intelligence (Kim Philby). The KGB officers selected to write these stories were Vladimir Chikov and Oleg Tsarev, respectively. Chikov’s initial effort appeared in the journal New Times (Novoye Vremya) in two installments in April 1991. The central figure in the atomic bomb coup was an American, Morris Cohen. To invoke realism, Chikov excerpted messages from Cohen’s KGB file that dealt with key parts of the story. A number of these communications pertained to the 'activation' of Cohen in New York after he returned from the Spanish Civil War. One in particular was sent by Ovakimian:

• New York to Moscow: “Established contact with Altman [Cohen]. His code name is LUIS, and he will work with TWAIN (Semyonov). LUIS has been assigned to pick up a group of sources who could help us get information on the German colony and on the other matters detailed in the Center’s last directive. To facilitate his work, I request your sanction to let LUIS recruit a number of agents on his own. You are familiar with the specifics of each candidate for recruitment. [Signed] GENNADY"

Although Chikov’s charge was primarily the story of Cohen’s involvement in atomic espionage, other aspects of his spy career came into play. One of these, a key one, related to the recruitment of his wife, Lona Petka Cohen. Another sidebar was Cohen’s burgeoning role as a group leader of more than six agents. [5]

Cohen-"RAY"

One early episode that solidified Morris Cohen's status as a valuable asset was the theft of a new prototype machine gun from an armaments plant. The trick was the long barrel, deemed the essential part. The operation involved a team, one of whom was Cohen's wife. The Center involved itself in the planning:

• Moscow to New York: “Convey to LUIS the Center’s gratitude for his productive work with us. Afford him constant moral and material support. Leontina hereby receives the code name LESLIE. Orient her as to how to obtain secret information at her place of work, the aviation factory, where we are interested primarily in tactical and technical data on experimental models of armed fighters. According to our information, a related plant in Hartford for the production of airplane motors and armaments is preparing to put a new machine-gun on the assembly line. Request you plan an operation with the possible participation of LESLIE to acquire a prototype for our designers. [Signed] Aleksandrov” (Fitin)

• New York to Moscow: “In accordance with Directive No.26-S., LUIS recruited the agent Morton on an ideological basis. At present MORTON is being used to study the German colony in New York and to develop the recruitment of its active member RICHARD, a military specialist. We are considering ways of planting MORTON in a Maryland industrial center that has started production of new weapons for the American army. In addition, LUIS has acquired two valuable sources, FRANK and RAY. The latter turned over highly classified materials on radars and sonars.” [signed] MAKSIM (Zarubin)"

Subsequent to several magazine and newspaper articles on the Cohen story, Chikov published (in France) a full-length book with American co-author Gary Kern. This book, How Stalin Stole the Atomic Bomb from the Americans, covered the full span of the Cohens’ espionage career, including their assignment in England as the Krogers. Not being central to Morris Cohen’s recruitment of a Los Alamos physicist (unidentified), Chikov had little more to say about “RAY,” with one exception. The context was a trip by the Cohens to Paris in the summer of 1947 to meet their former controllers, Semen Semenov and Anatoli Yatskov. Asked for an update on their agents, LESLIE said, "RAY had lost his job, but he knew where to get a book on radar and underwater sonar research." [6]

"RAY"-Feklisov

Authors Joseph Albright and Marcia Kunstel investigated the Morris Cohen spy story in their research for the book, Bombshell. (Lona Cohen had been a courier to Ted Hall at Los Alamos in 1945.) In this regard, the authors interviewed a substantial number of KGB veterans in Moscow in 1995, two of whom were Vladimir Chikov and Alexander Feklisov. Based on these interviews, Bombshell contained the following account:

“In the spring of 1942, someone in an American war plant gave Soviet intelligence an initial clump of documents on radar and agreed to give more later. For the next three years, that’s what the ‘radar source’ did. ‘He passed many secret documents to us’, recounted the retired Soviet intelligence officer Alexander Feklisov. ‘They were of great interest to our scientific research institute. Every year he transmitted to us two or three thousand pages of photographs of secret materials, the majority of which were appraised as either ‘valuable’ or extremely valuable.’ Feklisov devoted a long section of his memoirs to describing his World War II dealings with the radar source, who still remains unidentified.’ The Feklisov book included a vague but intriguing account of how the radar source was first recruited: Some unnamed Soviet agent, who was about to be called into the army, signed him up and then turned him over to another Soviet agent to supervise. It was only in 1995, over a cup of tea in his Moscow apartment, that the eighty-one-year-old Feklisov finally disclosed that the recruiter of the radar source had been Morris Cohen.”

The memoir in question was Feklisov’s first, Beyond the Ocean and On the Island, Notes of an Intelligence Officer (1994). With respect to agents and sources, Feklisov did not use real names or real covernames in Across the Ocean. This changed in Feklisov’s second memoir, The Man Behind the Rosenbergs (2001). In comparing the two memoirs, it is evident that the pseudonyms in the longest section of Across the Ocean, “Pearl, Kirill, Stanley, Antelope.” correspond to the Rosenberg ring, with “Stanley” representing Rosenberg. Feklisov confirmed that "Stanley" was Rosenberg in Man Behind the Rosenbergs. In a Bombshell Endnote, authors Albright and Kunstel take the matter a step further:

“Col. Alexander Feklisov interview [with authors], July 27,1995; A second source, Col. Vladimir Chikov of the KGB’s public relations staff, described Cohen as the recruiter of an American ‘radar-sonar source’ in an article in Novoye Vremya, No. 17, April 1991 [‘Besides, Luis obtained a valuable source, ‘Ray’, who provided strictly classified information on radars and sonars.’]. Feklisov said he learned of Cohen’s role when he was Soviet intelligence’s controller of the radar source in 1944-45; Chikov said he learned of it in 1989 or 1990 by reading KGB archives on Morris Cohen.”

In interview, Alexander Feklisov connected himself to "RAY," the 'radar and sonar' source recruited by Morris Cohen. Unless Cohen was the recruiter of a second unknown radar-sonar source, Julius Rosenberg was almost certainly “RAY," aka "Stanley." [7]

Was Julius Rosenberg recruited by Morris Cohen?

The quantity and quality of evidence for the proposition that Cohen recruited Rosenberg is, if not conclusive, extremely compelling:

1. It seems certain that Rosenberg told Greenglass that he approached the Soviet Embassy with a proposal to spy and recruit other spies. In other words, Greenglass did not, out of whole cloth, make up what he told Sam Roberts. Whether Rosenberg was fabulating in telling this story to Greenglass is another question. Nevertheless, the story fits Julius Rosenberg’s modus operandi, and it is exactly what happened.

2. Given his career and responsibilities, Sudoplatov has prima facie credibility in asserting that Ovakimian recruited Rosenberg. His claim, however, does not necessarily, or even probably, mean that Ovakimian personally met and evaluated Rosenberg. The alternative meaning, Ovakimian approved and supervised the recruitment, is more likely the case. Greenglass’s anecdote only supports Sudoplatov on this matter, i.e. a so-called "walk-in" attempt by Rosenberg would have been reported to Ovakimian.

3. By publishing it, Ron Radosh ostensibly attached a degree of credibility to his source, and the source's information, that Anatoly Yatskov had proffered a document showing Cohen had recruited Rosenberg.

4. Based on a KGB source, authors Albright and Kunstel reported that Rosenberg was involved in the memorable machine gun “caper” orchestrated by Morris Cohen. Such fact is corroboration of an early, unknown relationship between Cohen and Rosenberg.

5. KGB officer Vladimir Chikov reported that Morris Cohen recruited a source on radars and sonars. This source was given the fictitious pseudonym “RAY.” As is known, Rosenberg provided the Soviets with information on radars and sonars.

6. According to Chikov, Lona Cohen reported that “RAY” was unemployed in 1947. Rosenberg was unemployed in 1947.

7. Covernames, fictitious or not, are often chosen based on association. The covername RAY would be a play on the capital “R” of Rosenberg, and the pronunciation of the word radar, i.e. RAYDAR, Rosenberg's area of knowledge.

8. Alexander Feklisov was Rosenberg’s control officer beginning in 1944. Feklisov was also “RAY’s” (unidentified) control officer beginning in 1944.

9. Julius Rosenberg was arrested on Wednesday, July 17, 1950. His arrest was on the front page of the New York Times the next day. Yuri Sokolov, the Cohens’ controller, against all tradecraft rules, showed up unannounced at the Cohen apartment—in his slippers. The Cohens were emergency evacuated out of New York to Mexico on Friday, July 19, 1950. Rosenberg was ostensibly an immediate, mortal threat to the Cohens. [8]

Spies vs. Sudoplatov: Mutually Exclusive?

Regarding the question of Rosenberg's enlistment in Soviet intelligence: What explains why the Spies account and the Ovakimian-Cohen account are radically different? Were there any circumstances that could cause both to be true? The possibilities:

1. The First Commandment: “Never allow an agent or courier from one cell to have contact with or know the members of another group.” (P. Sudoplatov)

2. Ramifications from the arrest and deportation of Gaik Ovakimian in May 1941, in concert with the German attack on Russia in June 1941.

3. Morris Cohen, whose control officer was Semen Semenov, was drafted into the Army in July 1942. New arrangements had to be made for his agents and sources. [9]

Directorate S

With respect to Soivet espionage in America in the 1940’s, an overlooked source is The Mitrokhin Archive (1999) by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin. In terms of historiographical credibility, The Mitrokhin Archive has the same standing as the Vassiliev Notebooks (which is excellent). KGB officer Vassiliev copied classified KGB archive files, and KGB officer/archivist Mitrokhin did the same. To a great extent, however, the two men were examining records of different organizations within the First Chief Directorate (the Center).

From Andrew-Mitrokhin: “Mitrokhin’s opportunity came in June 1972 when the First Chief (Foreign Intelligence) Directorate [FCD] left its overcrowded central Moscow offices in the KGB headquarters in the Lubyanka and moved to [Yasenevo]. … On Wednesdays Mitrokhin went to the Lubyanka to work on the FCD’s most secret files, those of Directorate S which ran illegals. … Mitrokhin thus found himself spending more time dealing with the files of Directorate S, the most secret in the FCD, than with those of any other section of Soviet foreign intelligence.”

From Vassiliev: “Getting personal files wasn’t always easy. Different files on Soviet operations in the United States belonged to different departments, and the issue of my access to them depended on the head of a relevant department. … The chiefs of departments “S” (illegal intelligence) and “T” (scientific technical intelligence) didn’t want to have anything to do with the project, and I never received their files.”

The Mitrokhin Archive is meticulously referenced with comments and pointers to specific archive locations. These citations however do not explictly identify the FCD department/directorate that was the source of the information in question. But this can sometimes be deduced or inferred. For example, it is known with certainty that Iskhak Akhmerov was illegal resident in America from 1942 to 1945. Citations for Akhmerov invarialby reference “vol. 6, ch. 5, part 2.” One can reasonably assume then that this archive location pertains to Directorate S. This assumption is buttressed by citations for another illegal, Morris Cohen. One example is the Mitrokhin statement, “… the veteran American agents Morris and Lona Cohen (LUIS and LESLIE) who had been hastily recalled to Moscow after the arrest of the Rosenbergs.” Time and again, this statement and others regarding Cohen ("Luis") are referenced to archive “vol. 6, ch. 5, part 2.” [10]

Nelegaly

The original title of Vladimir Chikov’s book about Morris Cohen was Nelegaly—translation, The Illegals. Cohen came back from Spain a ‘made’ KGB agent. Made, moreover, by Alexander Orlov, the illegal resident for Spain during the Spanish Civil War (SCW). After completing Orlov’s ‘Barcelona Spy School,’ Cohen was assigned the covername “Luis” (the Spanish variant of Louis). Thus when Cohen was activated in America it was under the aegis of the FCD’s Directorate S, which ran illegals. Fortuitously, it was the archive files of Directorate S that Vassili Mitrokhin spent the most time reading and copying. From The Mitrokhin Archive: “In July 1995, a month after the death of the best-known, American-born illegal, Morris Cohen, President Yeltsin conferred on him the posthumous title of Hero of the Russian Federation.” Numerous Mitrokhin citations corroborate that the covername “Luis” belonged to Morris Cohen. Equally rock solid is the fact that Semen Semenov was Cohen’s contact/control in the U.S. in the early 1940’s. These realities and others beg the question, why is there no mention of "Luis" (Cohen) in the Vassiliev Notebooks, or for that matter, Venona?

Counterpoint to the above, the Vassiliev Notebooks (Black and White #2) contain over 15 instances of covername “Volunteer.” One of these is an excerpt from a late 1944 report written by Semen Semenov: “[ I ] began operational work in the summer of 1939. Through agents “Veil,” “Volunteer” and others, worked for the Soviet pavilion at NY fair, plus specific assignments.” This Vassiliev excerpt is particularly interesting for two reasons: One, it is corroborative of an acknowledgement by Morris Cohen that he was mobilized by Semenov in 1939 after returning from Spain; and two, Semenov does not use Cohen’s Directorate S codename, “Luis,” but rather Cohen’s American Department codename, “Volunteer.” Vassiliev, Venona and Mitrokhin all ratify that “Volunteer” was a second covername for Morris Cohen.

The reason the literature reflects two covernames for Morris Cohen is straight forward: He was a cog in two separate espionage regimes, whose different lines of authority at the Center were replicated in the field. Certainly one of those schemes entailed his key role in atomic espionage. The covername “Luis” was assigned by Directorate S; the covername “Volunteer” was conferred by the New York residency reporting to the American Section at the Center. What appears schizophrenic, is actually compartmentalization. More probably than not, the disparate accounts of Julius Rosenberg’s origins are a by-product of compartmentation, i.e. the “first commandment.” Both Rosenberg accounts can therefore be true, and are likely to be so. [11]

Volunteer Group: Two "MLAD"s

First "MLAD"

Semen Semenov was a Directorate S intelligence officer, recruited by Pavel Sudoplatov in 1937. By all accounts, he became the U.S. residency’s most resourceful agent for atomic intelligence (“Enormous”). Under Semenov’s guidance, Morris Cohen became the principal actor of an atomic spy network referred to as the Volunteer Group. This network has been officially credited as playing a key role, perhaps the key role, in the USSR’s penetration of the Manhattan Project:

From Veterans of Russia's Foreign Intelligence: “The Volunteer group were able to guarantee the transmittal to the Center of super secret information concerning the development of the American atomic bomb."

There are other reports in the literature (and elsewhere) about the Volunteer Group. One of prime importance is found in The Mitrokhin Archive: "The VOLUNTEER network expanded to include, in addition to MLAD, three other agents: ADEN, SERB and SILVER.” The archive source of this information is the previously discussed citation, "vol. 6, ch. 5, part 2." It is the clear sense of this statement that MLAD preceded agents ADEN, SERB and SILVER in the Volunteer Group.

A second, more extensive account is provided by Vladimir Chikov in the book, Stalin's Atomic Spies. Chikov's central figure was Morris Cohen, and Cohen's signal achievement was the recruitment of an American physicist who came to his attention in the Spring of 1942. Chikov used the pseudonym "Arthur Fielding" for this scientist, and the pseudonym "Perseus" for his covername. These literary devices notwithstanding, Chikov was compelled to set the record straight:

From Stalin's Atomic Spies: “YOUNGSTER [MLAD] was, in fact, the Center's first code name for PERSEUS [Arthur Fielding]. The Cohens, however, preferred to call him PERSEUS because of his connection with GORGON, the bomb, and they were indulged in this respect. To maintain consistency, we have used the code name PERSEUS throughout. But it should be understood that he is the same person as YOUNGSTER or Mlad."

There is an important consistency between the Mitrokhin Mlad and the Chikov Mlad. According to Mitrokhin, MLAD was a member of the Volunteer Group prior to the recruitment of SERB, which event the Vassiliev Notebooks establish as August 1942. And indeed, this comports with the recruitment of Arthur Fielding (MLAD) in Spring 1942, as reported by Chikov.

Second "MLAD"

It is fair to say that the SVR-Chikov narrative regarding “Arthur Fielding” has gotten virtually zero traction in scholarship circles. There is good reason for this. Both Venona and Vassiliev Notebooks contain an atomic espionage agent whose covername was MLAD, and this person has been unquestionably identified as Theodore Hall. However, there are immediate, prima facie non-starters regarding the notion that Ted Hall was either the 'Mlad' referenced by Mitrokhin or the 'Mlad' described by Chikov: first, in 1942, Hall was a sophomore at Harvard with zero connection to the U.S. atomic program; second, when Hall first made contact with Soviet intelligence in New York in October 1944, Morris Cohen was at the war front in Europe.

~ Resolving the above, there are thus two "Mlad"s associated with the Volunteer Group, "Arthur Fielding" and Theodore Hall. That is a prima facie problem or difficulty. However, it is not a problem without a rational solution: As the literature reflects, two Soviet agents could hold the same covername if they belonged to different, compartmented operational lines/cells. Ted Hall, as a walk-in to the Consulate residency in New York, was the property of the INO American section; "Arthur Fielding," as an asset recruited by the illegals Semenov and Cohen, was controlled by Directorate S. [12]

KLIBI, PYLOS, LESLIE

Consistent with the fact that Morris Cohen had been drafted in Summer 1942 and was therefore not available to act as contact for his agents, Chikov wrote of the Residency’s preoccupation with finding a courier for “Arthur Fielding” who had gone to Los Alamos at the end of March 1943. As recounted by Chikov:

“The New York rezidentura was deciding which American agent to send out to New Mexico to make contact with [“Arthur Fielding”]. Only native Americans would be sent to the region, as anyone with an accent or foreign appearance might attract attention. Aside from nationality the chief requirements for the mission were intelligence, resourcefulness and good health. Three agents were recommended: KLIBI, PYLOS and LESLIE [Lona Cohen]). The first, it was determined, would not fare well on such a long train ride. The second had broken two clandestine meetings for insignificant reasons. LESLIE was the obvious choice. As the mission was urgent, Yatskov took the extraordinary step of accosting LESLIE on her way to work and slipping her a rolled-up note."

It is firmly established that “Leslie” was the covername of Lona Cohen. The other two covernames are not found anywhere in existing Soviet espionage literature. Moreover, they are not real words, in English or Russian. They are fictitious pseudonyms presumably created by Chikov (as he said would be necessary at times). It is significant that bogus “Klibi” occurs a second time in a reference to the Volunteer Group: “SERB was one of the VOLUNTERY, along with LUIS, LESLI, SIL’VER, YURBA (a woman), KLIBI, MLAD, STAR, ANTA and ADEN.”

There are rational reasons for thinking that KLIBI was Julius Rosenberg. The time frame for a first courier mission to Los Alamos would be June-July 1943, several months after the laborataory opened. The literature shows that at this time Rosenberg had important knowledge of the U.S. atomic bomb program. He also had a solid track record as a courier and agent. As indicated above, KLIBI is a contrived word, and is recognizable as a construct of the diminutive “Libi,” the nickname Feklisov used for Rosenberg instead of his full covername, LIBERAL. It is known that Rosenberg suffered from hay fever and anemia, which at times incapacitated him. From Feklisov: “Julius enjoyed excellent health, but suffered from hay fever at the beginning of every summer. His reddened eyes watered, he sneezed and never was without his handkerchief. When I saw him in that condition I would schedule our encounters even further apart.” [13]

Rosenberg Case: Not Closed

The Rosenberg Case should not be closed because there remain too many non-trivial unknowns about Rosenberg’s espionage career. These start with contradictory, or at least incomplete, information about how and when he became directly connected to the KGB. These unknowns seem to begin and continue with a connection to Morris Cohen. If true, this would suggest the possibility that Rosenberg had more than a circumstantial association with the Volunteer Group. Put another way, is it just a benign coincidence that Rosenberg’s control officer from 1942 to 1944, Semen Semenov, was also the control officer of the Volunteer Group during this period?

The Vassiliev Notebooks contain a bit of a puzzler: Lona Cohen was used as a letter drop for Klaus Fuchs—an operation heretofore considered separate from the Volunteer Group. In this role, Lona was to receive a letter from a person unknown to her but whose name (an alias) she had been alerted to. Upon receipt of such letter, her instructions were to immediately signal for a meeting with Yatskov and pass the letter to him. (To be reliable tradecraft, the envelope would necessarily reflect the surname Cohen to avoid possible non-delivery by the post office.) In similar fashion, according to Chikov, “Arthur Fielding” received letter drop instructions before he went to Los Alamos:

“A contact [courier] would be sent out from New York to Albuquerque … In the event Fielding should know that he could not make the meeting, he should send a letter containing a pre-arranged phrase, 'I will not be able to get any leave for awhile' … To schedule an emergency meeting, Fielding should write … on which day his contact would appear. I [Chikov] am not at liberty to say to whom he wrote.”

In early 1943, when Fielding went to Los Alamos, his control officer was Semen Semenov. With respect to letter drop arrangements for Fielding, the drop addressee would have been one of Semenov’s agents. Who among Semenov’s agents was Fielding's mail drop? In consideration of his known operatives, the individual chosen would be experienced, reliable and, ideally, already apprised of Enormous. Given Rosenberg's recruitment and role in McNutt's (FOGEL/PERS) employment with Oak Ridge contractor Kellex, he is an obvious candidate.

The central question of this essay is, Was Rosenberg a member of the Volunteer Group? A 'yes' answer would entail important, still unknown Rosenberg espionage. Such secrets would perhaps shed greater understanding on the Rosenbergs' decision to be executed rather than confess and be saved. For example, if Rosenberg had been Fielding's letter drop (a responsibility Ethel would no doubt be privy to), the case would have amounted to an American Fuchs. Bearing in mind that Fielding knew the name of his mail drop, it would not be coincidence if MLAD was out of the country on 19 June 1953, the Rosenbergs' execution date. [14]

The Mitrokhin Archive

British SIS (MI6) exfiltrated Mitrokhin and his archive from Russia in 1992. SIS did the first ‘read’ of the archive and in July 1992 began passing material to the CIA, FBI and RCMP. Translation and processing of the Mitrokhin information by SIS continued for 6 years, to 1998. Approximately 60% of the material was initially shared with Christopher Andrew in prospect of producing a book. In this regard, approval from Canadian and U.S. security agencies was sought prior to a signed agreement with Andrew. In addition, Andrew’s manuscript for The Sword and the Shield was subject to exclusions and editorial modification by Canadian and American authorities.

To this day, not all of Mitrokhin's Archive has been put in the public domain, nor likely shared with Andrew, even with restrictions. Given the fact that the majority of the Archive dealt with Directorate S affairs, it is more than reasonable to conclude that the Rosenberg case should not be ‘closed’ by historians until and unless all of the Mitrokhin secrets are made public. [15]

Notes, Sources, References

1. Spies, John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev, 2009, p.333-7.

"Documents show that in 1941 ...technical XY line": Vassiliev Notebooks, Black, trans. p.108, Letter C-NY 12.09.42. ("Due to insufficient information, it is rather difficult at pres. to assess the value of the persons whom 'Sound' recommended for use on the technical line ((letter No. 7, 1941) Rosenberg, Paige, Tanenbaum, Cohen, Eisenberg, Balamut.")


2. “In personal interviews, David Greenglass … but Rosenberg’s graduation was a year away.”: The Brother, Sam Roberts, p. 52-3.

”Twice in his memoir … recruited by Gaik Ovakimian in 1938.”: Special Tasks, Pavel and Anatoli Sudoplatov with Jerrold and Leona Schecter, 1995, pages 213 & 177.

"But another source … Rosenberg to work for the Soviet Union.": The Rosenberg File (2nd Edition), Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton, 1997, page xv.

“The Machine-gun caper was Lona’s first triumph. … who supposedly worked in tandem with Morris more than once.”: Bombshell, page 49, page 311 (note 49)


3. “It was during one of those … they’re all engineers and they’re going to go out in the field and so on.” The Brother, Sam Roberts, p. 52-3.


4. "In Special Tasks, Pavel Sudoplatov twice stated that Gaik Ovakimian recruited Julius and Ethel Rosenberg." Special Tasks, Pavel and Anatoli Sudoplatov with Jerrold and Leona Schecter, 1995, pages 213 & 177.

Gaik Badalovich Ovakimian (KGB: “Gennady,” "Victor," "George") b. 1898, Armenian background • 1931, joined KGB, Foreign Intelligence Directorate while graduate student at Bauman Higher Technical School in Moscow • 1931, assignment in Germany for scientific-technical espionage • 1933, assignment to U.S., deputy head, scientific and technical section (cover: engineer, Amtorg) • 1938-9, KGB Resident (legal) following recall and execution of P. Gutzeit • May 1941, arrested by FBI • 1942-3, coordinator, U.S atomic intelligence operations, Foreign Department • 1943-4, INO deputy chief, and director American section, Foreign Intelligence • 1947, Major General, left KGB service for scientific work.
(Sources: Venona, Haynes and Klehr; Spies, Haynes, Klehr and Vassiliev; Special Tasks, Sudoplatov; Sword and Shield, Andrew and Mitrokhin; Invisible Harry Gold, Hornblum)

Gaik Ovakimian (FBI: "the wily Armenian") b. August 11, 1898 • five foot seven, 165 lbs, medium-dark complexion, dark brown hair, blue eyes • fluent in English, German, French, Russian • wife, Vera; daughter, Egina • 1933, arrived US • initial productive source, Armand Labis Feldman • 1937-1940, research fellow, Rockefeller Institute, NY • frequent contact and superior of Jacob Golos (head World Tourist, Inc.) • recruited Thomas L. Black • directed Black in recruitment of Harry Gold • assigned Gold as contact for Abraham Brothman • arrested by FBI May 1941; deported July 1941. (Sources: FBI-KGB War, R. J. Lamphere; Origins of FBI Counterintelligence, R. J. Batvinis)

"The Center"  “The Center” is a colloquial expression for KGB Headquarters in Moscow; another is “Lubyanka,” the name of the KGB’s building on Dzerzhinsky Square. Functionally, the KGB was structured into numbered Chief Directorates. The First Chief Directorate was Foreign Intelligence (Innostranyi Otdel, INO), the Second Chief Directorate was Internal Security, etc. Foreign Intelligence, in turn, was organized into sub-Directorates and Departments. Notable examples are Directorate S, Illegals, and Directorate T, Science and Technology. Also of ranking importance were Departments aligned to specific nations or areas, such as the U.S./Canada Department, the Latin America Department, etc. An important distinction and separation in Foreign Intelligence was that between the country-oriented INO officers and the specialized “Illegals” of Department S. The former served abroad in diplomatic legation cover positions. Under international law, such personnel had immunity from arrest and prosecution. In contrast, “Illegals” were deployed surreptitiously into target countries and had no immunity from arrest, prosecution and jail. Generally, the INO and Illegal administrations functioned autonomously, with different deputy heads in Moscow and different station chiefs or rezidents in the field. Although compartmentalization between the two was a norm, in practice this was governed by both circumstances and higher fiat. Nevertheless, there was almost always an established contact procedure whereby the Illegal rezident could get financial, material or communications support from the INO rezident. Added to this parallel intelligence structure was another bureau established to undertake ad hoc, absolute top priority operations. This entity was known as Administration for Special Tasks. Its missions were personally ordered and controlled by Stalin and Beria. Accordingly, Special Tasks was an autonomous chief directorate within the KGB and effectively on a par with Foreign Intelligence. When deemed necessary, Special Tasks was even interposed in Red Army Intelligence (GRU) activities (e.g., Red Orchestra). Further, notwithstanding that Special Tasks was an ‘illegal’ apparatus and capability, some of its personnel also held INO department positions, their Special Tasks relationship and work remaining secret. Indeed, in exercising command and control over Special Tasks, there are reported instances of Beria circumventing not only the head of Foreign Intelligence (Pavel Fitin) but the head of the KGB itself (Vsevolod Merkulov). Finally, policing the spy organs was the heritor/prosecutor of the purge, Internal Security. Welcome to “matryoshka,” the nested dolls paradigm of secrecy, politics and paranoia that imbued Soviet Intelligence.  (Sources: The Sword and the Shield, Christopher Andrew and Vasilii Mitrokhin, 1999, pps. 28, Appendicies C,D, et al.)


5.  “Contact with Altman established … candidate for recruitment.”: New Times (Novoye Vremya), No. 16, Vladimir Chikov, April 1991; Stalin’s Atomic Spies, Vladimir Chikov and Gary Kern, 1996, p.105.

Note After a number of Moscow jorurnal/newspaper articles in 1991 on the Morris Cohen atomic espionage story, the SVR authorized Lt. Colonel Vladimir Chikov to begin a book project. His manuscript was finished and okayed for publication in 1992 under the title, Nelegaly (The Illegals). With a view toward publishing the book in the West, American Sovietologist Gary Kern was brought on board. The manuscript underwent a number of revisions and in 1994 the book was re-titled to, "Stalin's Atomic Spies." Only two European publishers were found, France and Germany, none in America. The French publisher, Robert Laffont, changed the title to, Comment Staline a vole la bombe atomique aux Americains: Dossier KGB No. 13676 (How Stalin Stole the Atomic Bomb from the Americans, KGB File No. 13676.), and it was published in 1996. All page numbers referenced here are for the French book. It should be noted that although the book was published in 1996, the provenance of the information is 1994, before Venona was declassified (1995).

“Another sidebar … leader of more than six agents.”: Stalin’s Atomic Spies, Vladimir Chikov and Gary Kern, 1996, p. 134. (“Cohen was working as a recruiter, a courier, a contact man and even as a group leader.”)

Morris Cohen   Morris Cohen was born in 1910 in New York City. His parents, Harry Cohen (Kogan) and Sarah Metlowski Cohen, were politically active immigrants from Russia. It is reported that the father, Harry Cohen, had been a Leninist agitator in Russia at the turn of the century, and Sarah Cohen belonged to a Communist Party “club” near the Cohen home in New York. Thus, early in life Morris was exposed to Communist ideology and influenced by the Communist revolution in Russia. He attended Mississippi State University and graduated in 1935. Pursuing graduate work he went to the University of Illinois (Urbana), where he soon became involved in the American Student Union, a Communist front organization set up by the Young Communist League. Cohen joined the YCL in Urbana under the name Morris Pickett. Overt Communist political activity during his first year led to his expulsion from the University. He returned to New York in 1936 and joined the Communist Party of America (CPUSA). In New York he engaged in underground Party organizing using the alias Israel Pickett Altman. In 1937, embracing the CPUSA’s Spanish Civil War support, Cohen volunteered to go to Spain to join the fight against Franco. Using a passport under the name Israel Altman, Cohen headed a group of volunteers sailing on the Queen Mary from New York on July 29, 1937, and arriving at Cherbourg, France on August 2. After processing in Paris, the Cohen and his group were infiltrated into Spain. Cohen was assigned to the Fifteenth Brigade’s Mackenzie-Papineau (Mac-Pap) Battalion, then forming-up and training at Tarazona, Spain. Events moved rapidly. Due to his advanced education and Party credentials, Cohen was assigned as political cadre underneath one Joe Dallet, the Mac-Pap’s Political Commissar. At this time Dallet was married to Kitty Puening, who would later become Mrs. Robert Oppenheimer. Dallet’s closest Comrade in the U.S., and in Spain, was Steve Nelson, Political Commissar for the Fifteenth Brigae. (Nelson, whose real name was Stephan Mesarosh, was at this time also a KGB agent. He would later become a confidant of Robert Oppenheimer in Berkeley, CA.) In September 1937, with no more than a month of military training, the Mac-Pap Battalion broke camp at Tarazona and headed north to join the Fifteenth Brigade at Quinto on the Aragon front. The Brigade went into battle on October 13 against the "Rebels" (Nationalists) holding the town of Fuentes del Ebro. Dallet was killed that day and Cohen seriously wounded. Cohen was evacuated and spent several months recovering in a Barcelona hospital. During his convalescence Cohen was spotted and recruited for a KGB-run espionage school in Barcelona. It is reported that his recruiter was Alexander Orlov, who at this time was also Kim Philby’s control officer. (Philby, a KGB agent for over 3 years, was in Spain under cover as a reporter for the London Times.) By the end of the spy school course, Cohen had joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and formally agreed to become an agent of Soviet intelligence. At this time he was assigned the code name LUIS. The Spanish Civil War ended in the Fall of 1938, and Cohen/Altman, along with other American volunteers, were marshaled for return to the States. Before leaving Spain, Cohen was given instructions and procedures for re-contact and activation by the KGB station in America. Israel Altman (Cohen) and 300 other war participants sailed from Europe aboard the SS Ausonia, arriving in New York on December 20, 1938. The ship was met at the dock by Steve Nelson, who led the veterans in a march to Union Square where he delivered a welcome home speech. Renewing his ties with the CPUSA, Cohen found employment at the Soviet Trading Commission in New York, known as the Amtorg Trading Corporation. In the summer of 1939, Cohen was assigned as a security guard at the Soviet pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. It is reported that on a lunch break at the World’s Fair Cohen was approached by KGB Officer Semyon Semyonov (Illegal) who executed the recognition protocol that had been prescribed in Spain. Cohen was thus put on notice that his overriding relationship had changed to Soviet intelligence in America. Semyonov would become Cohen’s control officer until Cohen was drafted into the U.S. Army. In June 1942, Cohen received a draft notice for induction into the U.S. armed services. He was inducted into the Army on July 8, 1942, and two weeks later, 22 July, he departed New York for boot camp at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Later in the year, following boot camp, Cohen was assigned to the 3233rd Quartermaster Service Company based at Camp Edwards, Mass. On January 30, 1943, the 3233rd, shipped out for Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada. The unit returned to Camp Edwards, Mass, on February 9, 1944; departed Boston by ship April 7, 1944, and arrived in England on April 16, 1944. The 3233rd war diary reported the unit in Belgium on October 26, 1944, and in Germany on March 30, 1945. Cohen returned from the war in Europe in November 1945.


6. “Convey to LUIS the Center’s gratitude … a prototype for our designers.”: Stalin’s Atomic Spies, Vladimir Chikov and Gary Kern, 1996, p. 127.

“In accordance with Directive No.26-S. … , on radars and sonars.”: New Times (Novoye Vremya), No. 16, Vladimir Chikov, April 1991; Stalin’s Atomic Spies, Vladimir Chikov and Gary Kern, 1996, p. 104.

"RAY" Chikov provided a glossary of actual covernames—many corroborated by Venona and Vassiliev Notebooks. "RAY" was not listed by Chikov and is therefore deemed a fictitious, i.e. literary, pseudonym. As it happens, however, there is a RAY (changed to KARL) in Venona (NSA) and Vassiliev. RAY is most likely William Stapler, as discussed in Spies.


7. “In the spring of 1942 … had been Morris Cohen.”: Bombshell, 1997, Joseph Albright and Marcia Kunstel, p. 49.

“Morris Cohen as recruiter of ‘radar source’ … archives on Morris Cohen.” Ibid., Endnote 49, p. 311.

“"Feklisov confirmed ... in Man Behind the Rosenbergs”: The Man Behind the Rosenbergs, Alexander Feklisov, 2001, p. 103. (“the story of Julius Rosenberg, named 'agent Stanley,' in Across the Ocean had been portrayed in such a veiled form that it was barely recognizable.")


8. “Yuri Sokolov … in his slippers.”: Stalin’s Atomic Spies, p. 217.

"The Cohens left New York for Mexico on Friday, July 19, 1950.": Red Files Interview, S. Chervonnaya (Deep Background, Chervonnaya Interview, Find: "Interviewer: Did she ever describe the scene where she was ordered to leave the USA?")


9. “The Center had broken the first commandment … the members of another group.”: Special Tasks, Sudoplatov, p.213.  Sudoplatov's comment is a derogatory reference to the Center's decision to use Fuchs's courier, Harry Gold, to also contact David Greenglass when Gold went to New Mexico to rendezvous with Fuchs.

September 12, 1942 Reference is made to the Vassiliev item in Note 1 above, repeated here: “Letter, Center to NY, 12.09.42 [September 12, 1942] Due to insufficient information, it is rather difficult at pres. to assess the value of the persons whom 'Sound' [Golos] recommended for use on the technical line (letter No. 7, 1941) Rosenberg, Paige, Tanenbaum, Cohen, Eisenberg, Balamut."
• Analysis The gist of this Vassiliev note is that in 1941 Jacob Golos recommended the listed persons for recruitment to the New York residency run by Ovakimian until his deportation in July 1941. Golos’s case officer at this time was Aleksey Prokhorov (“Leonid”). After Ovakimian, Prokhorov reported to Pastelnyak (“Luka”) on Golos. In terms of recruiting, Golos wasn’t pigeon-holed, he was given varied assignments and specialized in CPUSA members (“fellowcountrymen”). The names Rosenberg and Cohen are mentioned. More probably than not, Cohen is Morris Cohen, a fellowcountryman, a SCW vet and employee of Amtorg at this time. The date of Letter No. 7 is not given. Ostensibly, it is the 7th letter of 1941 on a particular line, reporting requirement, etc. If it was a monthly report, for example, the date would be July 1941. The Vassilliev notebooks identify covername “Volunteer” as Morris Cohen, an espionage agent of the NY residency since 1938. If “Cohen” in Letter No. 7 is Morris Cohen, stating his name in the clear was a major security infraction and would demonstrate that the writer was not privy to certain operations. (Source, Black Notebook)

September 7, 1942 In Man Behind the Rosenbergs, Feklisov gives a different but essentially congruent account to Spies, to wit: Rosenberg was brought to the attention of the Rezidentura in the Spring of 1942 by his friend Bernard Schuster ["Echo"]. This was done through Schuster’s case officer, Konstantin Chugunov ["Shah"], who was a specialist in political espionage. “When Zarubin found out that Rosenberg had access to scientific and technical military secrets, he decided that Kvasnikov’s team should be responsible for the recruitment. Kvasnikov then passed Julius on to Semyonov, one of his best case officers.” Rosenberg’s first meeting with Semenov took place at a Labor Day rally in Central Park on September 7, 1942. Schuster brought Rosenberg, and Chugunov brought Semenov who was introduced to Rosenberg as “Henry.” (Man Behind Rosenbergs, p.109)
• Analysis An unexplained and glaring omission in Feklisov’s account is the fact that Jacob Golos was running Rosenberg and company for a significant period going back to 1941. It seems highly unlikely that Feklisov was ignorant of this aspect of Rosenberg’s background. It also does not seem likely that Feklisov would make up the Labor Day, Central Park story out of whole cloth.

August 18, 1942 Item from Vassiliev Notebooks: “New York to Center, 18.8.42 On the technology line 'Sound' is in contact with: 'Antenna,' 'Lens,' 'Gnome,' 'Builder,' 'Arsen' and 'Slave.' All of them are provisional probationers and they know that they are working for the fellowcountrymen. According to 'Sound,' however, 'Antenna' senses that the materials are going to us. ... 'Antenna' is a valuable man, with strong capabilities on the technology line. In 'Sound's' opinion, he is a dedicated fellowcountryman and hasn't been compromised by fellowcountryman connections. [A. needs to be made into a real probationer and group leader.] He is the fellowcountryman group leader in that group and collects dues from them.]" [signed Maxim] (Source, Black Notebook)
• Analysis Two things are noteworthy about this Vassiliev item: (1) As of August 18, 1942, Golos is still responsible for Rosenberg; (2) August 18, 1942, appears to be the earliest record of a covername for Rosenberg, “Antenna,” and it is not a consequence of his transfer to the Kvasnikov XY line, which according to Feklisov hadn't happened yet.

The First Commandment As delineated above, in a communication dated 12 September 1942, the Center mentioned Rosenberg's name in the clear. This had also happened a couple months previous: In a 25 June 1942 message from the Center the writer used Rosenberg's name in the clear and referred to him as an "outsider." More bizarre is the fact that in a message dated 22 November 1943, the Center proposed to the NY residency that "Antenna" be handed over to "Ten." The covename "Ten" was a New York station officer whose surname is reported as "Liveit-Levit." Although Mr. Vassiliev commented that he believed "Ten" was his mistake for "TVEN" (Twain-Semenov), this is questionable because, as the Notebooks show, in late 1942 Zarubin had turned Rosenberg over to Semenov. But either way, "Ten" or "TVEN," the Center writer is remarkably and inexplicably uninformed. As Spies reveals, the Center's confusion over NY residency agent matters goes back to 1937 when Liveit-Levit joined the residency and filed a derogatory report on Golos ("Sound"). Peter Gutzeit ("Nikolay"), then head of the NY legal station, responded with disdain: "Re Sound. Again some kind of nonsense. Sound has been known to our department for 7 years. Many people knew this source before Ten's arrival, and no one had any doubts about his exceptional devotion to us. ... But now Ten appears ... writes you about this, and instead of putting him in his place, [you] start to ask questions, 'Who is Sound?" This would be funny if it didn't simultaneously, show that you don't know the people, even those who have a long record of contact with us." These aberrations are hard to understand unless viewed as a result of compartmentation between the INO (legal) and Department S (illegal) sections at the Center. It is reliably reported that Golos was also a contact of I. Akhmerov's Illegal residency in the U.S. (Sources: Vassiliev Black, p.107, 108, n.96; Spies, p.405-6; Special Tasks, p. 217.)


10.  “Mitrokhin’s opportunity came … those of any other section of Soviet foreign intelligence.”: The Sword and the Shield, The Mitrokhin Archive, Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, 1999, p. 7-8.

“Getting personal files wasn’t always easy. … and I never received their files.” Spies, p. xxxvi-xxxvii.

“Citations for Akhmerov … pertains to Directorate S.”: The Sword and the Shield, p.109 (“Though he had previously used Turkish and Canadian identity documents, on this occasion Akhmerov carried a doctored US passport which he had acquired in 1938.”); p.593 n. 47 (vol. 6, ch. 5, part 2.)

“One example is the Mitrokhin statement … after the arrest of the Rosenbergs.”: Ibid., p.409; p.643, n.72 (vol. 6, ch. 5, part 2.)


11. “The original title … was Nelegaly, translation The Illegals.“: Stalin’s Atomic Spies, Vladimir Chikov and Gary Kern, 1996, p. 21.

“Cohen came back from Spain a ‘made’ KGB agent … Cohen was assigned the covername ‘Luis’”: Ibid., p. 115, 105.

“In July 1995, a month after the death of the best-known … Hero of the Russian Federation.”: The Mitrokhin Archive, p. 9

“began operational work in the summer of 1939 … plus specific assignments.”: The Vassiliev Notebooks, White Notebook #1, Translated, p.109.

“it is corroborative of an acknowledgement … returning from Spain.”: Bombshell, Joseph Albright and Marcia Kunstel 1997, p. 33, 307 (n. “One day…”)

“Certainly one of those schemes entailed his key role in atomic espionage.”: Stalin’s Atomic Spies, Chikov and Kern, p. 137; The Mitrokhin Archive, p.148. (“The Volunteer Group expanded … ADEN, SERB, SILVER”; p.602, n.67, vol.6, ch.5, part 2.)


12. “Semen Semenov was a … recruited by Pavel Sudoplatov in 1937.”: Special Tasks, Pavel Sudoplatov, p.176;

“By all accounts … for atomic intelligence (“Enormous”)”: Ibid., p. 381.

“Morris Cohen was … the Volunteer Group.”: Stalin’s Atomic Spies, Vladimir Chikov, p. 134.

“This network has been officially (SVR)… penetration of the Manhattan Project.”: Veterany Vneshnei Razvedki Rossii (Veterans of Russia's Foreign Intelligence), T. V. Samolis, Editor, Shizhba Vneshnei Razvedki (SVR) Press, 1995, pages 158-9. (“The Volunteer group were able to guarantee the transmittal to the Center of super secret information concerning the development of the American atomic bomb.")

“The VOLUNTEER network expanded … and SILVER.”: The Sword and the Shield (Mirtokhin Archive), p. 148, p. 602, n. 67.

“A second, more extensive account ... came to Cohen’s attention in Spring 1942.”: Stalin’s Atomic Spies;, Vladimir Chikov, p. 137.

“Youngster was in fact ... as Youngster or Mlad.”: Ibid., 157.

“Further stated was the fact that Fielding’s first covername was “MLAD” (YOUNGSTER).”: Ibid., p.157.

“... the Vassiliev Notebooks establish as August 1942.”: Vassiliev Notebooks, Black, p.120.

“As the literature reflects, two Soviet agents ... lines/cells.”: Example 1. The covername “Luis” is found in Venona but is clearly not Morris Cohen. Single instance in 1944 message, “Luis,” related to South American line and when Cohen in the Army in Europe; Example 2. The Vassiliev notebooks reflect three different individuals with the covername “Boy.”; Et al.

Semen Semenov Semenov completed his masters degree at MIT in June 1940 and then returned to Russia. He was sent back to the U.S. (with his family) in March 1941 to be Ovakimian’s deputy for scientific intelligence. Two months later the New York residency was in crisis when, in May 1941, the FBI arrested Ovakimian when he made a meet with an agent the FBI had been watching. As a result, Ovakimian was deported 2 months later, and Pastelnyak (Klarin/LUKA) became interim resident. Yatskov, Semyonov and Feklisov would later work for Leonid Kvasnikov when he arrived as Science and Technology resident in early 1943.

MAR


13. “The New York rezidentura was deciding … and slipping her a rolled-up note.": Stalin’s Atomic Spies, Vladimir Chikov, p.157-8.

“It is firmly established that “Leslie” was the covername of Lona Cohen.”: Venona NY to Moscow, No. 50, 11 Jan 1945; Spies, p. 101 (Vassiliev Notebooks); Stalin’s Atomic Spies, p. 127.

“It is significant that “Klibi” ... a reference to the Volunteer Group”: Retired KGB officer who wished not to be identified.

“at this time Rosenberg had important knowledge of the U.S. atomic bomb program.”: Spies, p. 35-6.
Note The Vassiliev Notebooks revealed that the Venona covername “Fogel” (later changed to “Pers”) belonged to Russell A. McNutt, a member of the USA Communist Party and a friend of Julius Rosenberg. Some time in 1943, McNutt asked fellow-Communist Rosenberg where he should look for employment, that is to say, work that might help the Party help the USSR. Rosenberg recommended the M. W. Kellogg Company, which was the lead contractor on the construction of the Oak Ridge uranium processing facility. McNutt, a Civil Engineer, applied and wound up working for Kellex, a Kellogg subsidiary doing plant design for Oak Ridge. “[McNutt] began work at Kellex in November 1943.” Rosenberg's spot-on guidance to McNutt suggests that he had been briefed on matters related to the Residency’s top intelligence priority, Enormous.

“construct of the diminutive “Libi,” … instead of Rosenberg’s full covername, LIBERAL.”: Ibid., p.107. (“In September 1944 that pseudonym [Antenna] was dropped and changed to ‘Liberal.’ When I remember him, I think of the affectionate nickname of ’Libi’ that I gave him at the time.”)

“It is known that Rosenberg suffered … which at times incapacitated him.”: The Man Behind the Rosenbergs, Alexander Feklixov, 2001, p. 122. (“Julius enjoyed excellent health, but suffered from hay fever at the beginning of every summer. His reddened eyes watered, he sneezed and never was without his handkerchief. When I saw him in that condition I would schedule our encounters even further apart.”)
"PYLOS" A reasonable guess on identity of PYLOS would be Jacob Golos.

14. “Lona Cohen was used as a letter drop … a separate operation from the Volunteer Group.”: Spies, p. 100-101; Vassiliev Notebooks,

“Arthur Fielding” received letter drop instructions before he went to Los Alamos.”: Stalin’s Atomic Spies, p. 151.

“Given Rosenberg's recruitment and role ... an obvious candidate.”: Spies, p. 35-6.
Note Rosenberg's recruitment and placement of McNutt at Kellex indicates that Julius had knowledge of the Manhattan Project. This circumstance is further supported by the fact that when Ruth Greenglass advised Julius that David had been transferred to Oak Ridge, Julius correctly guessed what the work was: "Julie was in the house and he told me what you must be working on." (Radosh and Miston, p.65) Finally, the astonishing fact that at the end of 1944 Rosenberg had somehow learned—not through Greenglass—the design principle of Little Boy, the first U.S. atomic weapon. (Radosh and Milton, p.187) With respect to a Semenov agent that would be used as a mail drop for Arthur Fielding, the literature provides no better candidate than Julius Rosenberg.

"Secrets, moreover, ... than confess and be saved.": The FBI-KGB War, R. Lamphere and T. Shachtman, 1995, 1986. (Chapter 14, Execution: Aftermath of the Rosenberg Trial. "Al Belmont [SAC, New York] had gone up to Sing Sing to be available if either or both of the Rosenbergs should decide to save themselves by confessing, and to be on hand as the expert if the question should arise whether or not a last-minute confession was actually furnishing substantial information on espionage.")

15. “British SIS (MI6) exfiltrated Mitrokhin and his archive out of Russia in 1992 …. The Sword and the Shield was subject to exclusions and editorial modification by Canadian and American authorities.”: The Mitokhin Inquiry Report


Under Development