Editing Venona project (section)

==Bearing of Venona on particular cases==
Venona has added information – some unequivocal, some ambiguous – to several espionage cases. Some known spies, including [[Theodore Hall]] and [[Bill Weisband]], were neither prosecuted nor publicly implicated, because the Venona evidence against them was withheld.

=== "19" ===
The identity of the Soviet source cryptonymed "19" remains unclear. According to British writer [[Nigel West]], "19" was [[Edvard Beneš]], president of the [[Czechoslovak government-in-exile]].<ref>Nigel West, Venona, największa tajemnica zimnej wojny, Warszawa 2006, p.138.</ref> Military historian Eduard Mark<ref>
Eduard Mark. "Venona's Source 19 and the Trident Conference of May 1943: Diplomacy or Espionage?". Intelligence and National Security. London, Summer 1998, pp. 1–31</ref> and American authors Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel concluded it was Roosevelt's aide [[Harry Hopkins]].<ref>{{cite book
| author1 = Romerstein, Herbert
| author2 = Breindel, Eric
| name-list-style = amp
| year = 2000
| title = The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors
| publisher = Regnery Publishing
| page = [https://archive.org/details/venonasecretsexp00rome/page/214 214]
| isbn = 978-0-89526-275-2
| url = https://archive.org/details/venonasecretsexp00rome/page/214
}}</ref> According to American authors John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, "19" could be someone from the British delegation to the [[Washington Conference (1943)|Washington Conference]] in May 1943.<ref>{{cite book
|author1=Haynes, John Earl |author2=Klehr, Harvey
|name-list-style=amp |year = 1999
| title = Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America
| publisher = Yale University Press
| pages = 205–206
| isbn = 978-0-300-07771-1
}}</ref> Moreover, they argue no evidence of Hopkins as an agent has been found in other archives, and the partial message relating to "19" does not indicate whether this source was a spy.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=9907&week=b&msg=sObK4G6XORytI4LXBpW2xw&user=&pw= |title=H-Net Discussion Networks - VENONA, the KGB, and Harry Hopkins [Haynes/Klehr&#93; |journal=H-Diplo |date=1999-07-14 |access-date=2014-02-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Klehr |first1=Harvey |last2=Haynes |first2=John Earl |date=2014-11-02 |title=Harry Hopkins and Soviet Espionage |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02684527.2014.913403 |journal=Intelligence and National Security |language=en |volume=29 |issue=6 |pages=864–879 |doi=10.1080/02684527.2014.913403 |issn=0268-4527}}</ref>

However, [[Vasili Mitrokhin]] was a KGB archivist who defected to the United Kingdom in 1992 with copies of large numbers of KGB files. He claimed Harry Hopkins was a secret Russian agent.<ref>''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'', by Vasily Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrew.</ref> Moreover, [[Oleg Gordievsky]], a high-level KGB officer who also defected from the Soviet Union, reported that [[Iskhak Akhmerov]], the KGB officer who controlled the clandestine Soviet agents in the US during the war, had said Hopkins was "the most important of all Soviet wartime agents in the United States".<ref>''KGB: The Inside Story of Its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev'', by Oleg Gordievsky and Christopher Andrew.</ref>

[[Alexander Vassiliev]]'s notes identified the source code-named "19" as [[Laurence Duggan]].<ref>{{cite book
| first1 = John Earl
| last1 = Haynes
| first2 = Harvey E.
| last2 = Klehr
| first3 = Alexander
| last3 = Vassiliev
| author-link3 = Alexander Vassiliev
| year = 2009
| title = Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America
| url = https://archive.org/details/spiesrisefallofk00john
| url-access = registration
| publisher = Yale University Press
| location = New Haven
| isbn = 978-0-300-12390-6
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/spiesrisefallofk00john/page/223 223-234]
}}</ref>

===Julius and Ethel Rosenberg===
{{Main|Julius and Ethel Rosenberg}}

Venona has added significant information to the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, making it clear Julius was guilty of espionage, and also showing that Ethel, while not acting as a principal, still acted as an accessory who took part in Julius's espionage activity and played a role in the recruitment of her brother for atomic espionage.<ref>{{cite book |last= Haynes |first= John |title= Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America |publisher= [[Yale University Press]] |location= [[New Haven, Connecticut]] |year= 2000 |isbn= 978-0-300-07771-1|quote=The Venona messages clearly display Julius Rosenberg's role as the leader of a productive ring of Soviet spies...they confirm that she [Ethel] was a participant in her husband's espionage and in the recruitment of her brother for atomic espionage. But they suggest that she was essentially an accessory to her husband's activity, having knowledge of it and assisting him but not acting as a principal.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/h/haynes-venona.html |access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref>

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg also had another connection to a recruit for the Soviets named David Greenglass, who was Ethel's brother and Julius's brother-in-law.

Venona and other recent information has shown that, while the content of Julius' atomic espionage was not as vital to the Soviets as alleged at the time of his espionage activities, in other fields it was extensive. The information Rosenberg passed to the Soviets concerned the [[proximity fuze]], design and production information on the [[P-80 Shooting Star|Lockheed P-80]] jet fighter, and thousands of classified reports from [[Emerson Radio]].

The Venona evidence indicates unidentified sources code-named "Quantum" and "Pers" who facilitated transfer of nuclear weapons technology to the Soviet Union from positions within the Manhattan Project. According to Alexander Vassiliev's notes from KGB archive, "Quantum" was [[Boris Podolsky]] and "Pers" was Russell W. McNutt, an engineer from the uranium processing plant in [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee|Oak Ridge]].<ref>{{cite book
| first1 = John Earl
| last1 = Haynes
| first2 = Harvey E.
| last2 = Klehr
| first3 = Alexander
| last3 = Vassiliev
| author-link3 = Alexander Vassiliev
| year = 2009
| title = Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America
| url = https://archive.org/details/spiesrisefallofk00john
| url-access = registration
| publisher = Yale University Press
| location = New Haven
| isbn = 978-0-300-12390-6
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/spiesrisefallofk00john/page/73 73], 339
}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Vassiliev-Notebooks-and-Venona-Index-Concordance.pdf Vassiliev-Notebooks-and-Venona-Index-Concordance.pdf], ed. 2013, pp: 325, 343</ref>

=== David Greenglass ===
[[David Greenglass]], codename KALIBER, was the brother of Ethel Rosenberg, and would be crucial in the conviction of the Rosenbergs. Greenglass was a former Army machinist who worked at Los Alamos. He was originally meant to replace a soldier who had gone AWOL, and lied on his security clearance in order to gain access onto the project.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=McFadden |first=Robert D. |date=2014-10-14 |title=David Greenglass, the Brother Who Doomed Ethel Rosenberg, Dies at 92 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/15/us/david-greenglass-spy-who-helped-seal-the-rosenbergs-doom-dies-at-92.html |access-date=2024-04-18 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Once Klaus Fuchs was caught, he gave up Harry Gold, who in turn, gave up Greenglass and his wife, as well as his sister and her husband. During their trial, Greenglass changed his story several times. At first, he didn't want to implicate his sister, but when his wife was threatened, he gave up both of them. According to Gerald Markowitz and Michael Meeropol, "In the Rosenberg-Sobell case, the government relied heavily upon the testimony of Greenglass, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage in exchange for a reduced sentence for himself and no indictment or prosecution for his wife, Ruth, who he alleged had aided him in committing espionage. Greenglass testified that he had passed information about the atom bomb to Gold and Rosenberg, who in turn passed it on to the Russians."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Markowitz |first1=Gerald E. |last2=Meeropol |first2=Michael |date=1980 |title=The "Crime of the Century" Revisited: David Greenglass' Scientific Evidence in the Rosenberg Case |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40402217 |journal=Science & Society |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=1–26 |jstor=40402217 |issn=0036-8237}}</ref> In the end, Greenglass was sentenced to 15 years but was released in 1960 after serving only nine and a half.<ref name=":0" />

===Klaus Fuchs===
{{Main|Klaus Fuchs}}

The Venona decryptions were also important in the exposure of the atomic spy Klaus Fuchs. Some of the earliest messages decrypted concerned information from a scientist at the Manhattan Project, who was referred to by the code names of CHARLES and REST.{{sfn|Benson|2001|p=16}} Fuchs had joined the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos in 1944 where he provided information for the development of a plutonium implosion design. He is also credited with being of great assistance to the creation of a Soviet atomic bomb. Fuchs even gave the Soviets the blueprint for the Trinity device that would be detonated at Los Alamos in July 1945.<ref name="Goodman 2003 1–22">{{Cite journal |last=Goodman |first=Michael S. |date=2003 |title=The grandfather of the hydrogen bomb?: Anglo-American intelligence and Klaus Fuchs |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/hsps.2003.34.1.1 |journal=Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1525/hsps.2003.34.1.1 |jstor=10.1525/hsps.2003.34.1.1 |issn=0890-9997}}</ref> One such message from Moscow to New York, dated April 10, 1945, called information provided by CHARLES "of great value." Noting that the information included "data on the atomic mass of the nuclear explosive" and "details on the explosive method of actuating" the atomic bomb, the message requested further technical details from CHARLES.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-documents/venona/dated/1945/assets/files/10apr_atomic_bomb_info.pdf|title=NSA, 2013}}</ref> Investigations based on the Venona decryptions eventually identified CHARLES and REST as Fuchs in 1949.{{sfn|Benson|2001|p=16}} Fuchs was eventually arrested and tried on March 1, 1950, where he confessed to four counts of espionage and received a maximum prison sentence of fourteen years.<ref name="Goodman 2003 1–22"/>

=== Harry Gold ===
{{Main|Harry Gold}}

The Venona decryptions also identified Soviet spy Harry Gold as an agent of the [[KGB]] who stole blueprints, industrial formulas, and methods on their behalf from 1935 until ultimately confessing to these actions in 1950.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Haynes |first1=John Earl |title=Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America |last2=Klehr |first2=Harvey |date=1999 |publisher=Yale University Press |jstor=j.ctt1npk87 |isbn=978-0-300-07771-1}}</ref> During his years of work under the KGB, Gold operated under the code names GOOSE and ARNOLD. Gold was eager to provide his services after being initially recruited by Thomas Black on behalf of the [[Amtorg Trading Corporation|Amtorg]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://vault.fbi.gov/rosenberg-case/thomas-black/thomas-black-part-11-of-1 | title=Subject T. Black | website=vault.fbi.gov}}</ref>

In 1935, Gold, with the assistance of Black, gained employment at the Pennsylvania Sugar Company, one of the largest producers of sugar in the world at the time. During his tenure, Gold worked under [[Semyon Semyonov]] and [[Klaus Fuchs]]. Over time, Gold began to work with Abraham Brothman, a fellow spy who was identified in Gold's confessions for stealing industrial processes on behalf of the Soviet Union and would later be convicted for lying under oath to a grand jury.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hornblum |first=Allen M. |title=The Invisible Harry Gold: The Man Who Gave the Soviets the Atom Bomb |date=2010 |publisher=Yale University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1npnvb |jstor=j.ctt1npnvb |isbn=978-0-300-15676-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/rosenberg-case/abraham-brothman/abraham-brothman/view|title=FBI Records: The Vault — Abraham Brothman Part 01 of 66}}</ref>

Gold's confessions turned out to be a major success for the FBI, as he would unveil a network of spies entrenched in the success of KGB espionage efforts. Along with Brothman,<ref>[https://vault.fbi.gov/rosenberg-case/harry-gold/harry-gold-part-51-of Alfred Slack]</ref> (sentenced to 15 years), [[David Greenglass]], and Julius Rosenberg were all arrested following the interrogations of Gold. With regard to [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]], Fuchs, Greenglass, and Gold all played a role in aiding the Soviet atomic espionage campaign.

===Alger Hiss and Harry Dexter White===
{{Main|Alger Hiss|Harry Dexter White}}

According to the Moynihan [[Commission on Government Secrecy]], the complicity of both Alger Hiss and Harry Dexter White is conclusively proven by Venona,<ref>{{cite web|title=Appendix A; SECRECY; A Brief Account of the American Experience |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |year=1997 |url=http://origin.www.gpo.gov/congress/commissions/secrecy/pdf/12hist1.pdf |pages=A–37  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629055716/http://origin.www.gpo.gov/congress/commissions/secrecy/pdf/12hist1.pdf |archive-date=June 29, 2007}}</ref><ref>[http://origin.www.gpo.gov/congress/commissions/secrecy/ "Report Of The Commission On Protecting And Reducing Government Secrecy"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721041016/http://origin.www.gpo.gov/congress/commissions/secrecy/ |date=2011-07-21}}</ref> stating "The complicity of Alger Hiss of the State Department seems settled. As does that of Harry Dexter White of the Treasury Department."<ref>
{{cite web
|url = http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hissVenona.html
|title = The Venona Files and the Alger Hiss Case
|access-date = 2006-06-27
|author = Linder, Douglas
|year = 2003

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060830194709/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hissvenona.html
|archive-date = 2006-08-30
}}</ref> In his 1998 book, United States Senator [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]] expressed certainty about Hiss's identification by Venona as a Soviet spy, writing "Hiss was indeed a Soviet agent and appears to have been regarded by Moscow as its most important."<ref>
{{cite book
| last = Moynihan
| first = Daniel Patrick
| year = 1998
| title = Secrecy: The American Experience
| url = https://archive.org/details/secrecyamericane00moyn
| url-access = registration
| publisher = Yale University Press
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/secrecyamericane00moyn/page/145 145–147]
| isbn = 978-0-300-08079-7
}}</ref>

===Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess===
{{More|Donald Maclean (spy){{!}}Donald Maclean|Guy Burgess}}
[[Kim Philby]] had access to CIA and FBI files, and more damaging, access to Venona Project briefings. When Philby learned of Venona in 1949, he obtained advance warning that his fellow Soviet spy Donald Maclean was in danger of being exposed. The FBI told Philby about an agent cryptonymed "Homer", whose 1945 message to Moscow had been decoded. As it had been sent from New York and had its origins in the British Embassy in Washington, Philby, who would not have known Maclean's cryptonym, deduced the sender's identity.<ref>Philipps, Roland. 2018. ''A Spy Named Orphan: The Enigma of Donald Maclean.'' New York: W.W. Norton & Company.</ref> By early 1951, Philby knew US intelligence would soon also conclude Maclean was the sender and advised Moscow to extract Maclean. This led to Maclean and Guy Burgess' flight in May 1951 to Moscow, where they lived the remainder of their lives.{{sfn|Modin|1994|pp=190–199}}

=== Guy Burgess ===
Guy Burgess served as a British diplomat during the developing bomb project in the United States. He became a Soviet informant after beginning his studies at the University of Cambridge, where he and his classmates (Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, and Donald Maclean) began developing ideals against a capitalist society.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Purvis |first=Stewart |title=Guy Burgess: The Spy Who Knew Everyone |date=January 28, 2016 |publisher=Biteback Publishing}}</ref> Burgess began developing connections throughout college as well as his future careers. He would continue to pass on information as a BBC Radio correspondent, an MI6 intelligence officer, and as a member of the British Foreign Office.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-19 |title=Guy Burgess {{!}} British Diplomat and Spy for the Soviet Union {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Guy-Burgess |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> When the Korean War began, Burgess and Philby passed on information regarding movements in Korea to Moscow.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Perry |first=Roland |title=Last of the Cold War Spies: The Life of Michael Straight |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2005}}</ref> Philby had been working closely with British and American intelligence, and was able to be in proximity to any intelligence findings. When the VENONA Project uncovered Julius Rosenberg (LIBERAL) and his wife Ethel, the project posted that they knew of a British spy with the codename HOMER, which Philby knew to be Maclean. Philby (codename STANLEY) reached out to Burgess to remove Maclean to the Soviet Union. Burgess at this point, was overseas in Washington DC serving in the British Foreign Office, and couldn't do much. In 1950, he was sent back to Britain due to "bad behavior", where he was able to warn Maclean. Burgess knew he was under suspicion by MI5, British counterintelligence, and Scotland Yard's Special Branch.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamrick |first=SJ |title=Deceiving the Deceivers: Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, and Guy Burgess |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2004}}</ref> Both Philby and Burgess knew that out of all of the possible people to crack under pressure, Maclean was the easy choice. When Burgess finally convinced Maclean to leave, they fled to Moscow, followed by Philby shortly after.

===Soviet espionage in Australia===
In addition to British and American operatives, Australians collected Venona intercepts at a remote base in the Australian [[Outback]]. The Soviets remained unaware of this base as late as 1950.{{sfn|Modin|1994|p=191}}

The founding of the [[Australian Security Intelligence Organisation]] (ASIO) by [[Australian Labor Party|Labor]] [[Prime Minister]] [[Ben Chifley]] in 1949 was considered highly controversial within Chifley's own party.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} Until then, the [[political left|left]]-leaning Australian Labor Party had been hostile to domestic intelligence agencies on [[civil liberties|civil-liberties]] grounds and a Labor government founding one seemed a surprising about-face.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} But the presentation of Venona material to Chifley, revealing evidence of Soviet agents operating in Australia, brought this about. As well as Australian diplomat suspects abroad, Venona had revealed [[Walter Seddon Clayton]] (cryptonym "KLOD"), a leading official within the [[Communist Party of Australia]] (CPA), as the chief organizer of Soviet intelligence gathering in Australia.<ref>Andrew, Christopher. "The Defence of the Realm. The Authorized History of MI5", 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-14-102330-4}}, p. 371</ref> Investigation revealed that Clayton formed an underground network within the CPA so that the party could continue to operate if it were banned.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} In 1950, [[George Ronald Richards]] was appointed ASIO's deputy-director of operations for Venona, based in Sydney, charged with investigating intelligence that uncovered the eleven Australians identified in the cables that had been decoded. He continued Venona-related work in London with [[MI5]] from November 1952 and went on to lead Operation Cabin 12, the high-profile [[Petrov Affair|1953–1954 defection]] to Australia of Soviet spy [[Vladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov (diplomat)|Vladimir Petrov]].<ref name="ADB">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Cain |first1=Frank |title=Richards, George Ronald (Ron) (1905–1985) |chapter=George Ronald (Ron) Richards (1905–1985) |url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/richards-george-ronald-ron-14450 |dictionary=Australian Dictionary of Biography |access-date=13 January 2018 |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}</ref>