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"Mr. Guver."
The '''Venona project''' intercepted codes passed among agents of the [[Communism|communist]] [[Soviet Union]], and attempted to decrypt them. This was a project by the [[United States of America|United States]] and [[United Kingdom]] during the [[Cold War]]. It helped identify people who were spying for the Soviet Union, and passing military secrets (such as information about the [[atomic bomb]] to it). Historians John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr have stated,
The '''Venona project''' intercepted codes passed among agents of the [[Communism|communist]] [[Soviet Union]], and attempted to decrypt them. This was a project by the [[United States of America|United States]] and [[United Kingdom]] during the [[Cold War]]. It helped identify people who were spying for the Soviet Union, and passing military secrets (such as information about the [[atomic bomb]] to it). Historians John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr have stated,
:Unfortunately, the success of government secrecy in this case has seriously distorted our understanding of post-[[World War II]] history. Hundreds of books and thousands of essays on [[Joseph_McCarthy#Tensions_of_the_times|McCarthyism]], the federal loyalty security program, Soviet espionage, American communism, and the early [[Cold War]] have perpetuated many myths that have given Americans a warped view of the nation's history in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. <ref>Haynes, John Earl & Klehr, Harvey ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'', Yale University Press, (2000), p. 18. ISBN 0300084625. </ref>
:Unfortunately, the success of government secrecy in this case has seriously distorted our understanding of post-[[World War II]] history. Hundreds of books and thousands of essays on [[Joseph_McCarthy#Tensions_of_the_times|McCarthyism]], the federal loyalty security program, Soviet espionage, American communism, and the early [[Cold War]] have perpetuated many myths that have given Americans a warped view of the nation's history in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. <ref>Haynes, John Earl & Klehr, Harvey ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'', Yale University Press, (2000), p. 18. ISBN 0300084625. </ref>
==Background==
The Moynihan Commissions of Government Secrecy wrote in its final report, "The first fact is that a significant Communist conspiracy was in place in Washington, New York, and Hollywood" <ref>[http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/appa6.html Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy, Appendix A 6. The Experience of The Bomb]</ref> The Commission's final report also included, "the United States Government possessed information which the American public desperately needed to know: proof that there had been a serious attack on American security by the Soviet Union, with considerable assistance from what was, indeed, an “enemy within.” ... Only the American public was denied this information." <ref>[http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/appa7.html Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy, Appendix A 7. The Cold War]</ref>
The Moynihan Commissions of Government Secrecy wrote in its final report, "The first fact is that a significant Communist conspiracy was in place in Washington, New York, and Hollywood" <ref>[http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/appa6.html Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy, Appendix A 6. The Experience of The Bomb]</ref> The Commission's final report also included, "the United States Government possessed information which the American public desperately needed to know: proof that there had been a serious attack on American security by the Soviet Union, with considerable assistance from what was, indeed, an “enemy within.” ... Only the American public was denied this information." <ref>[http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/appa7.html Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy, Appendix A 7. The Cold War]</ref>
a personal aide to [[Franklin Roosevelt]]; and [[Maurice Halperin]],<ref>Warner, Michael, 2000. [https://www.cia.gov/csi/books/oss/art07.htm The Office of Strategic Services: America's First Intelligence Agency]; Chapter: X-2. Central Intelligence Agency Publications. "[[Duncan C. Lee]], Research & Analysis labor economist [[Donald Wheeler]], Morale Operations Indonesia expert [[Jane Foster Zlatowski]], and Research & Analysis Latin America specialist Maurice Halperin, nevertheless passed information to Moscow." For title page to book, see [https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/oss/index.htm here]</ref>
a personal aide to [[Franklin Roosevelt]]; and [[Maurice Halperin]],<ref>Warner, Michael, 2000. [https://www.cia.gov/csi/books/oss/art07.htm The Office of Strategic Services: America's First Intelligence Agency]; Chapter: X-2. Central Intelligence Agency Publications. "[[Duncan C. Lee]], Research & Analysis labor economist [[Donald Wheeler]], Morale Operations Indonesia expert [[Jane Foster Zlatowski]], and Research & Analysis Latin America specialist Maurice Halperin, nevertheless passed information to Moscow." For title page to book, see [https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/oss/index.htm here]</ref>
a section head in the Office of Strategic Services. By comparing the known movements of the agents with the corresponding activities described in the intercepts, the FBI and the code-breakers were able to match the aliases with the actual spies.<ref>Moynihan, Daniel Patrick, 1998, ''Secrecy : The American Experience'', Yale University Press, pg. 54, ISBN 0-300-08079-4. </ref> Nearly every American military and diplomatic agency of any importance was compromised to some extent<ref>Peale, ''The Venona Progeny''. </ref>
a section head in the Office of Strategic Services. By comparing the known movements of the agents with the corresponding activities described in the intercepts, the FBI and the code-breakers were able to match the aliases with the actual spies.<ref>Moynihan, Daniel Patrick, 1998, ''Secrecy : The American Experience'', Yale University Press, pg. 54, ISBN 0-300-08079-4. </ref> Nearly every American military and diplomatic agency of any importance was compromised to some extent<ref>Peale, ''The Venona Progeny''. </ref>
=="Mr. Hoover"==
One of the more bizarre incidents in the Venona investigation occurred a few years before work was ever begun on deciphering encryptions. A Soviet assistant to the KGB Washington station chief became displeased with his superior and case officers he was working with. Lt. Col. [[Vassili Mironov]], who's cover name was Markov, wrote an anonymous letter to FBI Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] in August 1943 in Russian on a Cyrilic typewritten. There is no "H" in the Cyrilic alphabet, so in Russian the letter is addressed to "Mr. Guver."
In the letter, Mironov names several high level KGB operatives, many involved in the ongoing atomic espionage, and suggest surveilling them would lead to incrimination. Cited in the letter is Mironov's boss, [[Vasili Zarubin]], the North American KGB Rezident; Zarubin's wife [[Elizabeth Zarubina]] who was accreditted in 1992 as playing a significant role in recruiting [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] and infiltrating [[Klaus Fuchs]] into the Manhattan Project; [[Semyon Semenov]] said to be "robbing the whole of the war industry in America;" [[Grigory Kheifets]], KGB San Fransisco Rezident who first contacted Oppenheimer at Berkley and managed other contacts; and [[Leon Tarasov]], KGB Mexico City Rezident to whom the targeting of the [[Los Alamos]], New Mexico facility and operations connected with it were transfered to in order to gain better operational security.
Mironov made an assertion that the information is boss, Zurabin, was obtaining from all these sources was being sent to Japan, and not the Soviet Union. Mironov and several others were all recalled to Moscow and an investigation found this to be untrue. Mironov was diagnosed schizophrenic, hospitalized, and later shot.
==See also==
==See also==