Changes

A State Department internal security probe of Hiss (made public in 1993)<ref>Sam Tanenhaus, "New Reasons to Doubt Hiss," ''Wall Street Journal'', November 18, 1993</ref> ordered by Secretary of State James F. Byrnes<ref>Ron Capshaw, "[http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=E9146EC9-A031-4F77-9691-F4C7F1ACA9F4 Alger Hiss: The Left's Religious Icon]," FrontPageMagazine.com, May 4, 2007</ref> revealed that in February 1945, Hiss requested top-secret files from the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (precursor of the CIA) on British, Soviet, French and Chinese internal security policies, as well as Far East policy;<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, pp. 361-362</ref> FBI surveillance at this time found that Hiss also developed "a keen interest in atomic energy," and other matters relating to military intelligence,<ref>Sam Tanenhaus, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=WNp4AAAAMAAJ&pgis=1 Whittaker Chambers: A Biography]'' (New York: Random House, 1997) ISBN 0375751459, pp. 519; John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=M8p00bTFvRkC Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America]'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 172; Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'', New York: Random House, (ed. 1997), pp. 321-322.</ref>&mdash;all of which was well outside the purview of his office.<ref>John Earl Haynes, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page63.html Ales: Hiss, Foote, Stettinius?]" johnearlhaynes.org, June 7, 2007; Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 363</ref> Loy Henderson, director of the State Department Office of Near East Affairs (NEA), quietly ordered members of NEA to keep confidential materials and information from Hiss.<ref>H. W. Brands, ''Inside the Cold War: Loy Henderson and the Rise of the American Empire, 1918-1961'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991) ISBN 0-19-506707-X, pp. 297-298</ref>

A State Department internal security probe of Hiss (made public in 1993)<ref>Sam Tanenhaus, "New Reasons to Doubt Hiss," ''Wall Street Journal'', November 18, 1993</ref> ordered by Secretary of State James F. Byrnes<ref>Ron Capshaw, "[http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=E9146EC9-A031-4F77-9691-F4C7F1ACA9F4 Alger Hiss: The Left's Religious Icon]," FrontPageMagazine.com, May 4, 2007</ref> revealed that in February 1945, Hiss requested top-secret files from the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (precursor of the CIA) on British, Soviet, French and Chinese internal security policies, as well as Far East policy;<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, pp. 361-362</ref> FBI surveillance at this time found that Hiss also developed "a keen interest in atomic energy," and other matters relating to military intelligence,<ref>Sam Tanenhaus, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=WNp4AAAAMAAJ&pgis=1 Whittaker Chambers: A Biography]'' (New York: Random House, 1997) ISBN 0375751459, pp. 519; John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=M8p00bTFvRkC Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America]'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 172; Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'', New York: Random House, (ed. 1997), pp. 321-322.</ref>&mdash;all of which was well outside the purview of his office.<ref>John Earl Haynes, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page63.html Ales: Hiss, Foote, Stettinius?]" johnearlhaynes.org, June 7, 2007; Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 363</ref> Loy Henderson, director of the State Department Office of Near East Affairs (NEA), quietly ordered members of NEA to keep confidential materials and information from Hiss.<ref>H. W. Brands, ''Inside the Cold War: Loy Henderson and the Rise of the American Empire, 1918-1961'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991) ISBN 0-19-506707-X, pp. 297-298</ref>

On February 4, 1945,<ref>[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/coldwar/index.php?action=chrono Ideological Foundations of the Cold War], Harry S. Truman Library, National Archives and Records Administration</ref> Hiss accompanied [[FDR]] to his meeting with [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] and [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]] at [[Yalta conference|Yalta]], as aide to Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.,<ref>John Ehrman, "[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no4/alger_hiss.html Alger Hiss’s Looking-Glass Wars: Intelligence in Recent Public Literature]," ''Studies in Intelligence'', Volume 48, Number 4</ref> over whom Hiss exercised "Svengali-like influence," according to J. Anthony Panuch, Assistant Secretary of State for Security.<ref>Panuch to Russell, March 7, 1946, Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Eighty-Third Congress, First Session, June 25, 1953 [http://ia311318.us.archive.org/0/items/interlockingsubv13unit/interlockingsubv13unit_bw.pdf Interlocking Subversion in Government Departments, Part 13] (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1953), p. 853. (Cf. Louis Francis Budenz, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=IkqboMAiCkkC The Techniques of Communism]'' (New York: Ayer Publishing, 1977) ISBN 0405099428, p. 287) Dean Acheson subsequently forced Panuch, not Hiss, out of the State Department. (Subcommittee on Internal Security, Committee on the Judiciary, U. S. Senate [http://ia360635.us.archive.org/3/items/interlockingsubv1953unit/interlockingsubv1953unit_bw.pdf Interlocking Subversion in Government Departments] [Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1953], pp. 9-10)</ref> Stettinius gave Hiss remarkable control over [[FDR]]'s access to information, directing that "all memoranda for the President on topics to be discussed at the Meeting of the Big Three should be in the hands of Mr. Alger Hiss not later than Monday, January 15."<ref>Rothwell to Rockefeller, January 10, 1945, United States Department of State, ''[http://images.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/EFacs/1945/reference/frus.frus1945.i0010.pdf Foreign relations of the United States. Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945]'' (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1945), p. [http://images.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/EFacs/1945/XL/0124.gif 42]. Cf. p. [http://images.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/EFacs/1945/XL/0527.gif 441] (PDF p. 445), University of Wisconsin Digital Collections</ref> Nor did Hiss' influence stop there: When Roosevelt asked the Secretary of State "to get a lawyer to consult with him over the wording of the Polish boundary statement," wrote Stettinius, "I called Alger Hiss."<ref>Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=IjhQ_gsiCzwC Roosevelt and the Russians]'' (Whitefish, Mont.: Kettinger Publishing, 2005) ISBN 1419103105, p. 270</ref>

On February 4, 1945,<ref>[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/coldwar/index.php?action=chrono Ideological Foundations of the Cold War], Harry S. Truman Library, National Archives and Records Administration</ref> Hiss accompanied [[FDR]] to his meeting with [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] and [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]] at [[Yalta conference|Yalta]], as aide to Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.,<ref>John Ehrman, "[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no4/alger_hiss.html Alger Hiss’s Looking-Glass Wars: Intelligence in Recent Public Literature]," ''Studies in Intelligence'', Volume 48, Number 4</ref> over whom Hiss exercised "Svengali-like influence," according to J. Anthony Panuch, Assistant Secretary of State for Security.<ref>Panuch to Russell, March 7, 1946, Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Eighty-Third Congress, First Session, June 25, 1953 [http://ia311318.us.archive.org/0/items/interlockingsubv13unit/interlockingsubv13unit_bw.pdf Interlocking Subversion in Government Departments, Part 13] (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1953), p. 853. (Cf. Louis Francis Budenz, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=IkqboMAiCkkC The Techniques of Communism]'' (New York: Ayer Publishing, 1977) ISBN 0405099428, p. 287) Dean Acheson subsequently forced Panuch, not Hiss, out of the State Department. (Subcommittee on Internal Security, Committee on the Judiciary, U. S. Senate [http://ia360635.us.archive.org/3/items/interlockingsubv1953unit/interlockingsubv1953unit_bw.pdf Interlocking Subversion in Government Departments] [Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1953], pp. 9-10)</ref> Stettinius gave Hiss remarkable control over [[FDR]]'s access to information, directing that "all memoranda for the President on topics to be discussed at the Meeting of the Big Three should be in the hands of Mr. Alger Hiss not later than Monday, January 15."<ref>Rothwell to Rockefeller, January 10, 1945, United States Department of State, ''[http://images.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/EFacs/1945/reference/frus.frus1945.i0010.pdf Foreign relations of the United States. Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945]'' (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1945), p. [http://images.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/EFacs/1945/XL/0124.gif 42]. Cf. p. [http://images.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/EFacs/1945/XL/0527.gif 441] (PDF p. 445), University of Wisconsin Digital Collections</ref> Nor did Hiss' influence stop there: When Roosevelt asked the Secretary of State "to get a lawyer to consult with him over the wording of the Polish boundary statement," wrote Stettinius, "I called Alger Hiss."<ref>Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=IjhQ_gsiCzwC Roosevelt and the Russians]'' (Whitefish, Mont.: Kettinger Publishing, 2005) ISBN 1419103105, p. 270</ref> Asked if he had "drafted or participated in the drafting" of parts of the Yalta agreement, Hiss would later testify, "I think it is accurate and not an immodest statement to say that I did to some extent, yes."<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities], August 5, 1948</ref>

According to Sudoplatov, "One of the officials [at Yalta] we had established confidential relations with was Alger Hiss," who was "highly sympathetic to the interests of the Soviet Union."<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. 227</ref> According to confidential [[GRU]] sources, during the conference, Hiss gave daily briefings to General Mikhail Abramovich Milshtein, a military adviser to Stalin and the deputy director of the [[GRU]], revealing not only the American negotiating strategy but insights into the attitudes of the American negotiators.<ref>Jerrold and Leona Schecter, ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History''(Washington: Potomac Books Inc., 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. 130</ref> Sudoplatov added:

According to Sudoplatov, "One of the officials [at Yalta] we had established confidential relations with was Alger Hiss," who was "highly sympathetic to the interests of the Soviet Union."<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. 227</ref> According to confidential [[GRU]] sources, during the conference, Hiss gave daily briefings to General Mikhail Abramovich Milshtein, a military adviser to Stalin and the deputy director of the [[GRU]], revealing not only the American negotiating strategy but insights into the attitudes of the American negotiators.<ref>Jerrold and Leona Schecter, ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History''(Washington: Potomac Books Inc., 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. 130</ref> Sudoplatov added:

{{cquote|In conversation, Hiss disclosed to Oumansky,<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,851866,00.html Ambassador Extraordinary]," ''Time'', November 22, 1943</ref> and then Litvinov,<ref>Hugh D. Phillips, ''Between the revolution and the West: a political biography of Maxim M. Litvinov'' (New York: Westview Press, 1992) ISBN 0813310385</ref> official U.S. attitudes and plans; he was also very close to our sources who were cooperating with Soviet intelligence and to our active intelligence operators in the United States. Within this framework of exchange of confidential information were references to Hiss as the source who told us the Americans were prepared to make a deal in Europe.<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. 227</ref>}}

{{cquote|In conversation, Hiss disclosed to Oumansky,<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,851866,00.html Ambassador Extraordinary]," ''Time'', November 22, 1943</ref> and then Litvinov,<ref>Hugh D. Phillips, ''Between the revolution and the West: a political biography of Maxim M. Litvinov'' (New York: Westview Press, 1992) ISBN 0813310385</ref> official U.S. attitudes and plans; he was also very close to our sources who were cooperating with Soviet intelligence and to our active intelligence operators in the United States. Within this framework of exchange of confidential information were references to Hiss as the source who told us the Americans were prepared to make a deal in Europe.<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. 227</ref>}}

At the conference, the U.S. ceded hegemony over Eastern Europe to Stalin and made a secret agreement giving the Soviet Union three votes in the UN to one for the U.S.<ref>Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky, ''[http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?action=downloadpdf&photo=/PDFsml_AD/Seeds_Of_Treason-Ralph_de_Toledano_and_Victor_Lasky-1950-278pgs-POL.sml.pdf&id=343&PHPSESSID=b964065077a1de19538c4c7b1cf9e825 Seeds of Treason: The True Story of the Hiss-Chambers Tragedy]'', (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1950), ASIN B0007DS43A pp. 107-109.</ref> The conference ended February 11; the next day, [[Franklin Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] was dead.<ref>[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/coldwar/index.php?action=chrono Ideological Foundations of the Cold War], Harry S. Truman Library, National Archives and Records Administration</ref>

At the conference, the U.S. ceded eastern Poland to the Soviet Union,<ref>Gregor Dallas, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=LXdVF6LmTa8C 1945: The War That Never Ended]'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005) ISBN 0300109806, p. 557</ref> (essentially ratifying the deal Stalin had made with Hitler in the "secret protocols" of the [[Nazi-Soviet pact]]),<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/pdfs/NonAggressionPact.pdf Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with Secret Protocols, August 23, 1939], World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West (PBS)</ref> gave the Soviet Union three votes in the UN to one for the U.S.,<ref>Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky, ''[http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?action=downloadpdf&photo=/PDFsml_AD/Seeds_Of_Treason-Ralph_de_Toledano_and_Victor_Lasky-1950-278pgs-POL.sml.pdf&id=343&PHPSESSID=b964065077a1de19538c4c7b1cf9e825 Seeds of Treason: The True Story of the Hiss-Chambers Tragedy]'', (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1950), ASIN B0007DS43A pp. 107-109 (PDF 115-117)</ref> and agreed to forced "repatriation" of refugees for slave labor<ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/cab_195_3_transcript.pdf War Cabinet Minutes], p. 182</ref> or death in the Soviet Gulag.<ref>Nikolai Tolstoy, ''The Secret Betrayal'' (New York: Scribner, 1978) ISBN 0684156350; Julius Epstein, ''Operation Keelhaul: The Story of Forced Repatriation from 1944 to the Present'' (Devin-Adair Co., 1973) ISBN 978-0815964070</ref> In addition, Roosevelt made a secret agreement with Stalin (Churchill was not informed), giving the Soviets Japanese territory, as well as economic rights in Manchuria.<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/the-conferences.html#Argonaut2 Yalta (codename Argonaut, phase 2 Magneto)], World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West (PBS)</ref> The complete text of all the agreements was not disclosed until 1947.<ref>"[http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Yalta_Conference.aspx Yalta Conference]," ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', Sixth Edition, 2008</ref> U.S. Ambassador to Poland Arthur Bliss Lane resigned in protest, writing, "As I glanced over the document, I could not believe my eyes: To me, almost every line spoke of a surrender to Stalin."<ref>Arthur Bliss Lane, ''I Saw Poland Betrayed: An American Ambassador Reports to the American People'' (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1948) ASIN B000NWTIF8, p. 56</ref> The conference ended February 11; the next day, [[Franklin Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] was dead.<ref>[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/coldwar/index.php?action=chrono Ideological Foundations of the Cold War], Harry S. Truman Library, National Archives and Records Administration</ref>

[[Image:Hissetal.jpg|thumb|300 px|Vishinskii (2nd from left), Molotov (5th from left), Stettinius (7th from left), Alger Hiss (right), ca. January 1945. ''Image courtesy Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records Administration'']]After the conference, Hiss went on to Moscow,<ref>John Ehrman, "[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol51no4/pdf-files/Ehrman_Alger_Hiss_Again-Web%20(U).pdf The Mystery of 'ALES': Once Again, the Alger Hiss Case]," ''Studies in Intelligence'', Vol. 51, no. 4 (2007), p. ; John F. Fox, Jr., "[http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/history/foxpaper.htm In the Enemy’s House: Venona and the Maturation of American Counterintelligence]," 2005 Symposium on Cryptologic History, October 27, 2005; Eduard Mark, "Who was 'Venona's' 'Ales'? Cryptanalysis and the Hiss Case," ''Intelligence and National Security'' 18 (Autumn 2003), pp. 54-55, 57-88, 62, 64</ref> where he was reportedly decorated with the Order of the Red Star<ref>John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=qCAVQ_cdomcC Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America]'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009) ISBN 0300123906, p. 278; Robert L. Beisner, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=D9Zb_feBUdkC Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War]''' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) ISBN 0195045785, p. 282; G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FvR4HBTiYzAC Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy]'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 226; Jerrold and Leona Schecter, ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History''(Washington: Potomac Books Inc., 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. 131</ref> and honored by Foreign Minister [[Vyacheslav Molotov|V.M. Molotov]].<ref>Ralph De Toledano, “[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_47_17/ai_80900413/ Hiss defenders covering for the `old man'],” ''Insight on the News'', December 17, 2001</ref> On April 25, 1945, [[Pavel Fitin]], head of [[NKVD]] foreign intelligence, reported to NKVD Chief Vsevolod Merkulov<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,858400-1,00.html Policeman on Trial]," ''Time'', December 28, 1953</ref> that [[Harold Glasser]], a Soviet agent in the [[United States Department of the Treasury|U.S. Treasury]] code-named "Ruble," learned of the award from his friend, "Ales," a [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]] agent:

[[Image:Hissetal.jpg|thumb|300 px|Vishinskii (2nd from left), Molotov (5th from left), Stettinius (7th from left), Alger Hiss (right), ca. January 1945. ''Image courtesy Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records Administration'']]After the conference, Hiss went on to Moscow,<ref>John Ehrman, "[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol51no4/pdf-files/Ehrman_Alger_Hiss_Again-Web%20(U).pdf The Mystery of 'ALES': Once Again, the Alger Hiss Case]," ''Studies in Intelligence'', Vol. 51, no. 4 (2007), p. ; John F. Fox, Jr., "[http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/history/foxpaper.htm In the Enemy’s House: Venona and the Maturation of American Counterintelligence]," 2005 Symposium on Cryptologic History, October 27, 2005; Eduard Mark, "Who was 'Venona's' 'Ales'? Cryptanalysis and the Hiss Case," ''Intelligence and National Security'' 18 (Autumn 2003), pp. 54-55, 57-88, 62, 64</ref> where he was reportedly decorated with the Order of the Red Star<ref>John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=qCAVQ_cdomcC Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America]'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009) ISBN 0300123906, p. 278; Robert L. Beisner, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=D9Zb_feBUdkC Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War]''' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) ISBN 0195045785, p. 282; G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FvR4HBTiYzAC Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy]'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 226; Jerrold and Leona Schecter, ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History''(Washington: Potomac Books Inc., 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. 131</ref> and honored by Foreign Minister [[Vyacheslav Molotov|V.M. Molotov]].<ref>Ralph De Toledano, “[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_47_17/ai_80900413/ Hiss defenders covering for the `old man'],” ''Insight on the News'', December 17, 2001</ref> On April 25, 1945, [[Pavel Fitin]], head of [[NKVD]] foreign intelligence, reported to NKVD Chief Vsevolod Merkulov<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,858400-1,00.html Policeman on Trial]," ''Time'', December 28, 1953</ref> that [[Harold Glasser]], a Soviet agent in the [[United States Department of the Treasury|U.S. Treasury]] code-named "Ruble," learned of the award from his friend, "Ales," a [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]] agent: