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[[Image:KasparovKamenKheifitsLarge.gif|right|300px|thumb|Surveillance photograph taken by [[Manhattan Project]] security officials.  On the right is Gregory Kheifits, San Fransisco KGB ''Rezident'', center [[Martin Kamen]], left  [[Gregory Kasparov]] (Courtesy National Security Archives). [http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/kasparovkamenkheifits.htm] ]]

[[Image:KasparovKamenKheifitsLarge.gif|right|300px|thumb|Surveillance photograph taken by [[Manhattan Project]] security officials.  On the right is Gregory Kheifits, San Fransisco KGB ''Rezident'', center [[Martin Kamen]], left  [[Gregory Kasparov]] (Courtesy National Security Archives). [http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/kasparovkamenkheifits.htm] ]]

'''Grigory Kheifets''', also known as '''Grigori Kheifetz''', was the San Fransisco [[KGB]] station chief, or ''Rezident'', from December 1941 until July 1944. <ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00036.pdf ''The Venona Story''], Robert L. Benson, Center for Cryptological History, National Security Agency.</ref>

'''Grigory Kheifets''', also known as '''Grigori Kheifetz''', was the San Fransisco [[KGB]] station chief, or ''[[Rezident]]'', from December 1941 until July 1944. <ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00036.pdf ''The Venona Story''], Robert L. Benson, Center for Cryptological History, National Security Agency.</ref>

Kheifetz first contact with [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] came at a party to raise money for [[Spanish Civil War]] refugees hosted by Kheifetz's mistress, [[Louise Bransten]] on December 6, 1941, the day before Pearl Harbor. <ref>Pavel Sudoplatov, Anatoli Sudoplatov, Jerrold L. Schecter, Leona P. Schecter, ''Special Tasks: The Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness -- A Soviet Spymaster'', Little Brown, Boston (1994), pg. 175.</ref>  Kheifetz managed to meet Oppenheimer alone for lunch later in December 1941 where Oppenheimer told Kheifetz about the Einstein-Szilard letter to President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] and provided details on the current status of the US atomic research program. <ref>Jerrold Schecter and Leona Schecter, ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History'', Brassey's Inc., Washington, DC, 2002, pgs. 47-49.</ref>  Kheifetz advised Moscow by cable from Washington that the outstanding physicists in the Allied world including Nobel Prize winners and giants like [[Albert Einstein]], were involved in a secret project.  This changed Moscow's attitude toward about the atomic project.

Kheifetz first contact with [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] came at a party to raise money for [[Spanish Civil War]] refugees hosted by Kheifetz's mistress, [[Louise Bransten]] on December 6, 1941, the day before Pearl Harbor. <ref>Pavel Sudoplatov, Anatoli Sudoplatov, Jerrold L. Schecter, Leona P. Schecter, ''Special Tasks: The Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness -- A Soviet Spymaster'', Little Brown, Boston (1994), pg. 175.</ref>  Kheifetz managed to meet Oppenheimer alone for lunch later in December 1941 where Oppenheimer told Kheifetz about the Einstein-Szilard letter to President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] and provided details on the current status of the US atomic research program. <ref>Jerrold Schecter and Leona Schecter, ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History'', Brassey's Inc., Washington, DC, 2002, pgs. 47-49.</ref>  Kheifetz advised Moscow by cable from Washington that the outstanding physicists in the Allied world including Nobel Prize winners and giants like [[Albert Einstein]], were involved in a secret project.  This changed Moscow's attitude toward about the atomic project.

Kheifetz and Oppenheimer discussed Stalin's plans to set up a Jewish Soviet Socialist Republic homeland in the Crimea after the war was over. Kheifetz said that Oppenheimer was deeply moved by the information that a secure place for Jews in the Soviet Union was guaranteed. <ref>''Special Tasks'', pg. 50.</ref>

Kheifetz and Oppenheimer discussed Stalin's plans to set up a Jewish Soviet Socialist Republic homeland in the Crimea after the war was over. Kheifetz said that Oppenheimer was deeply moved by the information that a secure place for Jews in the Soviet Union was guaranteed. <ref>''Special Tasks'', pg. 50.</ref>

With the help of [[Elizabeth Zarubina]], the wife of North American Rezident [[Vasili Zarubin]], Kheifetz and Zarubina persuaded Oppenheimer to share information with "antifascists of German origin," which provided a rationale for taking [[Klaus Fuchs]] to [[Los Alamos]]. Oppenheimer agreed to hire, and promote these people, provided he received confirmation of their opposition to Nazism before they came to the project. Under Oppenheimer's initiative, Fuchs was given access to material that he had no right to look at. <ref>''Special Tasks'', pgs. 109, 193.</ref>

With the help of [[Elizabeth Zarubina]], the wife of North American [[Rezident]] [[Vasili Zarubin]], Kheifetz and Zarubina persuaded Oppenheimer to share information with "antifascists of German origin," which provided a rationale for taking [[Klaus Fuchs]] to [[Los Alamos]]. Oppenheimer agreed to hire, and promote these people, provided he received confirmation of their opposition to Nazism before they came to the project. Under Oppenheimer's initiative, Fuchs was given access to material that he had no right to look at. <ref>''Special Tasks'', pgs. 109, 193.</ref>

On the request of Kheifetz and confirmed by [[Earl Browder]], Oppenheimer provided cooperation in access to research for several of KGB tested sources including a relative of Browder. <ref>''Special Tasks'', pg. 3.</ref><ref>Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, ''The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era'', Random House, 1999. ISBN 0788164228 </ref>

On the request of Kheifetz and confirmed by [[Earl Browder]], Oppenheimer provided cooperation in access to research for several of KGB tested sources including a relative of Browder. <ref>''Special Tasks'', pg. 3.</ref><ref>Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, ''The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era'', Random House, 1999. ISBN 0788164228 </ref>

By 1943 it was decided in Moscow that all contacts with Oppenheimer would be through unregistered illegal agents only. [[Lev Vasilevsky]], the Rezident in Mexico City was put in charge of running the illegal network after September 1943.  Kheifetz and [[Semyon Semenov]] were instructed to turn over all their contacts around Oppenheimer in California.  So secretive was the operation that under Beria's direct orders Kheifetz and Semyenov were instructed not to tell anyone in the Soviet Foreign Intelligence service about the transfer of contacts to the Mexico City ''Rezidentura''. <ref>''Special Tasks'', pgs. 187.</ref>

By 1943 it was decided in Moscow that all contacts with Oppenheimer would be through unregistered illegal agents only. [[Lev Vasilevsky]], the [[Rezident]] in Mexico City was put in charge of running the illegal network after September 1943.  Kheifetz and [[Semyon Semenov]] were instructed to turn over all their contacts around Oppenheimer in California.  So secretive was the operation that under Beria's direct orders Kheifetz and Semyenov were instructed not to tell anyone in the Soviet Foreign Intelligence service about the transfer of contacts to the Mexico City ''[[Rezidentura]]''. <ref>''Special Tasks'', pgs. 187.</ref>

A memo from Vselovod Merkulov to Lavrenti Beria dated October 2, 1944 read:  

A memo from Vselovod Merkulov to Lavrenti Beria dated October 2, 1944 read: