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Original article created by me, my version from WP
The Perlo group, led by [[Victor Perlo]] was a [[Soviet]] [[spy]] ring in the [[United States]] during [[World War II]]. Its existence was revealed by [[Elizabeth Bentley]].
The '''Perlo group''' had sources on the [[War Production Board]], the Senate [[LaFollette Committee|La Follette Subcommittee on Civil Liberties]]; and in the United States [[U.S. Department of Treasury|Department of Treasury]]. The first [[Venona]] transcript referencing the Perlo group states all member names in clear text. Code names had not yet been assigned, except in the case of [[Harold Glasser]], who had already been assigned a code name because of previous engagements with Soviet espionage.
The Perlo group fits into the [[Venona project]] information when transcript # 687 of 13 May 1944 is examined. [[Iskhak Akhmerov]] in New York City personally prepared a report to [[MGB]] headquarters in Moscow advising that some unspecified action had been taken regarding [[Elizabeth Bentley]] in accordance with instructions of [[Earl Browder]]. Akhmerov then made reference to winter and also to [[Harry Magdoff]]. This latter reference was then followed by a statement that in Bentley's opinion "they" are reliable. It was also mentioned that no one had interested himself in their possibilities.
The name Golovin was mentioned, and it was then reported that [[Victor Perlo]], [[Charles Kramer]], [[Edward Fitzgerald (Soviet spy)|Edward Fitzgerald]] and Harry Magdoff would take turns coming to New York every two weeks. Akhmerov said Kramer and Fitzgerald knew [[Greg Silvermaster]], whose cover name was later changed to "Robert".
Bentley advised that [[Jacob Golos]] informed her he had made contact with a group in Washington, D.C. through Earl Browder. After the death of Golos in 1943, two meetings were arranged with this group in 1944. The first meeting was arranged by Browder and was held in early 1944. The meetings were held in the apartment of [[John Abt]] in New York City and Bentley was introduced to four individuals identified as Victor Perlo, Charles Kramer, Harry Magdoff and Edward Fitzgerald.
==KGB Archives==
[[Allen Weinstein]] and Alexander Vassiliev in ''Haunted Wood'', a book written from an examination of KGB Archives in Moscow, report the KGB credits the Perlo group members with having sent, among other items, the following 1945 [[U.S. Government]] documents to Moscow:
''February''
*Contents of a [[WPB]] memo dealing with apportionment of aircraft to the USSR in the event of war on [[Japan]];
*WPB discussion of the produciton policy regarding war materials at an Executive Committee meeting;
*Documents on future territorial planning for commoditiies in short supply;
*Documents on a priority system for foreign orders for producing goods in the United States after the end of the war in Europe;
*Documents on [[trade policy]] and [[trade controls]] after the war;
*Documents on arms production in the United States in January 1945;
''March''
*A WPB report on "Aluminum for the USSR and current political issues in the U.S. over aluminum supplies" (2/26/45);
''April''
*Documents concerning the committee developing plans for the U.S. economy after the defeat of Germany, and also regarding war orders for the war against Japan;
*Documents on the production of the [[B-29]] bomber and the [[B-32]];
*Tactical characteristics of various bombers and fighters;
*Materials on the United States using [[Saudi Arabian]] [[oil resources]];
''June''
*Data concerning U.S. war [[industry production]] in May from the WPB's secret report;
Data concerning plans for a 1945-1946 [[United States aircraft production during World War II|
aircraft production]] from the WPB;
*More data on specific aircrafts' technical aspects;
''August''
*Data concerning the new [[Export-Import Bank]];
*Data concerning supplies of American aircraft to the [[Allies]] in June 1945;
*Data from the top secret WPB report on U.S. [[war industry]] production in June;
''October''
*Detailed data concerning the industrial capacities of the Western occupation zones of Germany that could be brought out as [[reparations]];
*Information on views within the [[U.S. Army]] circles concerning the inevitablity of war agaisnt the USSR as well as statements by an [[air force]] general supporting U.S. acquisition of advanced bases in Europe for building [[missiles]].
==Members==
Victor Perlo headed the Perlo group. Perlo was originally a member of the [[Harold Ware|Ware group]] before [[World War II]]. <!--He was chief of the Aviation Section of the [[War Production Board]].--> The ring included a Senate staff director and supplied the [[Soviet Union]] with United States aircraft production figures. Perlo infiltrated through the [[Department of Commerce |United States Department of Commerce]] in 1938 to gather data on basic economic decisions he presented to [[Harry Hopkins]], Secretary of Commerce. He transferred to the Division of Monetary Research, and served under [[Harry Dexter White]], followed by [[Frank Coe]] and [[Harold Glasser]]. Perlo left the government in 1947. Perlo also worked for the [[Brookings Institution]] and wrote ''American Imperialism''. Perlo's code name in Soviet intelligence and in the [[Venona project]] is "Raider".
*[[Victor Perlo]], Chief of the Aviation Section of the [[War Production Board]]; head of branch in Research Section, Office of Price Administration Department of Commerce; Division of Monetary Research Department of Treasury; Brookings Institution
* [[Edward Fitzgerald (Soviet spy)|Edward Fitzgerald]], War Production Board
* [[Harold Glasser]], Director, Division of Monetary Research, United States Department of the Treasury; [[United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration]]; War Production Board; Advisor on North African Affairs Committee; United States Treasury Representative to the [[Allied Commission|Allied High Commission in Italy]]
* [[Alger Hiss]], Director of the Office of Special Political Affairs United States Department of State
* [[Charles Kramer]], Senate Subcommittee on War Mobilization; Office of Price Administration; National Labor Relations Board; Senate Subcommittee on Wartime Health and Education; Agricultural Adjustment Administration; [[LaFollette Committee|Senate Subcommittee on Civil Liberties]]; Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee; [[Democratic National Committee]]
*[[Sol Leshinsky]], United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
* [[Harry Magdoff]], Statistical Division of War Production Board and Office of Emergency Management; Bureau of Research and Statistics, WTB; Tools Division, War Production Board; Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, United States Department of Commerce
*[[George Perazich]], [[Foreign Economic Administration]]; United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
* [[Allen Rosenberg]], [[Board of Economic Warfare]]; Chief of the Economic Institution Staff, Foreign Economic Administration; Senate Subcommittee on Civil Liberties; Senate Committee on Education and Labor; Railroad Retirement Board; Councel to the Secretary of the National Labor Relations Board
* [[Donald Wheeler]], Office of Strategic Services Research and Analysis division
==References==
* Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, ''The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era (New York: Random House, 1999).
* John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America,'' Yale University Press
* [[Wikisource:Explanation and History of Venona Project Information]]
* [http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/venona.htm FBI ''Venona'' file], Freedom of Information Act, FBI documents of historic interest concerning Venona that are referenced in Senator [[Daniel P. Moynihan]]'s book, ''Secrecy'', ISBN 0-300 08079-4
==External link==
*[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/29_Apr_1944_R3_m3_p1.gif Venona 588 New York to Moscow, 29 April 1944, pg.1. Perlo group]
*[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/29_Apr_1944_R3_m3_p2.gif Venona 588 New York to Moscow, 29 April 1944, pg.2. Perlo group]
*[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/29_Apr_1944_R3_m3_p3.gif Venona 588 New York to Moscow, 29 April 1944, pg.3. Perlo group]
* [http://www.cia.gov/csi/books/venona/b35.gif Venona 687 New York to Moscow, 13 May 1944. Perlo group]
*[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/30_May_1944_R3_m1_p1.gif Venona 769, 771 KGB New York to Moscow, 30 May 1944, part 1]
*[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/30_May_1944_R3_m1_p2.gif Venona 769, 771 KGB New York to Moscow, 30 May 1944, part 2]
*[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/30_May_1944_R3_m1_p3.gif Venona 769, 771 KGB New York to Moscow, 30 May 1944, part 3]
[[category:espionage]]
[[category:espionage]]