Mary Jane Keeney

Mary Jane Keeney in 1940 worked at the Board of Economic Warfare in Washington D.C. during World War II. In November of 1945 Mary Jane Keeney travelled to Europe to work with the Allied Staff on Reparations.

Keeney work for Soviet Military Intelligence GRU during World War II and Joseph Bernstein was her contact with them. After the War Keeney hired on at the United Nations. Decyphered Venona cables and her own diaries, corroborate the fact that Keeney and her husband, Philip Keeney, both worked for the GRU. Keeney's diary details Sergey Kurnakov's takeover of the two for the KGB.

In February of 1950 Senater Joseph McCarthy only accused Keeney of being a member of the Communist Party, not an agent serving a foreign government. By the end of 1950 Keeney lost her postition with the United Nations. Keeney was convicted of contempt of Congress, however the decision was overturned upon appeal.

Sources

• John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999)