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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 [[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. The information that these messages reveal substantially revises the basis for understanding the early history of the Cold War and of America's concern with Soviet espionage and Communist [[subversion (political)|subversion]].<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 [[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>
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 Commssion 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.” The fact that we knew this was now known to, or sufficiently surmised by, the Soviet authorities. Only the American public was denied this information.<ref>[http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/appa7.html Moynihan Commssion on Government Secrecy, Appendix A 7. The Cold War]</ref>
Between 1942 and 1945 thousands of encrypted cables were sent between KGB stations in the U.S. and Moscow but only a fraction were ever decrypted. The decryption rate was as follows:
Between 1942 and 1945 thousands of encrypted cables were sent between KGB stations in the U.S. and Moscow but only a fraction were ever decrypted. The decryption rate was as follows: