Cold War espionage describes the

intelligence gathering This is a list of intelligence gathering disciplines. HUMINT Human intelligence (HUMINT) are gathered from a person in the location in question. Sources can include the following: * Advisors or foreign internal defense (FID) personnel wor ...

activities during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

( 1947–1991) between the Western allies (primarily the US and Western Europe) and the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

(primarily the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and allied countries of the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republi ...

). Both relied on a wide variety of military and civilian agencies in this pursuit. While several organizations such as the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

and KGB became synonymous with

espionage, many others played key roles in the collection and protection of the section concerning detection of spying, and analysis of a wide host of intelligence disciplines.

Background

Soviet espionage in the United States As early as the 1920s, the Soviet Union, through its GRU, OGPU, NKVD, and KGB intelligence agencies, used Russian and foreign-born nationals ( resident spies), as well as Communists of American origin, to perform espionage activities in the ...

during the Cold War was an outgrowth of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

nuclear espionage, with both sides utilizing and evolving techniques and practices developed during World War II. Cold War espionage has been fictionally depicted in works such as the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

and

Matt Helm Matt Helm is a fictional character created by American author Donald Hamilton (1916-2006). Helm is a U.S. government counter-agent, a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of t ...

books and movies. The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II led by the United States (and the

Western Bloc The Western Bloc, also known as the Free Bloc, the Capitalist Bloc, the American Bloc, and the NATO Bloc, was a coalition of countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War of 1947–1991. It was spearheaded by ...

) and the

(and the

). After World War II, the victory of the Soviet Union over Germany granted them considerable territorial spoils; the Soviet Union banded together these states economically and politically creating a superpower challenging the might of the United States. Prior even to the United States' use of nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union had been developing the technology to make similar devices. Although the two powers never engaged in a full-scale war, both countries were constantly preparing for an all-out nuclear war. Cold War espionage was focused on gaining an advantage in information about the enemies' capabilities, especially related to atomic weaponry. During the

, information was a key commodity. It was vital to know what the adversary was up to, and the possibility of using the hi-tech surveillance that is used today was not around. Instead of trusting technology, states relied on spies: people who infiltrated enemy territory and tried to discover information while staying undetected.

Espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tang ...

activities continued from prior to the beginning of the cold war in the late thirties- early forties, and all the way through the late 1960s and even continuing through today. Due to the nature of espionage, the information that we can gather about these activities is limited, equally as limited is the prosecutorial reach with regards to people who commit espionage are subjected to (especially in the United States). These spies were decoding encrypted information, and using many skills to gain an advantage over enemy countries.

Major spy rings

Cambridge Five The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted ...

: The Cambridge Five consisted of five members that were recruited from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in the 1930s. There is debate surrounding the exact timing of their recruitment, but it is generally believed that they were not recruited as agents until after they had graduated. The group included

Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British s ...

(cryptonym 'Stanley'), Donald Maclean (cryptonym 'Homer'),

Guy Burgess Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British diplomat and Soviet agent, and a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring that operated from the mid-1930s to the early years of the Cold War era. His defection in 1951 ...

(cryptonym 'Hicks'),

Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 to November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy. Blunt was professor of art history at the University of London, dire ...

(cryptonyms 'Tony', 'Johnson'), and

John Cairncross John Cairncross (25 July 1913 – 8 October 1995) was a British civil servant who became an intelligence officer and spy during the Second World War. As a Soviet double agent, he passed to the Soviet Union the raw Tunny decryptions that influ ...

(cryptonym 'Liszt'). There were many others that were accused of being a part of the Cambridge Spy Ring, but these five members were collectively known as the Cambridge Five.

Portland Spy Ring The Portland Spy Ring was a Soviet spy ring that operated in England from the late 1950s to 1961, when the core of the network was arrested by the British security services. It is one of the most famous examples of the use of resident spies, who ...

: The Portland Spy Ring operated in England, as a Soviet spy ring, from the 1950s until 1961 when the core of the network were arrested by

British Security Service The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

s. This spy ring was unique because they did not use the cover of an

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

as the cover for their spies. Its members included

Harry Houghton Harry Frederick Houghton (7 June 1905 – 23 May 1985) was a British Naval SNCO and a spy for the Polish People's Republic and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He was a member of the Portland Spy Ring. Early life Houghton was born in L ...

Ethel Gee Ethel Elizabeth Gee (10 May 1914 – 7 June 1984), nicknamed "Bunty", was an Englishwoman who helped her lover spy for the Soviet Union. She was a minor member of the Portland Spy Ring. Early life The daughter of a blacksmith, Ethel Gee lived o ...

Gordon Lonsdale Konon Trofimovich Molody (russian: Ко́нон Трофи́мович Моло́дый; 17 January 1922 – 9 September 1970) was a Soviet intelligence officer, known in the West as Gordon Arnold Lonsdale. Posing as a Canadian businessman during ...

, and most famously Morris and

Lona Cohen Lona Cohen (, ''Leontina Vladislavovna Koen''; January 11, 1913 – December 23, 1992), born Leontine Theresa Petka, also known as Helen Kroger, was an American who spied for the Soviet Union. She is known for her role in smuggling atomic bomb ...

(cryptonym Peter and Helen Kroger).

Ware Group The Ware Group was a covert organization of Communist Party USA operatives within the United States government in the 1930s, run first by Harold Ware (1889–1935) and then by Whittaker Chambers (1901–1961) after Ware's accidental death on Augu ...

: Sleeper spy ring in US headed by

J. Peters J. Peters (born Sándor Goldberger; 11 August 1894 – 1990) was the most commonly known pseudonym of a man who last went by the name "Alexander Stevens" in 1949. Peters was a journalist, political activist, and accused Soviet spy who was a leadin ...

, first organized under

Harold Ware Harold or "Hal" Ware (August 19, 1889 – August 14, 1935) was an American Marxist, regarded as one of the Communist Party's top experts on agriculture. He was employed by a federal New Deal agency in the 1930s. He is alleged to have been a S ...

, inherited by

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Workers Party of America, Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet Union, Soviet spy (1932–1938), defe ...

(under orders from Peters), and also included: John Abt, Marion Bachrach (Abt's sister),

Lee Pressman Lee Pressman (July 1, 1906 – November 20, 1969) was a labor attorney and earlier a US government functionary, publicly alleged in 1948 to have been a spy for Soviet intelligence during the mid-1930s (as a member of the Ware Group), following hi ...

Alger Hiss Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an American government official accused in 1948 of having spied for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Statutes of limitations had expired for espionage, but he was convicted of perjury in co ...

Donald Hiss Donald Hiss (December 15, 1906 – May 18, 1989), also known as "Donie" and "Donnie", was the younger brother of Alger Hiss. Donald Hiss's name was mentioned during the 1948 hearings wherein his more famous and older brother, Alger, was a ...

, Charles Kramer,

Nathan Witt Nathan Witt (February 11, 1903 – February 16, 1982), born Nathan Wittowsky, was an American lawyer who is best known as being the Secretary of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from 1937 to 1940. He resigned from the NLRB after his commu ...

, Henry Collins,

George Silverman Abraham George Silverman was a mathematician and statistician who was a member of the Soviet Ware Group. Biography Silverman graduated from Harvard University. In the early days of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, he worked for th ...

John Herrmann John Theodore Herrmann (November 9, 1900 – April 9, 1959) was a writer in the 1920s and 1930s and is alleged to have introduced Whittaker Chambers to Alger Hiss. Biography Herrmann was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1900. He lived in Paris i ...

Nathaniel Weyl Nathaniel Weyl (July 20, 1910 – April 13, 2005) was an American economist and author who wrote on a variety of social issues. A member of the Communist Party of the United States from 1933 until 1939, after leaving the party he became a co ...

, and

Victor Perlo Victor Perlo (May 15, 1912December 1, 1999) was an American Marxist economist, government functionary, and a longtime member of the governing National Committee of the Communist Party USA. Biography Early years Victor Perlo was born May 15, 19 ...

. When Chambers defected in 1938, the Ware Group went dormant and then broke up. Harry Dexter White (below) contributed materials to Chambers but not as part of the Ware Group. Silvermaster spy ring: The Silvermaster Spy Ring was led by Harry Dexter White, assistant secretary of the Treasury and the second most influential member of the Treasury department. His job was to aid placement of Soviet spies within the United States Government. The

United States Treasury Department The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

was successfully infiltrated by many Soviet spies, the most successful of which belonged to the Silvermaster Spy Ring. Harold Glasser,

Elizabeth Bentley Elizabeth Terrill Bentley (January 1, 1908 – December 3, 1963) was an American spy and member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). She served the Soviet Union from 1938 to 1945 until she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intellige ...

, and Nathan Silvermaster were other major members of the Silvermaster Spy Ring.

Atomic spies Atomic spies or atom spies were people in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada who are known to have illicitly given information about nuclear weapons production or design to the Soviet Union during World War II and the early ...

: While the Atomic Spies were not exactly a network of spies, the collective information that was obtained by this group of Soviet spies was critical to the Soviet Union's ability to build an atomic bomb. Many of the members of the Atomic spies group worked for, or around, the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

, or the United States building of the atomic bomb. This group included: *

Klaus Fuchs Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs (29 December 1911 – 28 January 1988) was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who supplied information from the American, British and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly af ...

: a German-born British theoretical physicist. He worked with the British delegation on the Manhattan Project. * Morris Cohen: an American who gained insight to the plans from the secret laboratory at Los Alamos and delivered it to the designers of the Soviet atomic bomb. *

Harry Gold Harry Gold (born Henrich Golodnitsky, December 11, 1910 – August 28, 1972) was a Swiss-born American laboratory chemist who was convicted as a courier for the Soviet Union passing atomic secrets from Klaus Fuchs, an agent of the Soviet Union, ...

: an American who was a courier for Klaus Fuchs and David Greenglass. *

David Greenglass David Greenglass (March 2, 1922 – July 1, 2014) was an atomic spy for the Soviet Union who worked on the Manhattan Project. He was briefly stationed at the Clinton Engineer Works uranium enrichment facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and then ...

: an American machinist at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. He gave crude schematics of lab experiments to the Russians. *

Theodore Hall Theodore Alvin Hall (October 20, 1925 – November 1, 1999) was an American physicist and an atomic spy for the Soviet Union, who, during his work on United States efforts to develop the first and second atomic bombs during World War II ...

: an American, and the youngest physicist at Los Alamos, gave a detailed description of the Fat Man plutonium bomb and several processes for purifying plutonium to the Soviets. * George Koval: an American-born son of a Russian family. He obtained information from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Dayton Project about the

Urchin (detonator) A modulated neutron initiator is a neutron source capable of producing a burst of neutrons on activation. It is a crucial part of some nuclear weapons, as its role is to "kick-start" the chain reaction at the optimal moment when the configuration i ...

used for the Fat Man plutonium bomb. *

Irving Lerner Irving Lerner (March 7, 1909, New York City – December 25, 1976, Los Angeles) was an American filmmaker. Biography Before becoming a filmmaker, Lerner was a research editor for Columbia University's Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, getting h ...

: an American film director who was caught photographing the cyclotron at the University of California in 1944. *

Alan Nunn May Alan Nunn May (sometimes Allan) (2 May 1911 – 12 January 2003) was a British physicist and a confessed and convicted Soviet spy who supplied secrets of British and American atomic research to the Soviet Union during World War II. Early lif ...

: a British physicist who worked for the British nuclear research and then in Canada on the Manhattan Project. His uncovering in 1946 was responsible for the United States restricting sharing atomic secrets with the British. *

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...

: Americans who were involved in the coordinating and recruiting of an espionage network. Ethel's brother was David Greenglass. * Saville Sax: an American who acted as a courier for Klaus Fuchs and Theodore Hall. *

Morton Sobell Morton Sobell (April 11, 1917 – December 26, 2018) was an American engineer and Soviet spy during and after World War II; he was charged as part of a conspiracy which included Julius Rosenberg and his wife. Sobell worked on military and gover ...

: an American engineer who admitted to spying for the Soviets and uncovered how extensive the Rosenberg's recruiting network was.

Chronology

Known spies working for the Western Bloc during the Cold War

* Aleksandr Dmitrievich Ogorodnik- A Soviet Diplomat who photographed confidential diplomatic cables and sent them to the US. *

Arkady Shevchenko Arkady Nikolayevich Shevchenko ( uk, Аркадій Миколайович Шевченко, russian: Аркадий Николаевич Шевченко; October 11, 1930 – February 28, 1998) was a Soviet diplomat who was the highest-ran ...

- A Soviet Diplomat and the highest ranking Soviet to defect to the west. As Under Secretary General at the United Nations, he passed on Soviet secrets to US officials. *

Boris Morros Boris Morros (; January 1, 1891 - January 8, 1963) was an American Communist Party member, Soviet agent, and FBI double agent. He also worked at Paramount Pictures, where he produced films as well as supervising their music department. Life and ...

- Originally a Soviet agent, Morros became an FBI informant who reported on the Sobel Spy ring. * Boris Yuzhin- A double agent who while working at the KGB revealed Soviet recruitment programs. *

Gerry Droller Gerard "Gerry" Droller (1905? - 1992) was a German CIA officer involved in the covert 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état and the recruitment of Cuban exiles in the preparation of the Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961. Biography Gerard Droller was born ...

- A German CIA official who recruited Cuban Exiles for the Bay of Pigs invasion. * Heinz Barwich- A German Nuclear Physicist who worked on the Soviet atomic bomb project. He defected to the West in 1964 and testified before the US Senate. * John Birch- An American Baptist Missionary who was killed gathering intelligence during the Chinese Civil War. * Miles Copeland, Jr.- A CIA agent who had a hand in the overthrow of the Syrian government in 1949 and the Iranian government of 1953. *

Milton Bearden Milton Bearden is an American author, film consultant and former CIA officer. Bearden served as the president and CEO of the Asia-Africa Projects Group, a Washington, D.C.-based resource development and advisory services firm from 2010 to 2015. He ...

- US CIA Station Chief in Pakistan during the Afghanistan Civil War * Nicholas Shadrin- A Soviet Naval Officer who defected to the West. * Otto von Bolschwing- A former Nazi spy who was recruited by the US before the end of the war. Played a part in the Greek Civil War. *

Philip Agee Philip Burnett Franklin Agee (; January 19, 1935 – January 7, 2008)Will Weissert"Ex-CIA Agent Philip Agee Dead in Cuba" Associated Press (sfgate.com), January 9, 2008. was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer and writer of t ...

- An American CIA agent who became repulsed by CIA actions abroad. He was accused of attempting to sell state secrets to Soviet and Cuba officials, a charge that he denied up until his death. *

Robert Baer Robert Booker Baer (born July 11, 1952) is an American author and a former CIA case officer who was primarily assigned to the Middle East.Robert Bae"Don't Assume Ahmadinejad Really Lost" ''Time'' website, June 16, 2009 He is ''Times intellig ...

- A former CIA agent, now a writer, and inspiration for George Clooney's character in the film "

Syriana ''Syriana'' is a 2005 American political thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, loosely based on Robert Baer's 2003 memoir '' See No Evil''. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wrig ...

." *

Ruth Fischer Ruth Fischer (11 December 1895 – 13 March 1961) was an Austrian and German Communist, and a co-founder of the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) in 1918. Along with her partner Arkadi Maslow, she led the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) through ...

- Co-founder of the Austrian Communist Party. Became disillusioned with Stalinism. See also " The Pond." * Yosef Amit- A former Israeli intelligence official. Recruited by the CIA and revealed Israeli troop positions and Israeli foreign policy goals. * Yuri Nosenko- A KGB defector who experienced harsh interrogation techniques at the hands of the CIA. * Adolf Tolkachev- A Soviet electronic engineer who provided key documents to the CIA. *

Michael Goleniewski Michał Franciszek Goleniewski a.k.a. 'SNIPER', 'LAVINIA', (16 August 1922 – 12 July 1993), was a Polish officer in the People's Republic of Poland's Ministry of Public Security, the deputy head of military counterintelligence GZI WP, later hea ...

- Polish triple agent who potentially helped identify more Soviet spies than any other defector. He also alleged there was a Soviet-controlled organisation of former Nazis - which he nicknamed 'Hacke' - that was active in postwar West Germany.

Known spies working for the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War

Aldrich Ames Aldrich Hazen "Rick" Ames (; born May 26, 1941) is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer turned KGB double agent, who was convicted of espionage in 1994. He is serving a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, in the Fede ...

- (born May 26, 1941) - A

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA) operative for over thirty-one years but was a KGB mole *

* Louis F. Budenz - Labor Activist in the United States. Became a member of the Communist Party and later headed Buben Group of Spies. *

- minor member of the

Dieter Gerhardt Dieter Felix Gerhardt (born 1 November 1935) is a former commodore in the South African Navy and commander of the strategic Simon's Town naval dockyard. He was arrested by the FBI in New York City in 1983 following information obtained from a ...

- Convicted Soviet Spy in South Africa along with his wife of many years who acted as his courier. *

- atomic spy specialist that worked in both the Manhattan Project, the Uranium Facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and at the Los Alamos facility in New Mexico. Arrested in June 1950 * Gunvor Galtung Haavik - Employee for the

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Norwegian (Bokmål): ''Det kongelige utenriksdepartement''; Norwegian (Nynorsk): ''Det kongelege utanriksdepartement'') is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway. It was established on Ju ...

. Arrested in January 1977. Betrayed by another Soviet spy. * Robert Lee Johnson- An American sergeant that joined the KGB when stationed in East Berlin. Turned in by his wife and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Johnson was killed by his own son in 1972. * Alexander Koral - Well known member of the

Communist Party of the United States of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

(CPUSA). Was in charge of many Soviet Spies residing in the United States during World War II and the Cold War era. * Andrew Daulton Lee - Collaborated with a childhood friend, Christopher John Boyce (an American Defense Industry Employee). Lee bought United States satellite secrets and sold them to the Soviet Union. He was arrested in December 1976 under suspicion of killing a Mexico City Police Officer. * Oleg Lyalin - Soviet agent that defected from the KGB. Lyalin's defection was forced by his arrest in London. Was given a new identity and placed into a protective housing until his death in 1995. *

Hede Massing Hede Tune Massing, née "Hedwig Tune" (also "Hede Eisler," "Hede Gumperz," and "Redhead") (6 January 1900 – 8 March 1981), was an Austrian actress in Vienna and Berlin, communist, and Soviet intelligence operative in Europe and the United Sta ...

- Austrian Actress turned Soviet intelligence operative in both the United States and Europe. Member of the "Redhead group". *

Alexandru Nicolschi Alexandru Nicolschi (born Boris Grünberg, his chosen surname was often rendered as Nikolski or Nicolski; russian: Александр Серге́евич Никольский, ; June 2, 1915 – April 16, 1992) was a Romanian communist activist, ...

- (Александр Серге́евич Никольский) A Romanian communist activist and Soviet agent under the Communist Regime. Remained active until the 1960s. Was supportive of violent politics. General inspector for the

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic ...

. * Selmer Nilsen - Nilsen was a spy for the GRU during the Cold War. Stationed in

Bodø Bodø (; smj, Bådåddjo, sv, Bodö) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø (which is also the capital of Nordland coun ...

for approximately seven years. Arrested after seventeen years of espionage in 1967. Was pardoned in 1971. *

- A convicted Soviet Spy and former British Physicist. Gave atomic research secrets to the Soviet Union during the gray area of World War II and the Cold War beginning. Confessed to charges of espionage in 1946. Did not believe that his acts should be defined as treason. *

Earl Edwin Pitts :''This article describes Earl Pitts, the American spy. For the radio character, see Earl Pitts (radio character).'' Earl Edwin Pitts (born September 23, 1953) is a former FBI special agent who was convicted of espionage for selling information ...

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice ...

special agent turned Soviet Spy. Arrested in an FBI sting operation. Pleaded guilty to charges of espionage in 1997. *

Geoffrey Prime Geoffrey Arthur Prime (born 21 February 1938) is a former British spy who disclosed information to the Soviet Union while working for the Royal Air Force and later for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a British intelligence age ...

* Norman J. ReesSpecial to NYTimes front page (March 2, 1976)
"Spy Said He'd Kill Himself If Exposed, Then Did So"
''The New York Times,'' p. 1 oil engineer, Soviet agent, then

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organ ...

for FBI; committed suicide after exposure by newspaper * John Alexander Symonds - English metropolitan police officer who also worked as a KGB agent. During the 1970s, Symonds was assigned to be a "Romeo spy", directed to work as a playboy and seduce women working in Western embassies while trying to learn other country's secrets. He revealed himself to be a KGB agent in the 1980s. Surprisingly, Symonds was never prosecuted or convicted. * Julian Wadleigh - Worked for the Department of State in the United States of America in the 1930s and 1940s. Was a key witness in the trials of

. Wadleigh's main goal in being a spy was to stop the rise of Fascism. He strongly believed that the information he took from the Department of State could not be used against the United States, but that it could be used against Germany and Japan. * John Anthony Walker - United States Navy Chief Warrant Officer and communications specialist. Convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union from 1968 to 1985. Was required to testify against former chief petty officer Jerry Whitworth. Walker's job duties allowed him to inform the Soviet Union where the United States' submarines would be located. *

- American physicist and Soviet spy who passed atomic secrets to Soviet intelligence during the Manhattan Project, and hydrogen bomb information after 1946. * Johannes Clemens - a former

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

who served the Soviets as a double agent reporting on West German intelligence. *

Hans Sommer Hans Sommer may refer to: *Hans Sommer (composer) (1837–1922), opera composer * (1904–2000), film music composer for ''Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war'' and other films *Hans Sommer (cyclist) (1924–2004), Swiss cyclist *Hans Sommer (SS offi ...

- a former SD deputy who initially identified Soviet spies for West German intelligence, then flipped to the Soviets until 1953 when he was fired, after which he worked for the East German

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maintaining state autho ...

. *

Heinz Felfe Heinz Paul Johann Felfe (March 18, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was a German spy. At various times he worked for the intelligence services of Nazi Germany, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and West Germany. It is still not clear when he started ...

- a former Nazi officer who became “Moscow's most important mole in the West German intelligence service” and exposed over 100 CIA agents in the Soviet Union. Felfe was a Soviet double agent in West Germany from about 1951 to his arrest in 1961. *

- Soviet double agent within British intelligence, recruited in Austria in 1934. He passed secrets to the Soviets as a member of the

until 1963. He came from an upper-class background, and seemed particularly devoted to his belief in communism during almost 30 years as a spy. *

Markus Wolf Markus Johannes Wolf (19 January 1923 – 9 November 2006), also known as Mischa, was head of the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (), the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for State Security (, abbreviated MfS, common ...

- the spymaster for the East German Stasi, seen for many years as an elusive "man without a face" by Western intelligence. * Jeffrey Carney - an East German spy.

Surveillance devices of the Cold War

# ''Sight Unseen -'' an F21 'Ammer' spy camera. Currently on exhibit in Berlin, Germany. Used by the Stasi secret police. # '' Sedgley OSS .38 Glove Pistol'' ''-'' 0.38 single shot pistol. Designed by Stanley M. Height. The bullet must be fired at point-blank range to be effective. # ''Maxwell Smart's Other Shoe''''-'' A miniature camera stowed in the heel of the spy's shoe. This gadget was used by most spies at the time including those in the CIA. # '' The Bulgarian Umbrella'' ''-'' This umbrella had a very small attachment that allowed it to inject a small poisonous dart (usually containing ricin) into the spy's target. # ''Can You Hear Me Now? -'' an eavesdropping device # ''Lipstick Gun -'' a 4.5mm gun that was placed inside a tube of lipstick. Many museums and historians refer to it as the "Kiss of Death." Just a simple twist would fire a bullet. # ''Photo Overdrive -'' A tool that was much larger than many other spy equipment. Technicians created a car door that would take hidden, infrared camera images at night. # ''KGB Disappearing Ink Pen -'' Invisible inks were very commonly used by spies during the Cold War. When used a spy would need to steam the ink, dry the paper, and re-steam it in order to get rid of any indentations. # "''Belly Buster" Drill -'' A CIA gadget developed in the 1960s. Used to drill holes into rooms for the planting or mounting of listening devices # ''Letter Remover'' # '' Dragonfly Insectothopter -'' Classified as a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). Contained a hidden camera and designed to look like a dragonfly. # ''Microdot Camera'' - Using a period sized film, this device was used to film pages of secret documents. # ''Spy Wallet -'' a camera hidden inside a wallet # ''F-21 Pocket Camera -'' Issued by the KGB. Concealed in a buttonhole with a wire running to a device that allows the spy to take a picture. # ''Louder, Please, MyWatch Can't Hear You'' # ''American-British Spy Tunnel''

American satellite surveillance systems

Weapons System 117L - Weapons System 117L was the first program designed to develop space-based reconnaissance satellite systems. Several satellite systems would be developed through this program including Corona, the Satellite and Missile Observation System (

SAMOS Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a sepa ...

), and the Missile Detection Alarm System (

MIDAS Midas (; grc-gre, Μίδας) was the name of a king in Phrygia with whom several myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house. The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ...

- SAMOS or the Satellite and Missile Observation system was one of the first of a series of short lived satellite systems developed by the United States, operated from October 1960 to November 1962. The SAMOS satellite system was one of the first systems developed through the WS-117L program. The system consisted of three primary components: visual reconnaissance, communications, and electronic intelligence gathering. Of the eleven launched attempted, 8 were successful. The program was likely cancelled because of poor image quality. The satellite could produce photos with 100 foot resolution. It was also heavily overshadowed by the Corona system operated by the CIA.

- MIDAS or the Missile Defense Alarm System was a satellite system operated by the United States between 1960 and 1966. This system was designed to be made of twelve satellites, although only nine satellites were successfully launched. The system was designed to provide early warning of Soviet missile launches. The system was eventually cancelled because of the high price and because of the slow warning times. This system, however, would be directly responsible for technologies used in its successors.

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

- Corona was among the first of a series of reconnaissance satellite systems developed through the WS-117L program. The Corona program was headed by the Central Intelligence Agency along with the Air Force. Corona satellites were used to photograph Soviet and other installations. The first successful Corona mission began on August 10, 1963. The Corona satellite system was expedited largely in part to the U-2 incident in 1960. All of the Corona missions, with the exception of the KH-11 Kennan program, would make use of photographic film, which would have to survive re-entry through the atmosphere and be recovered.

Keyhole A lock is a mechanical or electronic fastening device that is released by a physical object (such as a key, keycard, fingerprint, RFID card, security token or coin), by supplying secret information (such as a number or letter permutation or pas ...

- Keyhole was the designation for the initial Corona launches, which included KH-1, KH-2, KH-3, KH-4A, and KH-4B. The name was used because it is analogous to spying through the keyhole of a door. 144 satellites would be launched through this program, and 102 returned usable photos. Keyhole/Argon (KH-5) - Argon was the designation the surveillance satellites, manufactured by Lockheed, used by the United States from February 1961 to August 1964. Argon made use of photographic film in a way similar of the original Corona satellites. Of the twelve known launches, seven were not successful for varying reasons. Keyhole/Lanyard (KH-6) - Lanyard was the designation for the first, albeit unsuccessful, attempt to establish a high resolution, optical satellite system. This program would be led by the newly established National Reconnaissance Office, and operated from March–July 1963. Because it was only able to achieve a resolution similar to that of the KH-4 satellites, it was discontinued after only 3 launches. Keyhole/Gambit (KH-7) - Gambit was the next of a series of satellites operated by the United States, by the National Reconnaissance Office, from July 1963 to June 1967. It was among the first successful Corona missions as it produced some of the first high resolution photos. These photos were typically of Soviet and Chinese missile emplacements. Gambit satellites would make use of a three camera system and missions would last typically up to eight days. Keyhole/Gambit III (KH-8) - The Gambit III satellite system was amongst the longest serving satellite reconnaissance programs operated by the United States during the Cold War. This satellite system would operate from July 1966 to April 1984. Of the fifty-four launch attempts, only three would fail, all of which were attributed to rocket failure. The average mission time of the Gambit III satellite systems were thirty-one days. The Gambit III satellites would differ from the Gambit I satellites in that the Gambit III had a four camera system, which carried over twelve thousand feet of film, and were able to produce resolutions as small as four inches. Keyhole/Hexagon (KH-9) - The Hexagon satellite system, commonly known as Big Bird, this satellite system was operated from 1971 and 1986. The Hexagon system was officially known as the Broad Coverage Photo Reconnaissance satellites. These satellites photographed large areas of the earth at a time with moderate resolution. These satellites were also used for mapping missions, which were used in map making. Three Hexagon missions also included electronic intelligence or ELINT gathering capabilities. These were used to eavesdrop on soviet communications and on soviet missile launches. Twenty launches were attempted, only one was unsuccessful. These satellites operated for an increasing duration of time, with the longest mission lasting 275 days. Keyhole/Kennan (KH-11) - The KH-11 Kennan, which goes under the code name Crystal, was first launched in 1976, and missions are still ongoing to this day. According to leaked documents, this program is currently operation under the code name Evolved Enhanced Crystal. The Kennan satellite system was the first satellite system to use electro-optical imaging, which gives real time imaging capabilities. The resolution of these satellites is estimated to be as low as 2 inches. These satellites are unique in that they have been placed in sun-synchronous orbits, which allow them to use shadows to help discern ground features. These satellites became famous in 1978 when a CIA employee tried to leak the design of the satellite to the Soviets. He was tried and convicted of espionage. Keyhole/Improved Crystal (KH-12) – The later KH-11 satellites have been called KH-12 improved Crystal or Ikon satellites. These satellites also had increased download times which allowed for faster processing of photos. It is also suspected that these satellites may have stealth technology to avoid detection by other satellites. Vela - The Vela satellite system was developed to by the United States to ensure that the Soviet Union complied with the Partial Test Ban Treaty which was ratified in 1963. The satellites were designed to monitor for nuclear explosions in space and in the atmosphere by measuring for neutrons and gamma rays. A total of twelve Vela satellites were launched during the course of the Cold War. The Vela satellites became publicly famous because of the Vela Incident which occurred on 22 September 1979. It was theorized at the time that it was a nuclear test conducted by South Africa and Israel, but new evidence does not support this theory. They have also been used in the study of

Gamma-Ray Bursts In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten millis ...

American surveillance aircraft

U-2 – The U-2 aircraft, known as the "Dragon Lady", was developed by the Lockheed Skunk Works, and was first flown on August 1, 1955. The aircraft was initially flown by the CIA, but control was later transferred to the Air Force. The aircraft was designed to fly at altitudes of 70,000 ft. The U-2 was equipped with a camera which had a resolution of 2.5 feet at an altitude of 60,000 ft. The first overflights of the Soviet Union by the U-2 began in May 1956. The aircraft became publicly prominent after a U-2 aircraft flown by Francis Gary Powers was hit by an SA-2 missile and crash landed in the USSR. SR-71 – The

SR-71 The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation. It was operated by the United States Air Force ...

Blackbird is a long-range reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed Skunk Works, and designed by Kelly Johnson. The aircraft is known for setting speed and altitude records. The SR-71 was equipped with optical and infrared imaging systems, electronic intelligence gathering systems, side looking airborne radar, and recorders for those systems which are listed. The aircraft required two personnel to pilot it, one to pilot the aircraft, and a Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO) to operate the systems.

Soviet satellite surveillance systems

Zenit (Zenith) - The Zenith Satellite program, was a satellite program developed by the Soviet Union and used from 1961 to 1994. During the course of its lifespan over 500 Zenith satellites were launched, making it the most used satellite system ever. The Soviets concealed the nature of the system by giving the satellites the Kosmos designation. The Zenith satellites had an advantage over the satellites developed by the United States, in that they could be reused. A total of eight variants would be developed for a variety of mission types, ranging from high-resolution photography to ELINT to cartographic and topographic missions. Yantar - The Yantar satellites, designed to replace the Zenit satellite system, are among the newest Russian satellites. Yantar satellites have been launched as recently as 2015. Two variants of the satellite have been developed for high-resolution photography and for medium-resolution broad spectrum imaging.

Historiography

After 1990s new memoirs and archival materials have opened up the study of espionage and intelligence during the Cold War. Scholars are reviewing how its origins, its course, and its outcome were shaped by the intelligence activities of the United States, the Soviet Union, and other key countries. Special attention is paid to how complex images of one's adversaries were shaped by secret intelligence that is now publicly known. The Soviet Union proved especially successful in placing spies in Britain and West Germany. It was largely unable to repeat its successes in the 1930s in the United States. NATO, on the other hand, also had a few successes of importance, of whom

Oleg Gordievsky Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky, CMG (; born 10 October 1938) is a former colonel of the KGB who became KGB resident-designate (''rezident'') and bureau chief in London, and was a double agent, providing information to the British Secret Intelli ...

was perhaps the most influential. He was a senior KGB officer who was a double agent on behalf of Britain's MI6, providing a stream of high-grade intelligence that had an important influence on the thinking of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. He was spotted by

a Soviet agent who worked for the CIA, but he was successfully exfiltrated from Moscow in 1985. Biographer Ben McIntyre argues he was the West's most valuable human asset, especially for his deep psychological insights into the inner circles of the Kremlin. He convinced Washington and London that the fierceness and bellicosity of the Kremlin was a product of fear, and military weakness, rather than an urge for world conquest. Thatcher and Reagan concluded they could moderate their own anti-Soviet rhetoric, as successfully happened when

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Com ...

took power, thus ending the Cold War.Ben Macintyre, ''The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War'' (2018)
excerpt
/ref>

Footnotes

References

* * * * Sulick, Michael (2015). ''Intelligence in the Cold War: Guide to Study of Intelligence. Virginia: AFIO.'' * Trahair, Richard (2012). ''Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations.'' New York: Enigma Books. *

External links

NOC by NicholasAnderson

eBook An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

published 2008, the traditional book published by Enigma Books 2009. Fictionalised (as stipulated by UK law) autobiography of a British SIS/MI6 intelligence officer's stories from the Cold War. Original non-fiction version vetoed in 2000 per UK Official Secrets Act and appeared in banned books listing in 2003 as seen a
fatchuck.com

An extensive bibliography compounded by J. Ransom Clark. {{Portal bar, Communism, Politics, War Espionage by period Intelligence operations Soviet intelligence agencies Cold War history of the Soviet Union Cold War history of the United States Soviet Union–United States relations