Anatoly Veniaminovich Gorsky (Анатолий Вениаминович Горский) (c. 1907 – 1980), was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

spy who, under cover as First Secretary "Anatoly Borisovich Gromov" of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, was secretly ''

rezident A resident spy in the world of espionage is an agent operating within a foreign country for extended periods of time. A base of operations within a foreign country with which a resident spy may liaise is known as a "station" in English and a (, 'r ...

'' in the United States at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

Gorsky joined the

Soviet secret police There were a succession of Soviet secret police agencies over time. The Okhrana was abolished by the Provisional government after the first revolution of 1917, and the first secret police after the October Revolution, created by Vladimir Leni ...

in 1928 and worked in the internal political police. In 1936 he transferred to foreign intelligence and was sent to England as cipher clerk and assistant to the London ''rezident''. During the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

of 1939 the London ''rezidentura'' was liquidated, and in March 1940 Gorsky was recalled to Moscow. Gorsky survived the purges and was appointed London ''rezident'' in November 1940, during the Hitler–Stalin Pact. In London his first cover was attaché, then second secretary of the Soviet embassy. As London ''rezident'' Gorsky took over managing eighteen agents, including the

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

, and the initial

penetration of the British atomic bomb project. The London ''rezidentura'' consisted of only three people. By the end of the war there were twelve operational workers. In the heaviest period of war, from 1941 to 1942 the London ''rezidentura'' was the basic information source of Soviet operations on Germany and countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. More than ten thousand documentary items along political, economic, military and other matter were sent from the London ''rezidentura'' to Moscow. In September 1941 the London ''rezidentura'' obtained and sent to Moscow documentary materials on work in Great Britain and the US on the creation of nuclear weapons and supplied a constant stream of information. During January 1944 Gorsky returned to Moscow after the completion of this mission and was assigned deputy division head.

Espionage activities in the United States

Following the sudden recall of

Vasily Zarubin Vasily Mikhailovich Zarubin () (4 February 1894 – 18 September 1972) was a Soviet Union, Soviet intelligence officer. In the United States, he used the cover name Vasily Zubilin and served as the chief Soviet intelligence Rezident from 1941 ...

in 1944, Gorsky was appointed ''rezident'' in the United States. The

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

identified him the following year when, at the direction of the Bureau, defecting Soviet courier Elizabeth Bentley met under FBI surveillance with Gorsky, whom she knew as "Al." When FBI Director

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...

informed

Sir William Stephenson Sir William Samuel Stephenson (born William Samuel Clouston Stanger, 23 January 1897 – 31 January 1989) was a Canadian soldier, fighter pilot, businessman and spymaster who served as the senior representative of the British Security Coordin ...

, head of British intelligence in the western hemisphere, of Bentley’s defection, the head of British counter-espionage against the Soviet Union—-Soviet agent

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 that had divulged British secr ...

of the Cambridge spy ring—-promptly alerted Soviet intelligence. Moscow cabled all U.S. station chiefs to “cease immediately their connection with all persons known to Bentley in our work ndto warn the agents about Bentley’s betrayal.” The cable specifically ordered Gorsky to cease meeting with Harold Glasser, Donald Wheeler,

Alan Rosenberg Alan Rosenberg (born October 4, 1950) is an American actor who portrayed the character Eli Levinson in both ''Civil Wars'' and ''L.A. Law''. From 2005 to 2009, Rosenberg was president of the Screen Actors Guild, the principal motion picture indus ...

, Charles Kramer,

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 ...

, Helen Tenney, Maurice Halperin,

Lauchlin Currie Lauchlin Bernard Currie (8 October 1902 – 23 December 1993) was a Canadian economist best known for being President Franklin Roosevelt's chief economic advisor during World War II. After Roosevelt's death, he led the first World Bank survey ...

, and others. Gorsky sent a long memorandum to Moscow discussing the best way to kill Bentley. He considered shooting, poisoning, faking an accident or faking her suicide, suggesting that the job might be assigned to Joseph Katz. Within two months of the meeting, Gorsky had been recalled to Moscow, along with Iskhak Akhmerov and others.

Later career

In 1948, Gorsky authored the Gorsky memo, an internal

document in which he listed 43 Soviet sources and intelligence officers likely to be identified to American authorities by Bentley after her defection, including

Alger Hiss Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an American government official who was accused of espionage in 1948 for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. The statute of limitations had expired for espionage, but he was convicted of perjur ...

, Harry White and

. In 1953 Gorsky shifted to internal security work. For successful work in the United States Gorsky obtained the rank of Colonel and in 1945 was awarded the

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War () is a Soviet Union, Soviet military Order (decoration), decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to Partisan (military), partisans for heroic deeds in the Easte ...

. He also received the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

, the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

, the

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...

, and the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

References

External links

*
Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (in Russian)
*John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'', Yale University Press (1999)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorsky, Anatoly 1900s births 1980 deaths Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Star KGB officers NKVD officers Soviet spies against the United States