Edward Joseph Fitzgerald was an American who worked for the

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Su ...

during

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 ...

and was an adviser to Senator

Claude Pepper Claude Denson Pepper (September 8, 1900 – May 30, 1989) was an American politician of the Democratic Party. He represented Florida in the United States Senate from 1936 to 1951, and the Miami area in the United States House of Representatives ...

. He was alleged to have been a member of the

Perlo group Headed by Victor Perlo, the Perlo group is the name given to a group of Americans who provided information which was given to Soviet intelligence agencies; it was active during the World War II period, until the entire group was exposed to the FBI ...

of Soviet spies. Fitzgerald's name in

Venona project The Venona project was a United States counterintelligence program initiated during World War II by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service and later absorbed by the National Security Agency (NSA), that ran from February 1, 1943, u ...

decrypt 588 New York to Moscow, 29 April 1944, was sent in the clear to Moscow by Soviet Case Officer Iskhak Akhmerov reporting on

Elizabeth Bentley Elizabeth Terrill Bentley (January 1, 1908 – December 3, 1963) was an American NKVD spymaster, who was recruited from within the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). She served the Soviet Union as the primary handler of multiple highly placed moles ...

's meeting with Perlo group.

Venona

The decryption reads, in part, Elizabeth Bentley, who functioned as the Perlo group's main contact with the Soviet intelligence, told the

FBI 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 ...

after her defection, "I would state that Victor Perlo represented this group in meetings with me more often than other members of the group, Fitzgerald about four or five times...". After

, Fitzgerald resigned from his position with the

U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econo ...

. In 1954, Fitzgerald was offered

immunity from prosecution Legal immunity, or immunity from prosecution, is a legal status wherein an individual or entity cannot be held liable for a violation of the law, in order to facilitate societal aims that outweigh the value of imposing liability in such cases. S ...

, which removed the legal grounds to plead the Fifth Amendment. Fitzgerald nonetheless still refused to testify and went to jail. His alleged code name in Soviet intelligence and in the

Venona The Venona project was a United States counterintelligence program initiated during World War II by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service and later absorbed by the National Security Agency (NSA), that ran from February 1, 1943, u ...

files is "Ted".

Venona decryptions

Edward Fitzgerald is referenced in the following Venona project decryptions:
Elizabeth Bentley reports on new KGB recruits from American Communist Party
Venona 588 New York to Moscow, 29 April 1944.
KGB agent & Earl Browder instruct Bentley on new recruits
Venona 687 New York to Moscow, 13 May 1944.
KGB NY Reports on new Agents from ACP working in US Govt
Venona 769, 771 KGB New York to Moscow, 30 May 1944.
ALBERT's network & material photos. Silvermasters network widely known
Venona 179, 180 KGB Moscow to New York, 25 February 1945.

Venona

Venona decryptions

References

Further reading