Jack Edward Dunlap (November 14, 1927 – July 23, 1963) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

sergeant stationed at the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

, and a traitor who became a spy for the

Soviet Union 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 ...

in the early 1960s. Dunlap enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1952 and served with distinction in the Korean War. He was gradually promoted to

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

and was assigned to the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

in 1958. He was given top secret messages to carry to NSA officials before they had been

encrypted In cryptography, encryption (more specifically, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plain ...

. Moreover, Dunlap was given a top-secret security clearance to view these "

plaintext In cryptography, plaintext usually means unencrypted information pending input into cryptographic algorithms, usually encryption algorithms. This usually refers to data that is transmitted or stored unencrypted. Overview With the advent of comp ...

" messages before handing them over to the NSA, and therefore was able to read and make copies of them.

NSA spying activities

Learning of Dunlap's sensitive position, a KGB agent approached him in 1958, bluntly offering him to be "paid handsomely" for the contents of the pouches he was carrying. Before delivering the documents, Dunlap slipped them under his shirt, drove to a meeting point in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, had his contact make copies or photograph them, then returned them to the pouch and made his delivery. It was later estimated that Dunlap was receiving from the Soviets between $40,000 and $50,000 a year. When neighbors asked about his new riches, Dunlap said that he had inherited a plantation in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. NSA security paid no attention to Dunlap's new lifestyle. In 1963, he was about to be transferred to another post, which would cut off his access to documents. To continue making money from the Soviets, Dunlap believed that he could stay on at NSA by simply not re-enlisting when his tour of duty expired. As an army sergeant assigned to the NSA, he was not subject to a polygraph examination. When he retired from the Army, his Soviet handlers told him to apply for a civilian position, which he did. He was given a polygraph examination by NSA on a Friday and while he passed the examination, the examiner 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 ...

there was something that made him uneasy and told Dunlap to come back on Monday. Dunlap killed himself over the weekend by

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...

. The Director of Security for NSA told FBI agents that he and his assistant paid a visit to Dunlap's widow to offer their condolences, and she said, "You probably want his papers", showing them classified material. That was when the NSA realized Dunlap had been a spy. Dunlap was a personable individual and roamed around within NSA. One secretary told the

that he stopped at her desk to chat and would see papers in her out box and tell her he was headed in that direction and take the papers. He would stop at a

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...

machine on the way and make a copy for the Soviets. His activities were reported to have been the cause of the downfall of

Oleg Penkovsky Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky (; 23 April 1919 – 16 May 1963), codenamed Hero (by the CIA) and Yoga (by MI6) was a Soviet military intelligence (GRU) colonel during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Penkovsky informed the United States and the U ...

. As a United States Army veteran, Dunlap was buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

.Burial Detail: Dunlap, Jack E
– ANC Explorer

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunlap, Jack 1927 births 1963 suicides 1963 deaths Burials at Arlington National Cemetery United States Army soldiers National Security Agency people American military personnel who died by suicide Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning Suicides in Maryland American spies for the Soviet Union United States Army personnel of the Korean War People from Bogalusa, Louisiana