Lawrence Martin-Bittman (14 February 1931 – 18 September 2018), formerly known as Ladislav Bittman, was an American artist, author, and retired professor of

disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...

. He was best known for his 1983 book, '' The KGB and Soviet Disinformation: An Insider's View''. Prior to his defection to the United States in 1968, he served as an intelligence officer specializing in disinformation for the Czechoslovak Intelligence Service.

Czechoslovak secret services

In Czechoslovakia, Ladislav Bittman worked as an intelligence officer and played an integral part in a propaganda operation known as

Operation Neptune Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

. He wrote a few books in the 1970s and 1980s about his career and the role of disinformation in Soviet propaganda operations.

Defection to United States

The

Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...

and the subsequent end to the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Se ...

became driving forces behind his decision to leave for the United States in 1968. Defectors at that time, most particularly those fleeing the Soviet Union and/or those formerly in positions of government or intelligence, were considered "a valuable source of information" by the US government, which spent at least a year's time in debriefing defectors and in helping them settle down to their new life. As part of the process, he changed his name from Ladislav Bittman to Lawrence Martin (later Lawrence Martin-Bittman) shortly after his debriefing had concluded. He was sentenced to death in absentia in 1974 by the Czechoslovak government for treason for his defection, a sentence that was not lifted until 20 years later.

Teaching career

In 1972, four years after his defection to the United States, Bittman was given a teaching position at

and primarily taught classes about international media, particularly the press. He began to incorporate classes on disinformation, propaganda, and international intelligence to make use of his former career. In 1986, that led to him founding a new center in Boston University's school of journalism specifically on disinformation. After the return to the Soviet Union of Nikolai Ryzhkov, the soldier who had defected in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

, Bittman appeared before Congress along with several others in 1987 to testify about the government's treatment of Soviet defectors.

Later life

In 1996, after a heart attack, which left him unable to teach, Lawrence retired from his position at Boston University and settled down in his home in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...

to pursue his hobby of art. He resided in

Rockport, Massachusetts Rockport is a seaside town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,992 in 2020. Rockport is located approximately northeast of Boston at the tip of the Cape Ann peninsula. Rockport borders Gloucester to its west, and ...

and promoted his art as an honorary member of Local Colors, an artist community in

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 U.S. Census. An important center of the fishing industry and ...

, until he opened his own studio, Studio 006 and a Half."Special Exhibition: Lawerence Martin-Bittman, March 8th to 29th 2014." Local Colors. N.p., 04 Feb. 2014. Web. He died on September 18, 2018 at his home in Rockport at the age of 87.

References

Bibliography