Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (28 page)

My attempt to give him money was unsuccessful-but I did not offend
him as I led up to the subject very delicately. He says that he is making all he
needs. K does, however, want one thing: when we enter Kiel and Berlin in
Germany he wants the Gestapo Headquarters there searched and his dossier
(which is very complete) destroyed before it should fall into other hands. This,
I told him, we would try to do if at all possible."

On the last item, the KGB New York station also suggested that the Red
Army be alerted to look out for Emile Fuchs, Klaus's father, who was believed to be in a Nazi labor camp and might need special assistance.108

After analyzing documents that Fuchs had given Gold, Fitin cabled
Kvasnikov that the material was "of great value, contains information for
the first time about the electromagnetic method of separation." While
delighted by the renewal of ties with Fuchs (with the new cover name of
"Charles"), the Center peppered New York with questions; exactly where
did Fuchs work at Los Alamos and what did he do, what had he been
doing in Chicago and whom had he seen, why was the next meeting not
until June, why not use Kristel Heineman as the contact to alert the station to any alterations in Fuchs's plans rather than the KGB New York station plan to use Lona Cohen, a young American KGB agent? Kvasnikov
replied that the June meeting was at

"Ch.'s ["Charles"/Fuchs's] request, motivated both by a need for meeting near
the Preserve [Los Alamos] as rarely as possible in the interest of security, and
because, by that time, Ch. will have the results of the work on preparing the
`En-s' ["Enormous"] device for a test device, which they plan to conduct at
anoth. location. The decision to use Leslie's [Lona Cohen's] address to receive
a letter from Ch., and the refusal to use Ant's [Kristel Heineman's] address for
this purpose, was made because Arno's [Gold's] frequent trips to see Ant, just
to find out whether there was any information from Ch., could not have remained inconspicuous to Ant's husband. Not only is the latter not close to us,
but in 1944, Ant had been planning to divorce him. Therefore, a more reliable
and simple path was chosen-using Leslie's address, and this was the one
given to Ch. If necessary Ch. will send a letter to this address, not under his
own name, but under an assumed name. Thus, Ch.'s identity will not be revealed to L."

As for Fuchs's work, Kvasnikov reported: "Ch. is in charge of work on the
internal explosion, i.e., the primary explosion, which is necessary to start
the chain reaction. He works jointly with Kisti [Kistiakowsky] on the staff
of Camp-2s [Los Alamos's] theoretical group under Peierls."109

Anatoly Yatskov also reported that he had asked Gold to ascertain if
Fuchs had a girlfriend. Gold replied that the subject had not been discussed and he doubted Fuchs would talk about such matters. Yatskov was
mulling over the possibility of using a woman "`to play the part of an official `sweetheart,"" who could visit him "`on a regular basis and meet
him without fear of arousing suspicion on the part of authorities if their
liaison were discovered."' Gold promised to raise the issue at his next
rendezvous and also to learn about the rules pertaining to bachelors at
Los Alamos and their relationships with women. Andrey Graur, a senior
KGB officer in Moscow, sternly denounced this suggestion, along with
the informality of Yatskov's report. He lectured Yatskov that it was "unacceptable" to raise the woman question, although it was unclear whether
out of concern for propriety or fear that it would offend Fuchs. Yatskov
responded respectfully that he had no intention of meddling in Fuchs's
private life or even providing a girlfriend for him; he was only exploring
the creation of a "`fictitious liaison"' that would, in any case, have to be
approved by Moscow. The discussion with Gold had been conducted "`in
a purely businesslike and completely respectable and straightforward
tone, and was not reminiscent in form of that somewhat overly familiar
style in which my report had been written.That report had been a
"`running commentary"' for Leonid Kvasnikov, his superior at the KGB New York station and had inadvertently been sent to Moscow "'in an unpolished form."'110

When Yatskov met with Gold at the beginning of March and learned
that his veteran agent handler was suffering from constant sore throats,
he decided, "`It would be a good idea to take advantage of the dry climate
in New Mexico to treat his ear, nose, and throat equipment,"' as well as
meet with Fuchs. They agreed that Gold would locate a sanatorium and
take his mother along with him. Yatskov reasoned that her presence
"`would make the trip itself seem entirely peaceful and domestic.... Obviously, he should take his vacation in the first half of June, which is when
the meeting with Ch-s ["Charles"/Fucks] is scheduled."' Moscow approved the plan, and Gold left for Colorado with his mother in late May,
planning to take an excursion to Santa Fe to meet Fuchs in early June. (In
his discussions with the FBI after he confessed, Gold never mentioned
that his mother accompanied him on his trip west, perhaps to avoid involving her; he remained devoted to her until her death in 1947.) A report from New York on 13 June conveyed the good news to Moscow that
Gold had received "very interesting information."iii

Meeting Klaus Fuchs had not been Gold's only assignment on his
June trip. Officers at the KGB New York station had made a fateful decision shortly before Gold left, one that would end up contributing to the
destruction of key parts of its espionage network in the United States. By
this point the KGB New York station had three sources at Los Alamos:
Fuchs, Greenglass, and Theodore Hall. While it evaluated Fuchs's materials as "the most valuable" of the three, the KGB wanted all the information it could get out of Los Alamos, and sending couriers to New Mexico was not all that easy. Consequently, shortly before Gold left for
Colorado and New Mexico, Anatoly Yatskov informed him that he needed
to go to Albuquerque after meeting Fuchs in Santa Fe to pick up materials from a second source, David Greenglass. (Greenglass, a soldier, was
a skilled machinist working at Los Alamos as part of a U.S. Army detachment. His wife, Ruth, had an apartment in Albuquerque, and David
was able to get there on weekend leave.)112

Igor Gouzenko's defection in September led the New York station to
increased security concerns and a temporary cessation of contacts with
Gold's sources. New York, however, cabled Moscow asking for permission
to allow Gold to make his scheduled meeting with Fuchs on ig September and received approval, not least because it had to arrange a password
for a meeting in England, where Fuchs expected to return after the end of the war. Gold left on 14 September, again accompanied by his mother.
After a stopover in a resort town in Arizona where he left her, he took a
train to Albuquerque and a bus to Santa Fe. Gold described "`conditions
in the vicinity of the Preserve [Los Alamos] as far more tense than they
had been during his trip there in June. The local residents, proud that
their state has the honor of developing and testing the first balloon
[atomic bomb], are particularly wary of people from out of state."' As for
the meeting itself, Gold wrote:

"For the first time since I have known him Charles [Fuchs] was late-by fifteen
minutes. But he did come along in a car and picked me up. We drove out into
the mountains beyond S.F. [Santa Fe], and he explained the reason for his tardiness by telling that he had great difficulty in breaking away from his friends at
Zapovednik [Los Alamos]. He said, further, that we had made an error by choosing to meet in the evening in SF [Santa Fe] and that it would have been better
to have come together in the afternoon when everyone was busy shopping. In
fact, Charles said, it was very bad for me to come to SF in any case but that we
would not have foreseen this since the last meeting. He was very nervous (the
first time I have seen him so), and I was inwardly not too calm myself. His first
remark had been, `Well, were you impressed?I answered that I was even more
than impressed, and in fact was even somehow horrified. Charles said that the
test shot had far exceeded expectations but that these had been purposely toned
down because the results of the calculations showed them to be so incredible.
Charles was present at the test shot, some zo miles away.

As regards the future, Charles says that a research institute will be established in "Ostrow" [Britain], but that he will most likely be here till at least the
beginning of the year. He agreed, however, that it was a good idea for making
an arrangement for meeting in Ostrov. The city is London; the place Mornington Crescent, along the Crescent; the date is the first Saturday of the month
after which Charles returns, and so on the first Saturday of each month thereafter; the time 8 o'clock in the evening; Charles is to carry a copy of Life magazine, our man is to carry three books tied together with a stout twine and held
by a finger; Charles's remark is: `Can you tell me the way to Harward Square?'
(Charles is to speak first); our man's remark is `Yes, but excuse me a minute-I
have an awful cold' (and our man is to blow his nose into a handkerchief).

Charles gave me the material, which is excellent and fully covers everything. He dropped me off in the outskirts of SF. The next meeting will be in
the city of Charles's sister, probably in November or December. I am to keep
in touch with her so as to be advised when. After a few bad moments of waiting for the bus, I left SF with no mishaps."

The material Fuchs handed over included a detailed technical description
of the pure uranium bomb dropped on Hiroshima. 113

Yatskov met with Gold on 12 November and imposed additional security measures. Fuchs was to leave his materials at his sister's and Gold
would collect them later, avoiding any direct contact. This was, it turned
out, Gold's last contact with Soviet intelligence for nearly a year. The Soviets received news via Kim Philby (a KGB source within the British Secret Intelligence Service) on zo November that within a week Allan Nunn
May, betrayed by Igor Gouzenko, would be detained for questioning. Although May was actually just kept under surveillance (he was arrested in
May 1946), the reverberations of Gouzenko's defection and news that
Elizabeth Bentley had likewise proven unreliable severely curtailed Soviet espionage activities for many months.114

Russell McNutt eventually disappointed the KGB by his refusal to move
to the Manhattan Project facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. But Julius
Rosenberg's second atomic recruit made up for that by working at the
heart of the Manhattan Project: Los Alamos. The KGB New York station
cabled Moscow Center on 20 September 1944: ""Liberal" [Rosenberg]
has recommended Ruth Greenglass, his wife's brother's wife, for the role
of caretaker of the safe-house apartment. Young Communist League
member since 1942, a typist for the electricians' union. According to "L.'s"
description, an able and smart young woman. Her husband is David
Greenglass, a mechanic, drafted into the army, is at a factory in Santa Fe.
Fellowcountiyman [Communist]. "May" [Apresyan] requests approval to
bring both Greenglasses into the fold, with a view to sending her to live
with David after she is recruited." A follow-up cable the next day added
that Greenglass was not at just any factory in Santa Fe but at an "Enormous" facility and that Ethel Rosenberg also vouched for Ruth's reliability. Not surprisingly, Moscow responded on 3 October that "the possibility of utilizing" the Greenglasses "is of interest to us" and assigning them
cover names. Ruth became "Wasp," and David was "Bumblebee," the
latter changed to "Caliber" when it was noticed that "Bumblebee" was already assigned to someone else. Impressed that he had not only passed
on information from one source in the Manhattan Project but had also
produced a second potential source, Moscow praised Rosenberg, warned
the KGB New York station that "carelessness with him could have serious consequences for our entire operation," and instructed the station: "In the interest of using `Liberal' [Rosenberg] as effectively as possible on
`E' ["Enormous"], familiarize him with the main points of this problem,"
-that is, explain the nature of the atomic bomb project.115

In a series of conversations at the Rosenbergs' apartment in November shortly before she left for New Mexico to visit David, Ruth Greenglass agreed to "cooperate with drawing in" her husband. The KGB New
York station sent Moscow a detailed report written in English by Julius
(partially in the third person) about his and his wife's recruitment interview with Ruth:

"The following is a record of the conversation held by Julius, Ethel and Ruth.
First of all, Julius inquired of Ruth how she felt about the Soviet Union and
how deep in general did her Communist convictions go, whereupon she
replied without hesitation that to her Socialism was the only hope of the world
and the Soviet Union commanded her deepest admiration.

Julius then wanted to know whether or not she would be willing to help
the Soviet Union. She replied very simply and sincerely that it would be a privilege; when Ethel mentioned David, she assured us that it was her judgment
such was also David's understanding. Julius then explained his connections
with certain people interested in supplying the Soviet Union with urgently
needed technical information it could not obtain through the regular channels
and impressed upon her the tremendous importance of the project upon
which David is now at work. Therefore she was to ask him the following kind
of questions. i) How many people were now employed there. z) What part of
the project was already in operation, if any; were they encountering any difficulties and why; how were they resolving their problems. 3) How much of an
area did the present setup cover. 4) How many buildings were there and their
layout; were they going to build any more. 5) How well guarded was the place.