Venona has shown conclusively that the highestlevel american government officials working for soviet intelligence was harry hopkins, the close friend and advisor of president roosevelt. The following 35 documents are reproduced in part i. Stamps palette provides stamps for approving documents right. Due to the age and poor quality of some of the pdf images, a screen reader may not be able to process the images into word documents. Decoding soviet espionage in america, published by yale university press. It also updated some translations by restoring names that had been protected for privacy reasons in the original releases. Enquiry about documents required by nina for passport and residence 1944 from. Soviet espionage and the american response 19391957 laguna hills, ca. National security agency broke a half century of silence by releasing translations of soviet cables decrypted back in the 1940s by the venona project. It is now clear that the truman administration wasnt looking very hard. Others, until the venona documents were aired, were considered heroes of american liberalism. Judicial watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained previously redacted material from the federal bureau of investigation fbi file of the late senator edward ted kennedy, who died in august 2009 from brain cancer. Venona documents unmistakably identified julius rosenberg as the head of a soviet spy ring and david greenglass, his brotherinlaw, as a soviet source at the secret atomic bomb facility at.
A counterintelligence reader, volume 2 chapter 4, venona. The national security archive is proud to have had the opportunity to make a substantial contribution to the cold war series. Additional venona documents were released in march 1996. The purpose of the venona project was the decryption of messages transmitted by the intelligence agencies of the soviet union, e. The program attempted to decrypt messages sent by soviet union intelligence agencies, including its foreign intelligence service and military intelligence services. In a section of a notebook quoting and summarizing documents from duncan lees kgb file, vassiliev wrote. The schneirs critique of the venona documents was based on their decades of work on the case of ethel and julius rosenberg. Nsa graphic spy cases united states introduction to the venona materials. The term venona served as an arbitrary codeword stamped on a relatively small number of documents in order to limit access to a particular cryptanalytic breakthrough. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. Mar 23, 2017 the number of american soviet agents identified from venona has reached 500, more than double the 205 mccarthy predicted as researchers have decrypted only ten percent of the documents thus far. Hidden away in a former girls school in the late 1940s, venona project cryptanalysts, linguists, and mathematicians attempted to decode more. Alexander vassilievs notes, venona and laurence duggan. The venona project was a counterintelligence program initiated by the united states army signal intelligence service a forerunner of the national security agency that lasted from 1943 to 1980.
Julius and ethel rosenberg and alger hiss, whom the left maintained were victims of american. Nova online secrets, lies, and atomic spies read venona. The following list of americans in the venona papers is a list of names deciphered from codenames contained in the venona project, an american government effort from 19431980 to decrypt coded messages by intelligence forces of the soviet union. State what documents ninaii should have when making formal application for a passport and whether any documents are necessary to prove that she is of. To what extent some of the individuals named in the venona papers were actually involved with. Collection of the venona files from the national security agency explanation and history of venona project informantion, fbi memo belmont to boardman, feb. The following list of americans in the venona papers is a list of names deciphered from codenames contained in the venona project, an american government. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read the venona secrets. It offers the unmatched expertise of herb romerstein, a walking encyclopedia of the history of communism and counterintelligence.
Dora, and pilot were found in venona messages as early as. The first of six public releases of translated venona messages was made in july 1995 and included 49 messages about the soviets efforts to gain information on. Dec 08, 2014 the venona secrets is a masterful compendium of spy versus spy that puts the venona transcripts in context with secret fbi reports, congressional investigations, and documents recently uncovered in the former soviet archives. The venona project 194380 was a counterintelligence program initiated by the u. The term venona began life as merely an arbitrary codeword stamped on a relatively small number of documents in order to limit access to a particular cryptanalytic breakthrough. A631 this series consists of decrypted, annotated translations of soviet diplomatic telegrams intercepted by the u. These documents include notes by nsa identifying the soviet agents mentioned by code name in the original cables. Decoding soviet espionage in america, 2000, 487 pages.
The venona files are most famous for exposing julius code named liberal and ethel rosenberg and help give indisputable evidence of their involvement. Venona documents unmistakably identified julius rosenberg as the head of a soviet spy ring and david greenglass, his brotherinlaw, as a soviet source at. Use of the atomic bomb to counter chinese communist aggression in korea november 8, 1950. Setting up of an illicit radio in the soviet embassy. The venona project was a counterintelligence program initiated by the united states armys signal intelligence service later the national security agency that ran from february 1, 1943 until october 1, 1980. During his time on the manhattan project, the nsa learned of his relations with the kgb. Mccarthys legacy still misportrayed by media after venona.
In 1995 the venona documents secret soviet cable traffic from the 1940s that the united states intercepted and eventually decrypted finally became available to american historians. Send a pdf for approval when you send a pdf by email for approval traditional chinese, simplified chinese, japanese, and korean only, approvers receive the pdf as an email attachment. Venona project and vassiliev notebooks index and concordance. Selected venona messages a note on the translations and list of messages the release of venona translations involved careful consideration of the privacy interests of individuals mentioned, referenced, or identified in these documents. One of the greatest secrets of the cold war american and british intelligence agencies are currently in hot water over iraq. Since the release in 1994 and 1995 of the venona documents the soviet world war ii intelligence communiques that were intercepted and partially decrypted in the course of the venona operation decrypted venona cables have been cited as damning evidence in support of espionage charges from the early cold war era. Armys signal intelligence service, the precursor to the national security agency, began a secret program in february 1943 later. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. List of americans in the venona papers conservapedia.
The venona project intercepted codes passed among agents of the communist soviet union during world war ii, and attempted to decrypt them. The number of american soviet agents identified from venona has reached 500, more than double the 205 mccarthy predicted as researchers have decrypted only ten percent of the documents thus far. In a section of a notebook quoting and summarizing documents from. But they were very successful in the cold war and the story of that top secret operation has only come to light since the end of the cold war. To what extent some of the individuals named in the venona papers were actually involved with soviet intelligence is a topic of dispute. Venona project project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks.
Another critique of the venona translations came from the late rutgers university law professor john lowenthal, who as a law student worked as a volunteer for alger hisss defense team, and later wrote extensively on the. Venona is also responsible for the exposure of the atomic spy klaus fuchs. Venona was not a realtime or near realtime operation. The first of six public releases of translated venona messages was made in july 1995 and included 49 messages about the soviets efforts to gain information on the u. Armys signal intelligence service later the national security agency.
See michael dobbs, pointing the finger at mlad, washington post national weekly edition, 1117 mar. The sixth release of venona translations and related documents included the translations of kgb messages inadvertently left out of the previous five. In accordance with section 504 of the rehabilitation act of 1973, as amended, individuals may request that the government provide auxiliary aids or services to ensure effective communication of the substance of the documents. Some are also difficult to read because of the age of the original manually typed document. Joe mccarthy, donald trump, the venona papers, and the.
The national security archive is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization founded in 1985 by a group of journalists and scholars who sought a centralized home for formerly secret u. Historical analysis of 20 name files from cia records, by prof. Selected venona messages central intelligence agency. However, the problem was that mccarthy lied about his information and figures. They represent an attempt to gather some of the more interesting, important, and revealing original documents available to american policymakers and intelligence officers during the period covered by this volume. Exposing soviet espionage and americas traitors ebook written by herbert romerstein, eric breindel. Senator daniel patrick moynihan, chairman of the bipartisan commission on government secrecy, responsible for securing the release of venona project materials, in the introduction to his book secrecy states, the venona intercepts contained overwhelming proof of the activities of soviet spy networks in america, complete with names, dates, places, and deeds. Download the venona secrets ebook free in pdf and epub format. Read the venona secrets online, read in mobile or kindle.
The venona project was a united states counterintelligence program initiated during world. The venona secrets presents one of the last great, untold stories of world war ii and the cold war. The schneirs critique of the venona documents was based on their decades of work on the. Oct 01, 2000 the venona secrets presents one of the last great, untold stories of world war ii and the cold war. The venona intercepts showed that over several decades, there were a lot of spies in the government, but not all in the state department, lamphere said. This was a project by the united states and united kingdom during the cold war. Breitman venona messages, entry p11 boxes 16 location. To see the complete set of venona documents released so far, go to the.
All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. List of americans in the venona papers unionpedia, the. They represent an attempt to gather some of the more interesting, important, and revealing original documents available to american policymakers and intelligence. Once the additive is correctly determined the message can be read by. Haynes talked about a book he cowrote with harvey klehr, venona. However, by the time the effort to decipher the texts generated by this breakthrough ended in 1980, the codeword venona meant to a. Joe mccarthy, donald trump, the venona papers, and the public. The venona project was a united states counterintelligence program initiated during world war ii by the united states armys signal intelligence service later absorbed by the national security agency, which ran from february 1, 1943, until october 1, 1980.
The venona documents released in 1950 disclose information about the clandestine activities of klaus fuchs under his code names of charles and rest. The venona files are most famous for exposing julius code named liberal and ethel rosenberg and help give indisputable evidence of their involvement with the soviet spy ring. Venona documents helped to convince the cias venona headman, james jesus angleton, that ambassador harriman was a soviet agent, and a venona cable reported that alger hiss ales, on a world war ii trip with harriman, had secretly been given an award in moscow, according to the garbled version by thomas powers, spook of spooks. Soviet espionage and the american response, 19391957. This extraordinary book is the first to examine the venona messages documents of unparalleled importance for our understanding of the history and politics of the stalin era and the early cold war years. The venona documents indicate that there were perhaps a dozen soviet agents in the state department alone. This index and concordance indexes twentyone volumes of kgb archival material. Code, section 552552a that were applied during the processing of.
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