Soviet Atomic Espionage
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82d CongresIO lot Session I JOENT COMMITTEE PBWT JOINT COMMITTEE ON ATOMIC ENERGY SOVIET ATOMIC ESPIONAGE APRIL 1951 Printed for the use of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy UNITED STATU GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICIC WASHINGTON 1 1951 JOINT COMMITTEE ON ATOMIC ENERGY (Created puruant t? ,ublq Law 585, 79th Cong.) BRIEN McMAIION. Connecticut. Vhairmam CARL T. DURHAM, North Carolina. Vice Chairman RICHARD B. RUSSELL, Georgia CIIET IIOLIFIELD. California EDWIN C. JOHNSON. Colorado MELVIN PRICE. Illinois TOM CONNALLY, Texas PAUL J. KILDAY, Texas -CLINTON P. ANDERSON. New Mexico HENRY M. JACKSON. Washington BOURKE B. HICKENLOOPER, Iowa W. STERLING COLE. New York EUGENE D. MILLIKIN. Colorado CIARLES 11. EISTON, Ohio WILLIAM F. KNOWLAND, California CARL IlINSIIAW. California JOHN W. BRICKER, Ohio ;AME8 X. VAN ZANDT. Pennsylvania WILLIAM I. Hl sew,fl.mutive Director HAROLDBxaliN, D"uty Director FOREWORD The Joiit Committee on Atomic Eierg' froiii its inceptioil almost 5 year" ago, his oiimiully given painsta ing at t et ion to the task of defending this Nation's atomic enterprise against Soviet agelits. Since lit-19-16, when tht law creating the joint cominiittee aind th1e Atomic Iergy (omniission was enacted, American espionage de0- fenses, so fi Is is know i, have not been breached. The Federal lureau of In vest igat ion a tid ot her ilierest ed agencies have reported no success- ful act of atoilic espionage committed against the United States from laid-191t oilward. Before that time, however, Soviet agents did successfully penetrate the joint Ana~riean-British-Caiadian atomic projects. After mid- 19-16. moreover, furl her securit v breaches have occurred in tho British lr0 1grain,through l)r. Khlus Fuchs 1mid through t he disappearance of I)r. Blimlo i'olitecorvo. The imldividitils who had acess; to classified atomic information amid who are detnitely known to have conveyed such information to the Soviet I'mioi wile eliiployed oi the project are three iii nuiibor. To list thlenil il tile et iinuted ordlel of their ilivorfialice, they are: (1) 1)r. Khmus Fuch, tie ernuin-born lritish scientist who worked lilothlpoll the key Oak Ridlge, Temra.,l5process and upon weapons at the Loom Alamos, N. Mex., laboratory during World War I; (2) Dr.Allan Nimi May, the British scientist, who was arrested an1d convicted in coniniection with tileCanadian spy exposes of 19-1: and (:) David Greeiiglass, allAmericait citizen, wvho, Itsall Army technical sergeallnt, performed weapons work at Los Alamos during Worhl War 11. A special situation is presented by )r. hiruno Poutectorvo, the Italian-born British scient ist, who worked atCanadian atomic energy centers and visited American laboratories diriiig World War 11. lIn October 1950t lie tied eastward id (lisap)1 eare(I behiuid thie ir-oil cuirtainl. Pouttecorvo 11ayNIlot. have comlproimised miforniat 14)1prior to is flight. But, for reasona- developed latter in this study, it uist be taken for rtnted t hat every scrap of inforinat iont known to Poiitecorvo is today knownl to the Soviet, Unlion. Thus the coniseqiteutees tire the Sallie whether or not lhedid in fact Serve as a Soviet agent while working ill the west. Ponttecorvo is therefore grouped vith Fuchs, May, and (1renglass as a i)et rayer of atoliic secrets. fitterlils of his conitribu- lion to the Soviet project, lie is estimated to raik behind Fuchs but ahead of May, anl GreenghlSS. Part I of t his study seeks to develop factual, authentic information abmut the four kowt bet layers who themselves hlad access to atolic (lilta. Also included in part I is material relating to Harry Gold, who served as ta espionilge courier and relayed infornmation froi both Fuchs and G(reenglass to Soviet officials. Part I is entitled "Fuchs) Point ecorvo, May,-Greenglass, and (fold." Part II of the pIsent report, in contrast to the proven Cases which mainly comprise part I, deals only with allegations not tested in a IV FOREWORD court of law. These allegations all pertain to persons whose atomic spying or service in Russia's behalf are alleged to have occurred dur- ing World War II. Several of the individuals concerned are cur- rently being prosecuted for perjury or contempt of ('ongress. The various allegations center particularly upon acts of espionage said to have been committed by Dr. Clarence Hiskey and I)r. Joseph Wein- berg, two wartime members of the American atomic enterprise, and upon a Communist cell said to have been active in the wartino Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. For the sake of clarity and completeness this report contains a part III relating to individuals who committed serious security breaches but who were not Soviet agents and whose actions (lid not assist the Russian atomic project. A leading example is the case of Dr. San- ford Simons. After working at Los Alamos during World War II he departed with a small sample of plutonium as a souvenir. Part III is entitled "Nonespionage Cases." The purpose of the present study, prepared and compiled by the joint committee staff at the request of the chairman, is to gatfler in one place the salient facts about the various individual wNithin the categories above outlined. It is hoped that the study will assist com- mittee members in assessing the atomic-espionage damage inflicted upon the United States. All statements have been meticulously screened so as to include unclassified and publishable information only. A LA S KA /" CANASN c.~wmmornu.~ e CA-c,oMp"a Labwooy Wei o04 uft emgI T90 e ls. SeATeI - 1644-1946. TM GEOGLRPIMA FOCAL Po OF EWIONAGE a fW ois" etro v-oo the me.." predueton too ~-'B~~-.T- quO 1943 -144 .z~f.'-z THE GEOGRAPHICAL FOCAL POINTS OF ESPOAGEI CONTENTS PART I FUCHS, PONTECORVO, MAY, GREENGLASS, AND GOLD Pa 1. A synopsis of the known facts -------------------------- 1 al Klaus Fuchs -------------------------------- 1 (b) Bruno Pontecorvo ---------------------------- 1 (V) Allan Nunn May ------------------------------ 2 ( David Greenglass ----------------------------- 3 (e) Harry Gold ----------------------------------- 3 2. The Nature of the Information Betrayed ------------------ 5 3. Comment on Security Defenses, Espionage Techniques, and Motives ---------------------------------------- 8 4. The Fuchs cas-details ------------------------------ 13 5. The Pontecorvo case-details ------------------------- 38 6. The May case-details ------------------------------ 49 7. The Greenglass case--details ------------------------- 60 8. The Gold case-details ----------------------------- 145 PART II CHARGES NOT PROVEN IN A COURT OF LAW 1. Charges concerning Arthur Adams, Clarence Hiskey, John Chapin, and others ------------------------------ 163 2. Charges concerning Martin David Kamen --------------- 171 3. Charges concerning Steve Nelson, Joseph Weinberg, and others -------------------------------------- 72 4. Testimony given by David Hawkins ------------------- 183 5. Allegations concerning Wartime Exports ---------------- 184 PART III NONESPIONAGE CASES 1. The case of the Plutonium Souvenir -------------------- 193 2. The Missing Briefcase ------------------------------ 194 3. The Souvenir Photos ------------------------------ 195 4. The Falsified Security Questionnaire ------------------- 196 PART I FUCHS, PONTECORVO, MAY, GREENGLASS, AND GOLD 1.A Synopsis of the Known Facts (a) Klaus Fuchs Dr. Fuchs was a member of the British atomic-energy mission which came to the United States during World War II, in accordance with the 1943 Quebec agreement between President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Prime Minister King of Canada. The British certified to the Manhattan Engineer Dis- trict, which then had responsibility for American atomic develop- mnrt,that Fuchs could be trusted; and this certification was accepted without further inquiry. During 1944 Fuchs lived in New York and worked at Columbia University, participating intimately in efforts to develop the gaseous diffusion 18-235 separation proces--a process now embodied in the K-25-27-29-31 plant complex at Oak Ridge, Tenn., and to be embodied in the major new plant complex under construction at Paducah Ky. He was one of three Britishers who had complete access to all pLases of the Columbia University work. It is little appreciated thatFucls is not only the great betrayer of weapons data but also the great betrayer of the theory underlying the only Oak Ridge production method in use toda me In August 1944 Fuchs moved to Los Alamos with other members of the British mission and worked there until June 1946. He took art in the making of the earliest atomic bombs; he was privy to ideas t plan for iniproved atomic weapons, and he possessed insight into the thinkin of the period as regards the hydrogen bomb. Fuchs returned to England in mid-1946 and soon became Chief of the Theo- retical Physics Division at Harwell, Britain's principal atomic- research laboratory. Some 3 years later American security authorities advised Britain of a lead developed in the United States, and this brought about Fuchs' arrest, conviction, and imprisonment in early 1950. He had shipped to Russia the most sensitive information, including exten- sive quantitative data in written form regarding the Oak Ridge gase- ous diffusion process, the weapons work at Los Alamos, British activi- ties at Harwell, and other projects located in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. (b) Bruno Pontecorvo The reactor of most advanced design and performance operating in North America is still the Canadian NRX heavy-water pile at Chalk