NUTTY NEW RECIPES | SHIPROCK NAVAJO FAIR OCTOBER 2009 MAGAZINE RISE TO THE OCCASION: BALLOON13 FESTIVALS NEW CLUES: UNLOCK INTRIGUING 3MYSTERIES LA LLORONA: A LEGEND TAKES THE STAGE GO UNDERCOVER: TRAIL FAMOUS SPIES The background design seen here is based on a sketch of the atomic bomb drawn by Soviet informer and Albuquerque resident David Greenglass. The real sketch was used as evidence in the 1951 espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. S New Mexico has always beeN a hotbed Spie of espioNage aNd iNtrigue—froM the MaNhattaN project iN los alaMos like to double ageNts iN saNta fe passiNg secrets to the soviets. Now, albuquerque Mystery writer uS christiNe barber takes you oN a tour of our state’s spy history. 44 NEW MEXICO | OCTOBER 2009 www.nmmagazine.com | OCTOBER 2009 45 HiS code name waS perSeuS. No one is sure of his real name. the only whisper of his existence came from intelligence files of the former KGB opened briefly in the 990s.1 the files mentioned that perseus was supposedly working as a spy at los alamos National laboratory during ation world war ii. did he really exist? tr S we may never know. dmini a S Clockwise from left—In 1953, Ethel and record and Julius Rosenberg were put to S death for espionage; testimony e do know that worked for the U.S.S.R. ty-114868-7 (34) from Ethel’s brother and Manhattan at Project employee David Greenglass Perseus was just during the design and us d one shadowy construction of the first S was instrumental in their conviction. The event was widely reported in figure among atomic bombs, in the the media of the day, as demonstrated U.S. national archive many in the mid-1940s. Their stories, nran-118- and Ethel Rosenberg. On the morning Soviets—a month before, by this New York Daily News front page. international as told to a grand jury and found today Above—Prosecutors introduced this of June 3, 1945, Greenglass answered a Fuchs had passed along to A theoretical physicist on the Manhattan Jell-O box top as evidence during Julius spy game still online at the National Archives, are knock at his door to find a man, code- them every shred of informa- Project, Klaus Fuchs, also known as K. Fuchs and Ethel Rosenberg’s trial. In a plan and Karl Fuchs, gave detailed information playing out in still compelling. orchestrated by the Rosenbergs, David named “Raymond,” who simply said, tion he knew, including about the bomb to the Soviets; below a New Mexico. The state has unique ties One of the most famous stories Greenglass (below) said he matched “Julius sent me.” The man held half of exact sketches of the bomb, report excerpt details his involvement. to the first atomic bomb, and is currently involves David Greenglass, a his half of the box top with that of a a Jell-O box top. Greenglass found his the types of material used, courier before passing over sketches of Whome to Los Alamos National Labora- Manhattan Project machinist who the atomic bomb. The information was half of the box top, given to him by his the estimated force of the tory and Sandia National Laboratories, lived with his wife in a downtown soon in Soviet hands. brother-in-law, Julius Rosenberg. When explosion, and specifics of the which are both, in part, still in the Albuquerque apartment—and who the halves matched, Greenglass handed planned Trinity test. weapons business. Since the nuclear age passed classified information to Julius Raymond sketches of the atomic bomb On June 2, 1945, Fuchs had passed and the spy game grew up together, New and the names of individuals working this information to Raymond, the same Mexico’s history seethes with family on the Manhattan Project. Within courier who would meet with David betrayals, secret Jell-O box-top puzzles, 24 hours, that information was in the Greenglass the very next day. Raymond, elaborate disguises, dummies, defections, hands of a Soviet agent. Just six years whose real name was Harry Gold and assassinations. later, in 1951, Greenglass provided the and who was a Russian courier for key evidence that sent his sister, Ethel almost 15 years, also met with Rosenberg, and her husband to the Fuchs several times in Santa on the hill electric chair for espionage, both on Fe, once at the now-gone ation “There were all these layers of secrecy,” tr June 19, 1953. Castillo Street Bridge, and S says Ellen Bradbury Reid of the nuclear- But Greenglass was hardly the only again at what historian Reid dmini age plots involving Los Alamos National a snoop working at Los Alamos during believes was the Scottish Rite S Laboratory. Reid, a Manhattan Project WWII. Klaus Fuchs, for one, had much Temple, at 463 Paseo historian who grew up in Los Alamos, more dangerous information to share. A de Peralta. now conducts tours of famous sites asso- and record theoretical physicist, Fuchs stood at the It’s the staggering depth of ciated with the era. “There were secrets S Trinity Site, near Alamogordo, on July Fuchs’s betrayal, along with his upon secrets. There are large parts of this ty-114868-7 (16) 16, 1945, and watched the experimental at colorful character, that makes him a us we do not know.” d detonation of the first atomic bomb. favorite of Sarah Fair, an educator who S Even if Perseus didn’t exist, the gov- The explosion would soon stun the teaches a class about secrets and spies ernment caught three other spies who world, but it came as no surprise to the to teenagers at the National Museum U.S. national archive nran-118- 46 NEW MEXICO | OCTOBER 2009 www.nmmagazine.com | OCTOBER 2009 47 of Nuclear Science and History, in the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. Albuquerque. “He was one of the mas- Joseph Stalin had ordered Trotsky deported go uNDERCOVER: terminds of getting information to the to Mexico, where, in 1940, he was assas- spy destiNATIONs revealed! Russians,” says Fair. sinated by a KGB agent. But while many of New Mexico’s Another story—this one offering more ALAMOGORDO looks at life at lanl, goes through a spy stories are now more than 60 years fact than fiction—is that of Edward Lee When the first atomic bomb was mockup of a 1940s security handbook, ation tr and teaches code-breaking. 601 eubank S old, don’t think for a second that there Howard, an Alamogordo native and CIA detonated at the Trinity Site in 1945, aren’t spies at work here today. There officer who, in 1985, used a disguise and new mexico burst onto the scene of Blvd. Se, albuquerque. open daily, 9 dmini a a.m.–5 p.m. For info: (505) 245-2137, S have been far more recent cases, such a dummy to slink away from the agents the international spy game. the site, as the arrest in 1997 of Peter H. Lee, a tailing him and defect to the Soviet now a national historic landmark, is www.nuclearmuseum.org nuclear physicist at LANL who admit- Union, only to die there under suspicious within White Sands missile range, near and record ted selling secrets to China in 1985 circumstances. carrizozo, and is open to the public only LOS ALAMOS S (and not to be confused with Wen Ho Howard had trained with the CIA for twice a year. the next open house is the city is home to the high-security ty-114868-7 (15) at Lee, who was accused of passing secrets special duty in Russia, but was fired after october 3, 2009, when the gate will be los alamos national laboratory, where us d S to the Chinese in 1999 but later acquit- failing a polygraph test regarding past open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. during those manhattan Project scientists carried out ted). Then, in 2005, there was Noshir drug use and petty theft. He then moved hours you can visit the site on your own, their secret mission in the 1940s, and Gowadia, a LANL contract engineer to Santa Fe, worked for the state of New or go with the alamogordo chamber where a new generation of visionaries nran-118- U.S. national archive who didn’t discriminate when handing Mexico, got into drunken brawls—and of commerce, which sponsors a convoy carries out their own today. For no over classified information, admitting passed along secrets to Moscow. The for visitors. For info, including directions: admission charge, you can visit two 155682 . that he passed on facts about the B-2 Soviets gave him the exceptionally boring (575) 678-1134, www.wsmr.army.mil/ museums that focus on the area’s history NO bomber’s stealth technology to eight codename “Robert.” wsmr.asp and the science of the atomic bomb. The ive at countries, including China. After a newly defected Russian spy Bradbury Science Museum, at 15th G e n reported that a disgruntled American was ALBUQUERQUE and central in downtown los alamos, is selling secrets to the Soviets, the FBI, reluc- Stay at The Spy House, where david open tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., exico m tantly notified by the CIA about Howard, Greenglass matched his Jell-o box top and Sunday–monday, 1–5 p.m. For info: W behind the e n with a courier’s and passed secrets to (505) 667-4444; www.lanl.gov/museum. F iron curtain put the state employee under surveillance. m o Although most of New Mexico’s high-drama On September 21, 1985, the agents the Soviets.