lomerstein/Brehdel Revelations in The Venona Secrets Soviet Penetration ofthe U.S. Gets Fresh Look iY Allan H. Ryskind HerbRomerslein comes by his expertise While was also a notorious Soviet spy. of his role in ihesuccess of Operation Snow n Soviet communism first-hand. Bom in In the pre-war years, he furnished secret few York City, he joined the Communist in which White had played such a critical Treasury information and documents to jrty at the tender age of 15. left two years part. Whittaker Chambers, who turned them over iter, and then dedicated hislife toexposing Could war have been avoided? Most his to Soviet military intelligence. Famed torians say no, but a softer Hull message lisstunningcriminalconspiracy thatnear- Soviet courier Elizabeth Bentley informed conquered the world. the FBIin 1945 that White passed informa He probed Communist summer camps tion to the Soviets through Nathan Gregory trchildrenfor the New York State legisla- Silvermaster, the leader of another notorious ire in the 1950s, became an investigator for spy ring that included White House adviser e House Committee on Un-American Ac Lauchlin Currie. Venona intercepts reveal uities in the 1960s, and served as minority that White continued to feed the Soviets lief" (HCUA) investigatorfor its successor, intelligence throughout World WarQ. e House Committee on Internal Security, But White's espionage activities may 1the early to mid-'70s, have paled in comparison to his success in Romerslein joined the House Committee shaping U.S. policy. Vitaliy Pavlov, an 1 Intelligence as a professional staffer in NKVD (later KGB) official, was picked by his superiors in Moscow topersuade White to participate in Operation Snow, which involved Soviet efforts to worsen U.S. Japanese [felalions. The purpose: toencour age Japan's war party to view the United States, notRussia, as itsmain enemy. Pavlov phoned White in Washington in and they launched a disinformation cam May1941, made a dateforlunch andthen, at paign to discredit both him and his work, the restaurant, handed White an outline of Harry Dexter White including the forging ofa phony letter bear themes that he wanted White to promote ingRomerstein's legitimate signature*. among key U.S. policymakers. Among them Thus it is hardly surprising that, along was a demand, to bewrapped in lough riieto- might havedelayedanyattack,whichwould with New YorkPost executive and editorial ric, that Japan recall its armed forces from have given the U.S. more time to prepare. page editor Eric Breindel—who tragically China. White Ihen sent this proposed diplo Gen. George Marshall, army chief of staff died at age42 in the midst of theproject— maticdemand, abrasive language and all, to prior lo Pearl Harbor, was tncUncd lo this Romerstein has produced a superb book on Treasury Secretary Henry Moigenlhau, Jr. position. Soviet espionageand policysubversion.The Venona Secrets, published by Regnery Publishers, Inc.,a sistercompany of Human Harry Hopkins Events. (To order directly from Regnery Nowhere was Soviet success more evident than in their recruiting of call at 1-888-219-4747.) Harry Dexter White. White became a major figure in the Treasury Using the Venona documents—nearly 78 (overseeing the CIA and FBI, while 3,000U.S. decrypted cablesbetween Soviet Department and was Instrumental In the founding of the International •dying KGB activities against the West) spies inAmerica and their Moscow superi IWonetary Fund and the World Bank. White was also a notorious Soviet I,during theReagan years, headed upthe ors—and other Russian archival evidence, spy. He furnished secret Treasury Information and documents to lA's (United States Information Romerstein sheds new light on the massive Whittaker Chambers, who turned them over to Soviet military intelli ency's) critical Office to Counter Soviet Soviet penetration of our most sensitive gence. Famed Soviet courier Elizabeth Bentley informed the FBI in 1945 ^information. In this post, he embar- government agencies. sed Moscow so extensively with his During the '30s and '40s, U.S.' Com that White passed information to the Soviets through Nathan Gregory >oses of fraudulent Soviet calumnies munists, under direct Soviet control, Silvermaster, the leader of another notorious spy ring that included White linst the West that the Soviets finally felt swarmed intotheTreasury andState Depart House adviser Lauchlin Currle. But White's espionage activities may celled to curb some of their most oulra- ments. the Office of Strategic Services have paled In comparison to his success in shaping U.S. policy. >us charges. (forerunner to the CIA) and even the upper What'smore,Sovietofficials tipped their reaches of the White House itself. They s to Romerslein in significant ways; looted our atomic energy secrets, enabling cy frequently expressed admiration for the Soviets to develop the atomic bomb far Morgenthau didn't act on While's memo detailed knowledge of Soviet history. "What is certain," Romerstein notes, "is earlier than experts believed possible, and at the lime, bui the issue of how lo confront thai Operation Snow was beingcarriedout they learned how to turn U.S. policy toward Japanese aggression resurfaced immediately with Soviet, not American interests, in Soviet ends. * In Aiigusl /9S6, ihe Washing/on Posi received a prior to Pearl Harbor, as many in the U.S. mind." iifa "Uller" iillejjeilly Seiil li> a Rtpiiblwmi stnulor. Nowhere was Soviet success more evi government began frantically searching for ingRiunersiein !v tignoiure anddeitiilinf; a su/iposed dentthan in their recruiting of Hairy Dexter Another of White's major contributions ways lo avoid hostilities in the Pacific, at to the Soviet effort, writes Romerslein. "was t pint tu spreailfalse infonnoUon about ihe terrible White. Holding a Harvard Ph.D. in eco nkibylilisasierintheSoviet Union. ViePosirepon- least unlil ihe United Slates was belter pre his role in the Morgenthau Planfor postwar nomics, While becamea majorfigure in the lunilu lener was a fake and Ronyirsiein provedthe pared militarily. Germany." The Venona decryptions dis IIfllcrluadaiulthesignature block tvere liftedfrom Treasury Department, especially during White, however, had dilTerenl ideas. He close thai a high-level NKVD official, •mineteller he luulpreviously writtenin I9S5 to U. World War 11 and the immediate posi-war RobertSchweitzer concerning yet another Soviet rewrote his hard-edged memo to Morgen whose code name was "Koltsov," had a period. And he was instrumented in the try. thisone niih Schweituras the victim. Aftera thau, which was then largely incorporated lengthy meeting in the United States in 1944 •ressioiuil hearing on how the Soviets framed founding of two existing major economic into Secretary of State Cordell Hull's with White in which thesubject of Germany yeitzer. Romerstein furnished a copy of his letter institutions, the International Monetary famous ultimatum to theJapanese on Nov. came up. White also informed Koltsov he •essed toSchweitzeranalyzing Soviet skulduggery to Fund and the World Bank. :e(h Embassy press attach^, who later admitted he 26. 1941. That message, many historians was "ready for any self-sacrifice" in his a copyto Moscow. TheSovietsundoubtedly used believe, goaded the war party inTokyo into work for Moscow. Whiledidn't disappoint. USIA letterhead and the Romerstein signature to Mr Ryskind is editor at large of HlfMAN striking early in December at the U.S. fleet iifiicture theforgery on Chernobyl. EvEim. at Pearl Harbor. Years later, Pavlov boasted Continued on page 20 The WeekOF January 29, 2001 • HlWLW EvE.VTS has derided the book (but not reviewed it), insisting that Breindel would never have Joviet Penetration of the U.S. Continuedfrom page 9 subscribed to Romerstein's conclusion that Oppenheimer was "a conscious collaborator with the Soviet secret police," that Harry Hopkins was a "Soviet agent" and that 1. F. Stone "in the end agreed to work for the Encouraged by White's harsh ideas for a elections, and so on, ad nauseam. regularly with Akhmerov, a high-powered NKVD." •stwar Gennany, Morgenthau told British In the early 1960s, Oleg Gordievsky, a illegal operative whose activities the Soviets ficials at the 1944 Qucbec Conference KGB officer who aided British intelligence zealously sought to conceal. tween FDR and Churchill that Gennany for ten years before his defection, attended a More evidence abounds. A Venona doc Duld be divided into smaller provinces, lecture by Iskhak Akhmerov, who headed a ument signed by Akhmerov reveals that industrialized and converted into small, super-sensitive "illegal" Soviet intelligence Soviet agent "19" reported directly to ricultural landhoiclings. The Morgenthau operation in the United States. Tlie Soviets Akhmerov on discussions he was privy to in paralleled Stalin's own thinking on a distinguished between "legal" and "illegal" between Churchill and Roosevelt. Eduard stwar German economy. intelligence operations. Illegal intelligence Mark,a military historian, after thoroughly Though initially supportive, both leaders officers such as Akhmerov had false identi scrutinizing the Venona files and U.S. cntually rejected the plan. But a leak to ties, worked with only the most secret archives, concludes Uiat agent "19" could ; press on Sept. 23. 1944, "apparently Soviet agents and took pains to conceal the have beenonly one man—Hopkins. The Venona Secrets is chock-full ofother fascinating information, both critical and trivial, about the Soviet Union, American Romerstein's more controversial