George Koval
George Koval | |
---|---|
Born | George Abramovich Koval December 25, 1913 Sioux City, Iowa, U.S. |
Died | January 31, 2006 Moscow, Russia | (aged 92)
Education | D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia (BS) Columbia University City College of New York |
Awards | Hero of the Russian Federation |
Espionage activity | |
Allegiance | Soviet Union |
Service branch | GRU |
Codename | Delmar |
Operations | Manhattan Project infiltration |
George Abramovich Koval (Russian: Жорж (Георгий) Абрамович Коваль, IPA:
Koval was born to
Early life
George Koval's father, Abram Koval, left his home town of
George Koval attended Central High School, a red-brick
The Koval family worked on a
Recruitment and espionage
Later, Koval was recruited by the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (Главное Разведывательное Управление), or GRU. By the time he received his degree he had left Moscow under orders as part of a subterfuge. He was drafted into the Soviet army in 1939 to explain his sudden disappearance from the city. Though his parents had relinquished their US family passport, Koval returned to the US in 1940,[2]: 43 replacing a spy recalled during Stalin's purges.[4] His code name was Delmar.[5] Arriving in San Francisco, he traveled to New York City and enrolled at Columbia University.[6] According to Arnold Kramish, an American colleague he befriended and with whom he re-established contact in 2000, it was there that Koval assumed deputy command of the local GRU cell. This outpost operated under the cover of the Raven Electric Company, a supplier to firms such as General Electric. Koval told coworkers he was a native New Yorker and an only child. He ingratiated himself with everyone he met.[2]: 43 While Koval originally worked under a pseudonym, gathering information on toxins for use in chemical weapons, his handlers decided to have him work under his real name.[7]
During the beginning of
Atomic secrets
The Specialized Training Program was dissolved in early 1944, as the progress of the war tipped in favor of the Allies; many of the CCNY classmates were transferred to the infantry, while Koval and a dozen others were selected for the Special Engineer Detachment. The Detachment was part of the covert project to design, engineer, and fabricate an
Koval enjoyed free access to much of Oak Ridge;
Koval was transferred from Oak Ridge to a
Later years
After World War II, Koval was discharged from the Army. He returned to New York and CCNY, where he received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering on February 1, 1948. Telling his friends he was thinking about taking a trip to
While other spies such as Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Klaus Fuchs were caught after the war, Koval apparently went unscrutinized for years. Among the reasons given for his maintained cover was that inter-service politics undermined efforts to perform proper security checks on employees. Another possibility is that the U.S. government chose scientific ability over clear records and political sympathies.[2]: 46 In the 1950s, the FBI investigated his wartime activities and interviewed his former colleagues, leaving them with the impression that he might have been a spy.[2]: 47 The matter was kept confidential for sixty years[4] as the US was afraid of the damage that would result from the exposure of Koval's activities.[7]
In 1999, Koval was living on his small pension in Russia and had heard that U.S. war veterans like himself could apply for Social Security payments. He applied. In 2000, the Social Security Administration's Office of Central Operations, Baltimore, Maryland responded with a one-sentence letter: "We are writing to tell you that you do not qualify for retirement benefits."[5]
Koval described his 57 years of post-spy life living in Russia as "uneventful". His family knew he had done work for the GRU, but the subject was never discussed. He did not receive any high awards upon his return, a fact that bothered him. Bigger awards went to "career men", he told Kramish. However, he ended his correspondence by saying that he was not protesting his treatment; "[I am thankful] that I did not find myself in a Gulag, as might well have happened."[2]: 47 Koval died in his Moscow apartment on January 31, 2006, at the age of 92.[7]
Koval's activities as a spy began to emerge after the publication of a 2002 book, The GRU and the Atomic Bomb, which mentioned Koval by his code name and listed him as one of a handful of spies who evaded counterintelligence groups.[7] On November 3, 2007, he received the posthumous title of Hero of the Russian Federation bestowed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. When Koval was honored, the Russian presidential proclamation stated, "Mr Koval, who operated under the pseudonym Delmar, provided information that helped speed up considerably the time it took for the Soviet Union to develop an atomic bomb of its own."[8] Historian John Earl Haynes argues that Delmar's contributions were exaggerated, as part of what Michael Sulick described as part of boosting Putin's "nationalist agenda".[9]: ix [10]
References
- ^ Pagano, Owen N. (2014). The Spy Who Stole The Urchin: George Koval's Infiltration of the Manhattan Project (PDF) (B.A). The George Washington University. p. 3.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Walsh, Michael (May 2009). "George Koval: Atomic Spy Unmasked". Smithsonian. 40 (2): 40–47. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013.
- ^ Srebrnik, Henry (2001). Gennady Estraikh; Mikhail Krutikov (eds.). Yiddish and the Left (Diaspora, Ethnicity and Dreams of Nationhood: North American Jewish Communists and the Soviet Birobidzhan Project ed.). Oxford: Legenda Press.
- ^ a b c Doyle, Leonard (November 13, 2007). "US embarrassed as Putin honours spy who came in from the cornfields". The Independent. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
- ^ a b Soldatov, Andrei (May 28, 2016). "The Soviet Atomic Spy Who Asked for a U.S. Pension". The Daily Beast. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
- ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Broad, William J (November 12, 2007). "A Spy's Path: Iowa to A-Bomb to Kremlin Honor". The New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
- ^ Moscow Kremlin (November 2, 2007). "President Vladimir Putin handed over to the GRU (military intelligence) Museum the Gold Star medal and Hero of Russia certificate and document bestowed on Soviet intelligence officer George Koval". Kremlin.ru. President of Russia. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
- ISBN 978-0-300-15572-3.
- ISBN 978-1-626-16066-8.
Further reading
- Hagedorn, Ann (2021). Sleeper Agent: The Atomic Spy in America who Got Away. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1501173943.