Michael Goleniewski
Michał Franciszek Goleniewski, a.k.a. 'SNIPER', 'LAVINIA', (16 August 1922 – 12 July 1993), was an officer in the
In 1959 he became a "triple agent", giving Polish and Soviet secrets to the Central Intelligence Agency that directly exposed George Blake and Harry Houghton. In 1961 Goleniewski defected to the United States.
He later made unsubstantiated claims to be
Early life and espionage career
Goleniewski was born in 1922 in
In early 1959, Goleniewski became a triple-agent, anonymously sending Polish and Soviet secrets addressed to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by letter.[2] He insisted on communicating with the FBI, knowing that all other agencies had been penetrated by Soviet bloc intelligence. His letters were intercepted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who did not inform the FBI. According to Tim Tate, author of the 2021 book The Spy Who Was Left Out in the Cold, Goleniewski's motive, unlike most defectors who sought a better life outside the Soviet Union, was that he "realised that the communist system was wrong. And that he needed, ... to counter it, and to start working for the west and democracy".[3]
The US CIA gave him the code-name 'SNIPER', UK's
He defected to the United States in January 1961, which led to the imprisonment of Soviet agents in Britain including the
According to Tate, who used freedom of information requests to obtain CIA files on Goleniewski which had never been made public before, Goleniewski as of 2021[update] had identified more spies than any other defector or agent. Tate has also written a background article on him [9] However, when Anatoliy Golitsyn defected to the US, he convinced the CIA's head of counter-intelligence that only he, Golitsyn, was a true defector, all others being bogus. From 1964 the CIA started to renege on its contract with Goleniewski and brief other government departments that he had lost his mind. This caused Goleniewski much financial and emotional distress, and he lost his grip on reality, becoming paranoid, and ultimately completely insane, according to Tate. Although CIA records were obtained, MI5's file on Goleniewski was not released, with MI5 claiming "continuing sensitivity".[3]
Claim that he was Tsarevich Alexei
Goleniewski later made the claim that he was Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, who is now known to have been killed with his family by
Tsarevich Alexei, who was born in August 1904, was a
He met one of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia claimants, Eugenia Smith, in 1963. The meeting was covered by Life magazine. Goleniewski claimed that Smith was his sister Anastasia. Smith also recognized Goleniewski as her brother Alexei, even though she had claimed in her book that she had been the sole survivor at Ekaterinburg.[1]
Goleniewski's claim was an embarrassment to the CIA. He was put on a pension and his employment with the agency was ended in 1964.[1][11]
Goleniewski also claimed to have detailed information about alleged Tsarist money. His claims are detailed in the books Lost Fortune of the Tsars by William Clarke, and Hunt for the Czar by Guy Richards.
Marriage
Goleniewski married his pregnant girlfriend, Ingrid Kampf, on 30 September 1964, using the name Alexei Romanov. The marriage later broke up.[1]
Later life
Goleniewski lived the remainder of his life in
See also
- Ryszard Kuklinski
- Romuald Spasowski
- Józef Światło
- Romanov impostors
- List of Eastern Bloc defectors
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Massie, Robert K. (1995). The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. Random House. pp. 149–159.
- ^ a b Wright, Peter (1987). Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer. Stoddart Publishing. p. 128.
- ^ a b Ferguson, Donna (23 May 2021). "Spy who got the cold shoulder: how the west abandoned its star defector". The Observer.
- ^ Wright, Peter (1987). Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer. Stoddart Publishing. p. 129.
- ^ Wright, Peter (1987). Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer. Stoddart Publishing. p. 135.
- ^ Elsea, Jennifer K. (9 September 2013). "Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense Information" (PDF). Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
- ISBN 9780367506650.
- ^ a b c Wright, Peter (1987). Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer. Stoddart Publishing.
- ^ Tate, Tim (January 2022). "He Was the West's Most Important Undercover Spy. An Affair Brought It All Down". POLITICO.
- ^ Richards, Guy. The Hunt for the Czar. pp. 114–116.
- ISBN 978-1-932033-20-5.