Mitrokhin Archive
"The Mitrokhin Archive" refers to the collected notes taken by Vasili Mitrokhin over 30 years. They became public following his 1992 departure from Russia to Great Britain. The notes purportedly contain Soviet intelligence operations details obtained from KGB archives. Mitrokhin was a Major and senior archivist for the Soviet Union's foreign intelligence service and the First Chief Directorate of the KGB. He co-wrote several books with Christopher Andrew. "The Mitrokhin Archive" claims to represent a major body of historical evidence regarding Soviet operations and personnel assets during the Cold War. The publication of Mitrokhin's material has launched parliamentary inquiries in Great Britain, India and Italy [1]
Christopher Andrew was chosen as to collaborate with Vasili Mitrokhin due to specialization in espionage and because he had signed the Official Secrets Act [2].
Content of the notes
The papers disclosed that more than half of Soviet weapons were based on designs stolen from the United States, that the KGB had tapped the telephones of American officials such as Henry Kissinger, and it had spies in almost all the country's big defence contractors. In France, at least 35 senior politicians were shown to have worked for the KGB during the Cold War. In Germany, the KGB was shown to have infiltrated all the major political parties, the judiciary and the police. The papers also include preparations for large-scale sabotage operations by the KGB against the US, Canada, including hidden weapons cache, several of which were removed by police based on information provided by Mitrokhin[3].
Prominent KGB spies in the files
- Melita Norwood, (code named Hola), a British Civil Servant who had access to nuclear secrets while working at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association. [4]
- John Symonds (code-named Scot)[5]
- Tom Driberg (code-named Lepage), a former elected Labour Party Member of Parliament who had visited Moscow with Guy Burgess. [6]
- Raymond Fletcher (code-named Peter), a former elected Labour Party Member of Parliament. [7]
- Robert Lipka, former clerk at the United States National Security Agency. [8] Lipka denied his guilt until the very last moments before his trial was to begin when it was revealed that the prime witness against him was a former KGB archivist with proof of his relation with the KGB.[9]
- Claude Estier, former leader of the French Socialist Party and confidant of former president François Mitterrand[citation needed]
National leaders who allegedly cooperated with the KGB:
- Salvador Allende provided political intelligence to the Soviet Union through "his own emissaries" in Latin American countries. He also reorganized Chile's intelligence on the KGB orders. Historian Christopher Andrew argued that financial support through the KGB channels probably played a decisive role for Allende victory during the Chilean presidential election, 1970 [10][11]
- Daniel Ortega agreed to "unofficial meetings" with KGB officers. He gave to Nikolai Leonov, head of First Chief Directorate's analytical department, a secret program of Sandinista movement, which stated the intention of FSLN to lead class struggle in Central America, in alliance with Cuba and the Soviet bloc [12]
KGB operations revealed in the files include:
- attempts to incite racial hatred in the U.S. by mailing forged hate letters to militant groups [13]
- bugging MI6 stations in the Middle East[14]
- bugging Henry Kissinger when he was serving as US Secretary of State[15]
- leaked documents from defence contractors including Boeing, Fairchild, General Dynamics, IBM and Lockheed Corporation, providing the Russians with detailed information about the Trident, Peacekeeper and Tomahawk cruise missiles. [16]
Accused but unconfirmed were:
- Richard Clements, ally of Neil Kinnock, former leader of the British Labour Party, who denied the allegation, saying that it was an over-inflated claim and "complete nonsense".
- Romano Prodi (see Mitrokhin Commission).
- Carlos Fonseca Amador of the Sandinista National Liberation Front [17]
Disinformation campaign against the United States
Christopher Andrew described the following active measures against the "Main Adversary": [18]:
- Promotion of false John F. Kennedy assassination theories, using writer Mark Lane.[19]
- Discrediting the CIA using historian Philip Agee.[20]
- Spreading rumors that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover was a homosexual. [21]
- Attempts to discredit Martin Luther King, Jr. by placing publications portraying him as an "Uncle Tom" who was secretly receiving government subsidies.[22]
- Stirring up racial tensions in the United States by mailing bogus letters from the Ku Klux Klan, placing an explosive package in "the Negro section of New York" (operation PANDORA)[23], and spreading conspiracy theories that Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination had been planned by the US government. [24]
- Fabrication of the story that AIDS virus was manufactured by US scientists at Fort Detrick; the story was spread by Russian-born biologist Jakob Segal [25]
Italian Mitrokhin Commission
In 2002 the Italian Parliament, then led by Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing coalition, the Casa delle Libertà, created a commission, presided by senator Paolo Guzzanti (Forza Italia) to investigate alleged KGB ties to opposition figures in Italian politics. The commission was shut down in 2006 without any new concrete evidence beyond the original materials of the Mitrokhin archive [26]. However, former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko said that he had been informed by FSB deputy chief, General Anatoly Trofimov (who was shot dead in Moscow in 2005) that "Romano Prodi is our man (in Italy)". [27] A British Member of the European Parliament for London, Gerard Batten of United Kingdom Independence Party, demanded a new inquiry into the allegations. [28]
Preparations for large-scale sabotage in the United States and Canada
Notes describe extensive preparations for large-scale sabotage operations against the United States, Canada and Europe [29] The operations were planned by KGB 13th Department, which was reorganized as Department V in 1965. Among the planned operations were the following:
- A plan for sabotage of Hungry Horse Dam in Montana[citation needed]
- A detailed plan to destroy the port of New York (target GRANIT); most volunerable points of the port were marked at maps [citation needed].
- Large arms caches were hidden in many countries for the planned terrorism acts. They were booby-trapped with "Lightning" explosive devices. One of such cache, which was identified by Mitrokhin, exploded when Swiss authorities tried to remove it from woods near Berne. Several others cashes (probably not equipped with the "Lightnings") were removed successfully [citation needed].
- FSLN leader Carlos Fonseca Amador was described as "a trusted agent" in KGB files. "Sandinista guerrillas formed the basis for a KGB sabotage and intelligence group established in 1966 on the Mexican US border" [citation needed].
- Disruption of the power supply in the entire New York State by KGB sabotage teams, which would be based along the Delaware river, in the Big Spring Park. [citation needed]
- An "immensely detailed" plan to destroy "oil refineries and oil and gas pipelines across Canada from British Columbia to Montreal" (operation "Cedar") has been prepared, which took twelve years to complete[citation needed].
Praise for the Mitrokhin Archive
The FBI described Mitrokhin Archive as “the most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source”[30].
Historian Joseph Persico described the revelations as “far more sensational even than the story dismissed as impossible by the SVR (Sluzhba Vneshnei Razvedki)” when the first dismissed early reports of the existence of the archive and commented that Mitrokhin's archives may be the only references to a large volume of material that has since been destroyed by the KGB. [31] Similarly, a review in the Central European Review described Mitrokhin and Andrews work as “fascinating reading for anyone interested in the craft of espionage, intelligence gathering and its overall role in 20th-century international relations” offering “a window on the Soviet worldview and, as the ongoing Hanssen case in the United States clearly indicates, how little Russia has relented from the terror-driven spy society it was during seven inglorious decades of Communism” [32]
David L. Ruffley, from the Department of International Programs, United States Air Force Academy, said that the material “provides the clearest picture to date of Soviet intelligence activity, fleshing out many previously obscure details, confirming or contradicting many allegations and raising a few new issues of its own” and “sheds new light on Soviet intelligence activity that, while perhaps not so spectacular as some expected, is nevertheless significantly illuminating.” [33]
In a review of the book for the Intelligence Forum, a web site specializing in intelligence matters, Reg Whitaker, commented that the text of the book "is remarkably restrained and reasonable in its handling of Westerners targeted by the KGB as agents or sources. The individuals outed by Mitrokhin appear to be what he says they were, but great care is generally taken to identify those who were unwitting dupes or, in many instances, uncooperative targets." [2]
According to Jack Straw (then Home Secretary to British Parliament in 1999, "In 1992, after Mr. Mitrokhin had approached the UK for help, our Secret Intelligence Service made arrangements to bring Mr. Mitrokhin and his family to this country, together with his archive. As there were no original KGB documents or copies of original documents, the material itself was of no direct evidential value, but it was of huge value for intelligence and investigative purposes. Thousands of leads from Mr. Mitrokhin's material have been followed up world wide. As a result, our intelligence and security agencies, in co-operation with allied Governments, have been able to put a stop to many security threats. Many unsolved investigations have been closed; many earlier suspicions confirmed; and some names and reputations have been cleared. Our intelligence and security agencies have assessed the value of Mr. Mitrokhin's material world wide as immense."[3]
Criticism of the Mitrokhin Archive
Historian J. Arch Getty of the UCLA in the American Historical Review (106:2, April 2001): found Mitrokhin's material to be “fascinating," but he also questioned plausibility that Mitrokhin could have smuggled and transcribed thousands of KGB documents, undetected, over 30 years [34] . Former Indian counter-terrorism chief Bahukutumbi Raman pointed out that Mitrokhin did not bring either the original documents or photocopies. Instead, he brought handwritten/typed notes of the contents of the documents. [4]
Scholar Amy Knight described the book as "the latest example of an emerging genre of spy histories based on materials from the KGB archives." She believes that the book does not reveal anything really new and significant: "While "The Sword and the Shield" contains new information ... none of it has much significance for broader interpretations of the Cold War. The main message the reader comes away with after plowing through almost a thousand pages is the same one gleaned from the earlier books: the Soviets were incredibly successful, albeit evil, spymasters, and none of the Western services could come close to matching their expertise. Bravo the KGB." [5]. [35]
Notes
- ^ Advani seeks white paper on KGB charges. The Hindu, Octeober 3, 2005.
- ^ [1] The Mitrokhin Inquiry Report
- ^ KGB in Europe, 472-476
- ^ UK House of Commons, Hansard Debates 21 Oct 1999, Columns 587-594
- ^ Andrew and Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West (London, 1999) p. 559-563.
- ^ Andrew, Mitrokhin Archive, p. 522-526.
- ^ Andrew, Mitrokhin Archive, p. 526-527.
- ^ New York Times, 25 September 1997.
- ^ KGB in Europe, page 23-24
- ^ Vasili Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrew, The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World, Basic Books (2005) hardcover, ISBN 0-465-00311-7, pages 69-85. According to the book, Allende made a personal request for Soviet money through his personal contact, KGB officer Svyatoslav Kuznetsov, who urgently came to Chile from Mexico City to help Allende. The original allocation of money for these elections through the KGB was $400,000, and additional personal subsidy of $50,000 directly to Allende. Andrew argued that help from KGB was a decisive factor, because Allende won by a narrow margin of 39,000 votes of a total of the 3 million cast. After the elections, the KGB director Yuri Andropov obtained a permission for additional money and other resources from the Central Committee of the CPSU to ensure Allende victory in Congress. In his request on 24 October, he stated that KGB "will carry out measures designed to promote the consolidation of Allendes's victory and his election to the post of President of the country" In his KGB file, Allende was reported to have "stated his willingness to co-operate on a confidential basis and provide any necessary assistance, since he considered himself a friend of the Soviet Union. He willingly shared political information...".
- ^ "How 'weak' Allende was left out in the cold by the KGB" excerpt from The Mitrokhin Archive II by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin The Times, September 19, 2005
- ^ The KGB and the Battle for the Third World, page 121
- ^ Andrew & Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West (London, 1999) p. 310-311.
- ^ Ibid., p. 443.
- ^ Ibid., p. 451-453.
- ^ Ibid., p. 454.
- ^ Hearings of the U.S. House of Representatives, 26 Oct 1999.
- ^ Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin (2000). The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West. Gardners Books. ISBN 0-14-028487-7.
- ^ KGB in Europe, page 296-297
- ^ KGB in Europe, pages 300-305
- ^ KGB in Europe, pages 305-308
- ^ KGB in Europe,pages 308-309
- ^ KGB in Europe,page 310
- ^ KGB in Europe,page 310
- ^ KGB in Europe, 318-319
- ^ The Guardian, December 2, 2006, Spy expert at centre of storm Template:En icon
- ^ The Litvinenko murder: Scaramella - The Italian Connection, by Lauren Veevers, The Independent
- ^ Batten, Gerard (26 April 2006). "2006: Speech in the European Parliament: Romano Prodi". Gerard Batten MEP. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ The KGB in Europe, page 472-476
- ^ Stromberg, Stephen W. "Documenting the KGB". Oxonian Review of Books. Winter 2005
- ^ New York Times Book review for The Sword and the Shield.
- ^ Stout, Robert. Central European Review. Vol 3, No 18. 21 May 2001.
- ^ Review of Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB, David L. Ruffley , Department of International Programs, United States Air Force Academy. April, 2002
- ^ http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/106.2/br_170.html Book Review] by Getty, American Historical Review.
- ^ Amy Knight, "The selling of the KGB" The Wilson Quarterly. Washington: Winter 2000.Vol.24, Iss. 1; pg. 16, 8 pgs
Books
- Andrew, Christopher (1999). The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-00310-9.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Mitrokhin, Vasili, Christopher Andrew (1999) The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West. Allen Lane. ISBN 0-713-99358-8.
- Mitrokhin, Vasili (2000). The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West. Gardners Books. ISBN 0-14-028487-7.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Mitrokhin, Vasili, Christopher Andrew (2000). The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. Basic Books. ISBN 0-4650-0312-5.
- Andrew, Christopher (2005). The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-00311-7.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Mitrokhin, Vasili, Christopher Andrew (2005). The Mitrokin Archive II: The KGB and the World. Allen Lane. ISBN 0-713-99359-6.
Online access
The Questia Online Library hosts The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. (Login required) The entire work is complete with linked footnotes and references.
Google Scholar hosts selected portions of the books without a fee.
External links
- Intelligence and Security Committee: The Mitrokhin Inquiry Report (Report of the British SIS to Parliament)
- Summary of press coverage
- The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' Cold War International History Project Virtual Archive section dealing with the Mitrokhin Archive. Includes primary sources.