School Works-Writing

1. Jacob Milan
Contemporary Global Issues
Research Paper
Soviet Spies in America
Since World War II, American culture has been terrified at the thought of a
Russian invasion on U.S. soil. There are many signs that point to the fear that Russia
has instilled into Americans. If you look at modern day culture in the U.S. it still
thinks about Russian spies, it shows us making movies like Red Dawn or even more
modern shows like the channel FX’s new show The Americans that premieres in
January. Russia still scares our modern society and even though Russia may not be
the most economically powerful country in the world, they still are a very powerful
militarycountry. There is reason to believe that our society is easy to blend into and
therefore would be an opportunity for a spy infiltration. It has been accomplished in
the past and has even been done recently. During WWII, spies for Russia were
dedicated to the cause of spreading communism. That was the whole focus and
intent of these spies within the United States. The spies in today’s world do not have
the same motives necessarily as before. Some of these people are more interested in
money as opposed to when the Rosenberg’s were spying and giving information to
the Soviet Union in hopes that communism would spread west. In my opinion that is
part of the scariest thing to Americans. Much like terrorists in the Middle East who
murder and sacrifice their own lives for a cause, they do it for a purpose and not any
monetary gain just like the spies post-WWII.

2. Well before the U.S. started scheming ways of ending the war in Japan during
World War II, the Russians have been planning and spying on Americans. The Soviet
spy scandals in the 1940’s are very well documented. The rush for being the first
country to achieve atomic dominance was a real need for both countries. As history
shows the U.S. did achieve the atomic bomb and dropped it on Japan to end the U.S.
involvement in World War II, but Russia was not far behind when it came to
establishing their nuclear weapons either. This was established due to some
intelligence that was found by Russian spies that infiltrated American society and
also American government.
In 1949, the Soviets had stated that they had finally detonated their own
atomic bomb successfully. At that same time it also became apparent that the
Soviets had obtained the information to build this type of bomb by stealing it and
having their many scientists work meticulously on the prototype. This was the first
instance that American’s found out about the Soviet breach of intelligence. Harry
Gold was the first to step forward and admit that he was a traitor working with the
Soviet Union. American society was appalled and shocked that there could be a
traitor within the country. This put U.S. culture in fear and paranoia of just about
anyone in the country. (FBI)
Harry Gold’s testimony of working for the Soviets also led to a numerous
amount of revelations. Such revelations opened the door to many different spies
that had infiltrated the country and seemed to be at work for many years before
their discovery. Harry Gold had spoke about David Greenglass. Greenglass becoming
exposed also led to a number of others involved in compromising information to the

3. Soviet Union. Greenglass was connected to a number of communist supporters and
also Soviet spies in his family. Ethel Rosenberg was Greenglass’s sister and wife of
Julius Rosenberg. Ethel Rosenberg was born of immigrants to the U.S. her father was
Russian, while her mother was Austrian. On June 18th 1939, Ethel married Julius
Rosenberg who was also an immigrant born of both Russian parents.
From 1932-1935 Julius and Ethel were dating and that’s really when they
began their communist devotion. Julius was actually part of the Young Communist
League at the age of 14. Julius was also part of the International Workers Order
along with his wife Ethel as well. Before the U.S. was even involved in World War II,
the Soviets had already infiltrated and had dedicated loyalists to the communist
cause inside of the United States.
In the fall of 1940 Julius was hired in the war department for U.S. Army
Signal Corps. Julius finally found an in to get vital information and try to help the
communist cause. The real person behind the Soviet spy ring was Anatoli Yakovlev.
Yakovlev was actually part of the Russian consulate in New York and that was when
he was able to recruit Julius Rosenberg. Yakovlev’s mission was to steal U.S. atomic
bomb research. With the recruitment of Rosenberg the task finally had legs behind it
and was able to develop.
David Greenglass Ethel’s brother had joined the U.S. Army in 1943. By 1944,
he was finally working on the Manhattan Project, which was the building of the
atomic bomb. This was Rosenberg and Yakovlev’s break to finally obtain
information about the atom bomb. While the Manhattan Project was being tested
and worked on in New Mexico, Greenglass had to somehow get the information back

4. to Rosenberg and Yakovlev. Yakovlev even listed the help of Harry Gold a fellow
communist supporter, to be the deliverer of Greenglass’s information. Gold would
pass information from Greenglass back to Rosenberg about the atomic bomb. Gold
would use either himself as the deliverer or even sometimes using Greenglass’s wife
Ruth as a courier.
By 1945 Rosenberg was then dismissed from his job at the U.S. Army Signal
Corps after his communist party involvement was discovered. Rosenberg would
however continue to spy for the Soviet Union. In 1946 Greenglass was honorably
discharged from the U.S. Army and was no longer working on projects such as the
Manhattan Project. Greenglass also had a change of heart when he thought that the
Soviet Union was more interested in world domination, rather than spreading the
Communist way throughout the world.
Greenglass no longer continued spying for Russia, but Rosenberg continued
to spread information to the Soviet Union. By 1950 the entire spy ring would come
to a meteoric fall. A physicist by the name of Klaus Fuchs had been arrested and
charged for espionage. Klaus had been working on the Manhattan Project as well
and was passing on information to the Soviet Union. While this seemed totally
unrelated it really wasn’t. Klaus was connected to Harry Gold the same way
Greenglass was connected to him. Once the FBI got wind that Gold was the courier
they arrested him as well. After Gold admitted to spying for the Russians he began
opening up about whom he was working with. Gold’s testimony brought to light
David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg, Julius Rosenberg, and Anatoli Yakovlev.

5. By July 1950, all of the parties involved in Gold’s testimony were charged
with espionage. Anatoli Yakovlev was given a diplomatic pardon and was not
charged with any crimes. He was back in Russia 4 years prior to any indictments as
well. David Greenglass pleaded guilty and received 15 years in prison for espionage.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg pleaded not guilty and remained stating their innocence
even during their death penalties. They were both put to death by electric chair on
June 19th, 1953.
In a 1992 interview with Anatoli Yakovlev who was the General Consul in
New York, stated that the FBI probably uncovered less than half of the spy ring that
was involved in the atom spy case. Yakovlev was also the ring leader, he was
involved in really organizing Gold, Rosenberg, and Greenglass to spy effectively
within the United States. He stated that his network still had many unknown parts at
the time that were never found out. This makes one think that there is more
information out there that the Soviets uncovered. It also would lead to the
assumption that there is more than likely a group of spies still in the U.S. in more
current times. Once the Rosenberg case was made aware of the public many people
feared the Russians even more. People did not trust each other as much and the
thought of a threat breaching our country was made very aware in the public.
Americans overall have the feeling of security and the thought that no other country
can infiltrate and hurt the United States. With this information the public should
know that America is a target of other countries and that it wouldn’t be impossible
for spies to make progress. With the large amount of immigrants that have been in
this country for years a foreign country could easily assign a group of people to

6. blend in. Once these people can find a break like the Rosenberg’s did they can
eventually get access to information if they go about it the right way and start to
recruit, network, and eventually lead information back their country.
It is a scary thought when you actually think about it. A small time family
with a communist devotion was able to get in the U.S. Army and eventually get
information about some of our most top-secret weapons. Now this plan took years
to make happen and much patience was involved, but once they got the right
opportunities it eventually lead to the atom bomb being constructed for the Soviet
Union. This could also be thought of as the beginning of the Cold War. The Cold War
almost brought the entire world at war again and would have brought very much
chaos and destruction to many countries, the United States included in my opinion.
Russian spies have recently been discovered as of a couple years ago in the
United States as well. They once again found a way to blend into modern American
society that way they were able to really get to work to find pertinent information to
their cause. Many people are so paranoid about the potential of a nuclear war
Russian spies are a symbol for American fear. The nuclear threat would have the
possibility of coming from either Russia or the U.S. if an attack was going to happen
anywhere in the world. Either of these countries involvement into any of the nuclear
phase would almost guarantee the other country to choose a side.
Russian spies are not just something in the past either. Just recently as 2010,
there were 10 people who were accused of espionage. These spies were undercover
for a very long time, but wound up being a completely different breed of spies from
the ones described earlier. These spies were not as moved by the communist cause

7. as the Rosenberg’s. These spies were actually accused by their peers of asking for
fishy amounts of money. Many of them would ask for money then the budget would
call for and they would place it under travel or living expense. One couple even had
Russia purchase them a house and claimed that it would make operations go
smoothly. They were basically sent over and told to infiltrate policymakers, get
weapons information, and strategic information about the U.S. They are sent over
and develop real “American” lives. They get odd jobs to make ends meet, they get to
know their neighbors and throw parties. One of the arrested spies even was flashier
than the rest, by driving around a sports car and having a pretty girlfriend. Some of
these spies were getting very close to some of the information they were seeking by
befriending U.S. cabinet members and one even took a job as a confidant.
These spies were considered to be elite in the Russian SVR, which is the
modern day KGB. The U.S. found out about these spies from Alexander Poteyev, an
American spy in Russian foreign intelligence who was fleeing Moscow. Russia was
trying to imprison him for treason and desertion. Which after learning about the
Russian justice system would have basically been a death sentence for the man. The
then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev for four American spies previously
arrested swapped the ten arrested spies. Upon the Russian spies arrival back to the
Kremlin they were awarded the highest honor at the Kremlin.
These cases show that even in today’s way of living there are still many
secrets that both countries have. The intelligence of both countries is extremely vital
to either if anything as far as war is to happen. In my opinion it also shows a lack of
trust between either countries. They still have spies in America today and it is

8. almost guaranteed that the U.S. most definitely has people over in Russia as well. If it
worries the government it most definitely is a concern for the people as well.
American culture is most certainly not immune to infiltration no matter what
any government entities try to tell the people. In modern American media also tries
to make it aware of the fact that this could happen. I believe that it why you see
shows, movies, or books about Russian spies in the U.S., it is a ploy to get you to buy
into the reality that this type of thing actually happens.
Our society, ever since its origin has been a melting pot of immigrants. People
come to this place start a new life and are given a chance to succeed. With that said
people aren’t necessarily paranoid that everyone around them is a spy trying to
obtain information like the Cold War days, but there should be a bit of awareness.
To this day I believe that it still scares this society and it should. All of these attacks
and fighting you see in the Middle East is so close to setting off a chain reaction of
wars that could greatly affect the entire world. With people choosing alliances and
picking sides this could easily expand into a larger scale of situations that could lead
to nuclear attacks. These spies in both Russia and the U.S. are just proof that both
are still trying to remain a step ahead of the other and this scares American society.
Sources
1) http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/the-atom-spy-case
2) http://www.hanford.gov/c.cfm/oci/ci_spy.cfm?dossier=45
3) http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/31/nation/la-na-russian-spies-
20111101

9. Soviet Spies in the United States
By: Jacob Milan
Contemporary Global Issues
12-10-12