Tolkachev

The CIA's unclassified web site has a very interesting article about a cold war spy named A. G. Tolkachev, a Soviet citizen who volunteered to provide information to the U.S. He provided voluminous and detailed information — some of the most valuable received by U.S. — for years, but was finally caught and executed for high treason.

I found this article through a post on Bruce Schneier's excellent blog, which has long been on my daily reading list. He cites the descriptions of "tradecraft" as particularly interesting, and indeed they are. But also interesting is what a hard time Tolkachev had in getting the Americans to engage with him (he spent many months in repeated attempts before he was finally successful). Once engaged, he was incredibly tenacious and brave even in the face of possible detection, arrest, and (likely) execution. An excerpt:

When Tolkachev’s written notes from this meeting were processed, however, the CIA officers involved in the case were stunned to read that a serious security threat to the agent had occurred the previous spring—one that had frightened him to the point where he had been convinced that he would be arrested at any moment.

In his note, Tolkachev said that a major security investigation had been conducted in his office in April 1983, apparently regarding possible leaks of classified information about a particular Soviet fighter aircraft target-recognition system. Tolkachev said that security personnel in his institute had requested on a priority basis a list of all personnel having access to information on this subject. Because Tolkachev had passed information on this system to the CIA the previous month, he was convinced that any leak would almost certainly be traced back to him.

Tolkachev wrote that, after having been informed of this investigation, he had asked for the next day off. He had driven to a dacha, taking all of his espionage paraphernalia—including his SRAC unit, Pentax camera, and deaddrop and signal site instructions—as well as the books and money that had been passed to him. [4] At the dacha, he had burned everything that would burn. He had thrown the remaining charred metal parts out of the car on the drive back into Moscow.

At that point, Tolkachev said that he had started carrying everywhere with him a poison pill that he had obtained. He reasoned that the most likelyscenario for his arrest would be a call to his boss’s office, at which point he would be seized. As a result, for the next several days, any time he was called to this office, he first placed the poison pill under his tongue, so that if seized he could immediately bite it. Given these circumstances, wrote Tolkachev, he would have to stand down on any document photography for the time being. He said, however, that he would continue to provide written information about sensitive documents.

Tokachev's story is an amazing tale of bravery, determination, and moral force. It's a longish read, but well worth it. Makes me wonder what other gems might up up on that CIA site...