Norman J. Rees

Norman John Rees, (ca. 1906 – February 29, 1976) was an Italian-American oil engineer who was an agent for Soviet intelligence, then became a double agent for the FBI. Rees committed suicide when a newspaper revealed his spying activities.[1]

Early life and career

Rees was born Nuncio Ruisi in Sicily ca. 1906.[2][3] He worked as an engineer for the M.W. Kellogg Company and then the Socony Mobil Oil Company where he specialized in metallurgy, piping and pressurized tanks for oil.[1] In 1956, he received credit for the co-patent of a gas lift.[4]

Spying

According to Rees, he became a "communist sympathizer" during World War II and began supplying oil industry trade secrets to the USSR in 1942.[2] In 1950, he gave the Soviets a newly developed design for a catalytic cracking converter for which he earned a Soviet medal.[2] In addition, he said he supplied Soviet agents with designs for a petroleum plant, natural gas processes and pressurized holding tanks.[1] A newspaper report said he earned $30,000 over the years for providing information.[1] After the FBI approached him about his activities, Rees worked as a double agent for the FBI from 1971 to 1975.[1]

Exposure and death

In 1976, during a three-month-long investigation, the Dallas Times Herald newspaper twice flew Rees to Dallas for interviews.[1] After the investigative journalist Kenneth P. Johnson told Rees that the newspaper planned to print a story that would expose his activity as a double agent, Rees asked Johnson not to run the story or else Rees would commit suicide.[5][6] Ten hours after the story was published, Rees died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.[7][8] In the aftermath, newspapers debated whether the threat of suicide should supersede the right of the journalist to publish the story.[9]

References
  1. Special to NYTimes front page (March 2, 1976), "Spy Said He'd Kill Himself If Exposed, Then Did So", The New York Times, p. 1
  2. "Observer-Reporter - Google News Archive Search". News.google.com. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  3. "An expose and a spy's death: Was publication justified? (March 7, 1976)". Archives.chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  4. "Gas lift". Google.com. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  5. "Espionage Against the US by American Citizens" (PDF). Perserec. July 2002. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
  6. "The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  7. "An expose and a spy's death: Was publication justified? (March 7, 1976)". Archives.chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  8. "The Morning Record - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  9. "Teresa Allen - Work :: The Tough Choice". www.calpoly.edu. Retrieved 2015-10-14.


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