Sasha (espionage)

Sasha was an alleged Soviet mole in the Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War.

Manhunt

In 1961, Anatoliy Golitsyn, a major in the KGB, was assigned to the embassy in Helsinki, Finland, under the name "Ivan Klimov." On 15 December, he defected to the US, along with his wife and daughter, by riding the train to the Swedish border. Golitsyn's defection so alarmed the KGB that orders were sent out to cancel all meetings with field agents out of fear that they would be identified.[1]

Golitsyn was flown to the US and interviewed by David Murphy, the head of the CIA's Soviet Russia Division. After some time, Golitsyn began making increasing demands of the US and complaining about his treatment. Considering him to be unreliable, Murphy passed him on to James Jesus Angleton, the CIA's director of counterintelligence.[2] Golitsyn's description of a traitor in the CIA, whom he knew only as "Sasha", led Angleton to embark on a multiyear manhunt that accused many members of the CIA of being the spy. The entire affair is still highly controversial.[3]

Reparations

Under United States Public Law 96-450,[4][5] passed in 1980 and commonly known as the "Mole Relief Act", C.I.A. employees who have been accused unfairly of disloyalty (e.g. Sasha) and who have had their careers subsequently ruined were allowed to receive government compensation.

List of accused CIA employees

This is a partial list of CIA employees accused of being Sasha. All were later cleared.

Others CIA employees, though not suspected to be ″Sasha″, were suspected to be moles in the course of the Sasha molehunt :

Footnotes
  1. Mitrokhin, Vasili; Andrew, Christopher (2015). The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-196646-5.
  2. Richelson 1997, p. 287.
  3. Mason 2014, The Sapphire Affair.
  4. "Public Law 96-450, Sec. 405 (a)" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  5. "Public Law 96-450, 1980" (PDF).
  6. Bernstein, Adam (February 27, 2006). "CIA Officer Richard Kovich; Helped Notable Soviets Defect". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  7. David Wise, Molehunt, passim
  8. Bernstein, Adam (April 6, 2006). "CIA Cold Warrior Paul Garbler; Won Payment Over Loyalty Slur". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-02-02.

References
  • Martin, David C. Wilderness of Mirrors: Intrigue, Deception, and the Secrets that Destroyed Two of the Cold War's Most Important Agents. New York: The Lyons Press, 2003. ISBN 1-58574-824-2.
  • Wise, David. Molehunt: The Secret Search for Traitors That Shattered the CIA. New York: Random House, 1992. ISBN 0-394-58514-3.

See also
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