As intelligence men traced the physicist "Klaus Fuchs".. they searched his history, and it amazed them that the English government had offered him its nationality.. and asked him to submit an application for it.
But the application was not decided for a long time, and as they traced the reason with a great deal of suspicion.. they sighed in relief.. when they discovered that it was not because of any suspicion.. but because of the outbreak of the Second World War.. which disrupted the facilities and most of the state's apparatuses.
But in the midst of the war.. England decides on the application and indeed grants him its nationality, and he contributes to the development of the English weapons used in the war. Then he comes to the United States, as part of a team of scientists, whom America chose, to work on the Manhattan Project.
But their relief did not last long.. because the way "Fuchs" was chosen to work on the project made them even more suspicious.
For "Fuchs" suddenly showed an inclination to emigrate to the United States, despite being treated in England like kings, and signs of sudden wealth appeared in him, exceeding the capacity of his income from working at the university.
And with their suspicion.. and the breaking of those old messages' cipher, by the genius "Meredith".. a new message appears.
Another old message from Moscow.. to the Soviet embassy in the United States, containing encrypted instructions, to grant the sum of 500 dollars to the agent "Rest".. as a reward for his efforts over the last six months.. this sum was enormous, if you knew that at that time you could buy a two-storey house with a garden in America for 1,500 dollars.
And the Americans had no doubt that "Fuchs" was himself the holder of the code name "Rest".. especially with the pattern of his toying with the tennis ball.. which they had learned by heart.. and they realised that he was flashing it in certain places.. in the presence of certain people.
But because "Fuchs", like the rest of the scientists, is thoroughly searched.. before and after leaving the Manhattan Project at "Los Alamos".. the intelligence men are baffled, as to how he leaked the secrets.. if he was indeed the perpetrator.
And here the "Venona project" enters the line.. and "Venona" you can consider the equivalent of our "military intelligence".. and it begins to surveil "Fuchs"...
But not a single suspicion appears in "Fuchs's" behaviour.. so in the year 1949, British intelligence is notified, that it suspects him of being a spy.. and it hands them the two messages.
And because the Soviets were indeed masters of the art of espionage and the world of intelligence, they realise what has happened, and they cut off any contact with "Fuchs".. and British intelligence sends a few of its experts, to examine the situation.
And in return the Soviet intelligence sends its own team in its turn.. and between the two sides a brilliant war begins.. a war of minds.
And the aim of the English was to ascertain, whether "Fuchs" was a Soviet spy or not.. as for the Soviets.. they exerted their utmost effort.. through their men.. to divert suspicions from their extremely important man.
And in this intelligence war the Soviets prevail.. and suspicions are diverted from "Fuchs" completely.. and the English intelligence men look at the Americans with contempt and mockery.. they receive them in silence, as a newborn intelligence agency.. that does not yet possess sufficient experience.
And in a final, half-hearted attempt, the Americans summon "Fuchs" and begin investigating him, but he denies the charges against him completely with great indignation.. and leaves them drowning in confusion.. and departs.
And the American intelligence men begin to search in another direction.
That "Rest", referred to in the Soviet telegram, is not "Klaus Fuchs" the physicist himself.
That he is another man.. whom the Soviets may have meant by the code name "Rest".
And with "Fuchs" set aside, suspicions began to hover around another.
Around another scientist, of German origin, bearing the name "Hans Bethe".
And "Hans", as soon as he arrived in the United States, could not work on secret projects as a German, so they granted him American citizenship.. and in return he presented to them in the year 1941 after the Pearl Harbor incident.. his invention "the Bethe-hole directional coupler".. which made radar technology leap a tremendous leap.. securing for the United States the protection of its skies, against any similar attack.. and enabling it to win the war.. and he also presented to them his invention concerning armour-piercing projectiles.. which America immediately placed under absolute secrecy.
And the secret of their suspicion of "Hans" was that after the war he refused the hydrogen bomb project.. and declared that a weapon like that should not be pursued... opposing the idea of "Enrico Fermi" of Italian origin, and "Edward Teller" of Austrian origin, whom America likewise naturalised and who became among its men, and made it leap a tremendous leap in the field of armament.
And suspicions hover around "Hans" this time.. but a fatal mistake occurs, from the real spy "Fuchs".. it changes the course of events.. and brings all the suspicions back around him unintentionally.
And this mistake was truly strange, and this makes us talk about it later.
And the conversation has a remainder.
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- Previous posts in the first comment.
- The picture is of the spy professor "Klaus Fuchs".