We are still with the atomic spies.. and one of the most dangerous of them in the Manhattan Project.. his name comes to the fore, with the confessions of "Harry Gold".
"David Greenglass".. the one with the full face, the gentle features, and the permanent smile.. the one in this picture.
A mechanical engineer, he worked at the "Clinton Engineer Works" facility.. which was part of the Manhattan Project, and responsible for enriching the uranium needed for the first atomic bomb.
With the success of the enrichment process, at "Greenglass's" hands, he is transferred to "Los Alamos".. into the heart of the Manhattan Project itself, so that he may have a vital role, in adjusting the bomb, supplying it with the necessary equipment and preparing it to explode.
Meaning that "David Greenglass" could have made the bomb explode on a timer in the air, in America's own skies, or explode inside the Manhattan Project itself, and wipe "Los Alamos" off the map.
And "Greenglass" was the owner of that code name.. which "Gold" revealed, and which matched the Soviet documents.
"Caliber".
And it was a thunderbolt of a surprise for the Americans.. who had never imagined.. that the Soviets had penetrated them to that degree.. especially with the arrest of "Greenglass".. who does not resist either, and begins a flood of confessions.
For "Greenglass" was American by birth, of Austrian Jewish origin, and his recruitment was very strange.. in that his sister and her husband, "Julius and Ethel Rosenberg", were among the global Soviet agent network, and their role was to search for whoever was suitable as a Soviet spy.. and to recruit him across the world.
And with the work of Ethel's brother at "Clinton Engineering".. she and her husband begin to flood him with communist ideology, and to convince him that the Soviet Union is the paradise of workers on earth, until he comes to sympathise completely with communist thought.. so they push towards him the young girl "Ruth Printz" as a candidate for marriage.. and he indeed marries her.. so that she may in turn be recruited later.. and her name appears as another unknown agent in the Soviet documents.
"Wasp".
Meaning that the ones who recruited "Greenglass" and recruited his wife were members of his own family.. and they all came under the supervision of the case officer and Soviet intelligence man "Alexander Feklisov".
And the FBI men arrest "Julius" and "Ethel".. and "Ethel" completely denies any connection to the espionage affair, despite admitting that she leans towards communist principles.. and likewise her husband denies any role on her part.. but the testimony of her brother "Greenglass" was conclusive...
And during the investigations, "Greenglass" confesses to a new spy!
"Morton Sobell".. an engineer and colleague of "Greenglass".. and as soon as he learns that "Greenglass" has fallen into the hands of the FBI, he changes his name and sets off under an alias to New Mexico.. and because he was merely an internal spy in the project, passing information to "Greenglass" and no more.. his mastery of the spies' craft of disguise and escape was exactly the same as my mastery of the cuneiform language.. so in New Mexico.. they arrest him only two hours after his arrival.
And at that very same moment the encrypted Soviet documents reveal a new name.
"Theodore Hall".. a young physics and mathematics scientist, one of those working on the Manhattan Project.
And this "Hall", when they arrested him, was extremely calm.. he always looked calm and bored for no reason.. and he received the interrogation with real coldness.. without granting them a single piece of information, even with pressure, shouting and threats.. he remained steadfast, staring at them with intense coldness, denying everything he was accused of.
And because there was no evidence at all against "Hall" other than his name in a document, which might have been a trick by the Soviets to mislead if the cipher was ever broken, the Americans release him in a fury.. but they place him under surveillance that yields nothing at all.. and he remains free, until shortly before his death.. one year before it.. in 1998, in a television interview with CNN.. he confesses that he had indeed been a Soviet spy in the Manhattan Project.. that he had given them every secret that fell into his hands.. in order to prevent America from monopolising this weapon.
And with the confessions from "Fuchs", "Greenglass", "Julius".. and "Sobell", other agents are exposed.
And the Manhattan Project's espionage network began to fall, too late.
And "Gold" is released on bail of 100,000 dollars.. of course no one at that time had such a sum, so he cannot pay it, and he is imprisoned for seven months, until his trial.. and at the trial, he plays the role of defendant and witness at the same time.. and he is indeed not sentenced to death, according to the deal.. he receives a sentence of 30 years.. later reduced to 12, in view of his good behaviour in prison.
"Greenglass" is sentenced to 15 years, and "Fuchs" is sentenced to 14 years in prison.. while "Greenglass's" sister is executed.. "Ethel Rosenberg" and her husband, "Julius".. even though she kept insisting to the last moment that she was innocent.
For "Ethel", the whole world was turned upside down to have her death sentence commuted because she was a woman.. to the point that the Pope himself intervened.. but the government at the time decided that if it did that.. then the Soviet Union would from then on recruit only women.. knowing that they would not be executed.. so the death sentence is carried out on her.
And suddenly a name of extreme importance and danger emerges, and this time.. they know who its owner is.
"Morris Cohen".. an American army officer of Jewish origin.. a believer in communist principles, whom the Soviets recruited along with his wife, and he provided them with dozens of useful services, connected to the Manhattan Project.
But "Cohen", as soon as the network began to fall.. took his wife.. and they fled to Poland.. and there they stayed for a period, and provided the Soviets with venerable services.. until the English arrested them and they were brought to trial.
And these two in particular.. the Soviet Union requested their exchange.. and indeed.. they were exchanged for an English spy imprisoned in Moscow.. and they returned to the Soviet Union, where they were received as heroes, and were retired and received a large pension for life.. and after their death.. the Soviets printed postage stamps bearing their pictures and names.
And after serving half his term, "Greenglass" is released.. and he declares for the first time, that his sister was indeed innocent.. and that he had offered her up as a scapegoat.. in order to save himself and his wife.. and "Morton Sobell" supported his words.. he who had left prison and turned into an activist for peace.. and he said that "Julius" had told him almost everything he was doing, and that they had coordinated all their work together.. and he never once indicated that his wife was a spy or was working with him.
And everyone imagines that the story has ended, but with the work of the genius of cryptography and linguistics "Meredith".. new code names suddenly appear, in other messages, belonging to other spies, who were in the heart of the Manhattan Project.. and it seems that this terrifying secret Manhattan Project.. was being spied on by the entire planet except me.
And among these code names.. the hair of the Americans stands on end.. before a single name.. surrounded by truly dangerous information.
Because this time.. it was not the name of an American, recruited by the Soviets, to serve them while he was in the heart of the Manhattan Project.
This time the name was a real catastrophe.. because the code name belonged to a Soviet intelligence man to begin with.. who played the role of a sleeper cell, for long years.. until the moment came, when he moved.. and infiltrated into the heart of the Manhattan Project.
The Soviet intelligence man.. the owner of the code name "Delmar".. whom the Americans never reached.. and they spared nothing, cheap or dear, in order to know him.. and they recruited their agents across half the planet for more than half a century.. in order to reach his identity.. and they never managed to reach him at all.
The story of "Delmar" and his identity became known.. and American intelligence was taken by surprise by it, just like me and you, in 2007.. when the Russian president "Vladimir Putin".. announced his role, and praised him.. and granted him the title "Hero of the Russian Federation".. for his services in that period...!
And this wondrous man's story is a long one, so we will continue his tale, and that of the spy with the code name "Alek", later.
And there is still more of the conversation.. to come.
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