Kessler, Ronald. Escape from the CIA: How the CIA Won and Lost the Most Important KGB Spy Ever to Defect to the U.S. New York: Pocket Books, 1991. 210 pages.

On November 2, 1985, Vitaly Yurchenko walked away from his CIA guard and returned to the Soviet Embassy after three months of spilling secrets to the CIA's debriefers. If he were a real defector, presumably he'd be taking a massive risk by returning to the clutches of the KGB. After all, some of his information helped the CIA identify Ronald Pelton, a spy in the NSA, and Edward Lee Howard, a former CIA officer who spied for the Soviets. Not only wasn't Yurchenko shot, but he wasn't even fired; in 1989 Ronald Kessler was able to interview him in Moscow. What to make of this case?

Professional opinion is split on the issue. Many feel that Yurchenko was a false defector who gave up Pelton and Howard because these two no longer had access, and their exposure might satisfy the CIA as to why their spies in the USSR had fared so poorly. In other words, throw the CIA a couple of crumbs so that they stop looking for the rest of the loaf. The 1994 arrest of CIA mole Aldrich Ames has added considerable currency to this view. Others feel that Yurchenko was genuine, but couldn't put up with the shabby treatment he experienced at the hands of the CIA. Certainly the CIA was less professional than the FBI in this regard. In any event, Yurchenko and the KGB seem content to keep us all guessing.
ISBN 0-671-72664-1

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