Kessler,R. Escape from the CIA. 1991
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
- AGCA MEHMET ALI (74-5)
- ALDHIZER JOHN T (JAY) (53, 96)
- ALEXANDROV VLADIMIR V (177, 199)
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- BACON DONALD (NSA) (128)
- BEARDEN MILTON A (100-2, 173)
- BITOV OLEG G (131-3, 155, 205)
- BLOCH FELIX STEPHEN (134)
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- BRANIGAN WILLIAM A (139)
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- CROCKER LANE W JR (142-3)
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- LONETREE CLAYTON J (53)
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- PHILBY KIM (75)
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- ROMERSTEIN HERBERT (132)
- RYBKIN PAVEL (168-71, 182, 190-4)
- SAKHAROV VLADIMIR N (28, 94, 205)
- SALINAS RAOUL G (FBI) (37)
- SANDZA RICHARD (159)
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- WOOTEN JAMES P (FBI) (139-40)
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- YAKUSHKIN DMITRI I (29, 49, 75)
- YAKUSHKIN IRINA (29)
- YERESKOVSKY ALEKSANDR S (39, 106, 160-1, 210)
- YERESKOVSKY VALENTINA S (7, 39, 99-101, 105-7, 114-6, 160-1, 210)
- YURCHENKO VITALY S
- ZIGROSSI NORMAN A (91, 151-2)
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