Soon afterward, they are believed to have joined the American Communist Party and offered their assistance to a KGB officer at the Soviet embassy in Mexico. . Later, she wrote a book, The Truth About American Diplomats, in which she characterized the US embassy as a “vast espionage net” filled with incompetent and immoral officials. Martin was later described as “totally on the skids, an incurable alcoholic, and surrounded by degenerates, and devoted to the practice of sexual perversions.”. Black’s Law Dictionary defines “treason” as ”attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which one owes allegiance, either by making war against the state or by materially supporting its enemies”. He was even given a camera hidden inside a Lipton iced tea can to photograph military documents. Although the Soviets wanted them to remain in their NSA positions, the pair defected to the Soviet Union in 1960. Dasch, who'd previously lived in America for a few years, was the leader of the group, and was secretly not too thrilled with blowing up parts of a country he still sort of liked. So he decided to sabotage the sabotage. He worked in the movie business and appeared in dozens of films until 2000. Jenkins and the other American defectors were cast in a 20-part series of films called Unsung Heroes, which centered on the Korean War. Authorities reopened her case with a vengeance in 1948, and she was promptly convicted of treason in 1949. To fool their FBI tail, his wife drove home with a fully dressed and wigged dummy sitting in the front seat. The Feds had even monitored his e-mails to Imam Anwar al-Awlaki, also known as the “Bin Laden of the Internet”. . ] He was part of a squad of German-Americans sent to America in 1942 to wreak havoc on American infrastructure. Regarding his suicide, Rodriguez said the Soviets “probably took away the only thing that made him really special—his crazy free spirit.”. Dresnok was just 21 years old when he crossed into North Korea through the DMZ. In 1967, Navy communications officer John Walker, Jr. snuck into the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C., and offered to sell secrets. He later studied Russian literature at Old Dominion University while working as a reservist in naval intelligence. While still a general on the American side, he became Commander of the West Point fort in New York, and offered to surrender it to the British. And yes, this list is “too American.”. Their conclusion was based on the contents of letters found in his barracks, a claim his family rejected. He and the other defectors were commonly recognized on the streets for their roles in the movies, making them local celebrities. After Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri endorsed the videos—some of which referred to the United States as “enemy soil”–the Justice Department indicted Gadahn, the first American accused of treason since World War Two. The damage he caused US intelligence efforts can’t really be known, but conservative estimates indicate that he exposed over 100 agents, and was directly responsible for at least 10 deaths. [ . In exchange, the KGB would boost his theater career. After retiring from the League of Nations, he worked for the Unitarian Service Committee (USC), which provided humanitarian assistance during World War II. [ . I love my country. While it is known that Smith was employed by the State Department in India during that period, the veracity of his claims has been disputed by some people. But in 2002, Edward died mysteriously of a broken back in his dacha. Prior to the shooting, Hasan had repeatedly expressed extremist views, most of which had been communicated to his superiors and the FBI. After he had a mental breakdown in 1959, he was initially kept on by the NSA because they needed as many Arabic speakers as they could get. . ] The four American soldiers who defected to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the 1960s by crossing the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) likely had no idea they would become film stars in their adopted country. He was then sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole, and can be found in America’s “Supermax” prison, where he remains in his cell, alone, 23 hours a day. His troubles became worse when he was fingered as a Soviet informant (code-named “Robert”) by ex-KGB defector Vitaly Yurchenko. The KGB persuaded Lapshin to continue the affair to compel Bucar to defect. Asylum-Seekers – Famous (and Not So Famous) Soviet Defectors by Editor • 7 October, 2013 • 2 Comments On Sept. 6, 1976 the air traffic controllers at Hokodate airport in Japan watched in amazement as a Soviet MiG-25 interceptor made a surprise landing. His wife, Lillie Hamilton, later assumed that he had died in Russia because she received his last letter in 1974. Like Webster and Koch, he defected to Russia believing that he would be welcomed and even celebrated. His last film Pueblo centered on the U.S. ship the USS Pueblo, which North Korea captured in 1968 and is currently on display in a Pyongyang museum. In fact, Morton Sobell, who was tried along with the Rosenbergs (and served 17 years in prison), admitted in 2008 that yes, he was a spy, and that Julius Rosenberg handed atomic bomb information to the Soviets. Field moved away from his earlier pacifist idealism and was convinced by FDR’s recognition of the USSR that “the US and the Soviet Union had a common mission to save the world from the abyss into which [the] capitalism and imperialism of the European powers were driving it.”. It is believed that Wovschin was working with the North Koreans in an intelligence or anti-American propaganda role during the Korean War and died soon afterward. They had access to the NSA network of supercomputers as well as listening posts that gathered intelligence from allied and enemy nations alike. He told The Guardian, “I was forced to clean an armored truck with a toothbrush and bucket of water. The FBI was so flummoxed at finding Hanssen, they had to buy the information to put him away (most of which they already had). They were used in the 1955 bombing of an Air India flight which was transporting a Chinese communist government delegation to the Bandung Conference. He was wrong. Afterward, Bucar worked for Radio Moscow as an announcer until her death in 1998. In return, Burr wanted money and ships. In the aftermath, US intelligence revised their estimates of the fallout from Souther’s defection, which they had previously considered unimportant. This list may not reflect recent changes . It was 42 below zero. His motivations were purely financial, and he proved to be a screaming bargain: over the next 17 years, Walker gave the KGB the locations of all American nuclear submarines, as well as the procedures the US would follow to launch nuclear missiles at the Soviet Union in the event of war. In April 1983, he crossed Checkpoint Charlie with the intention of living a new life in East Germany. With a web of communist contacts across Europe, he moved into progressive journalism. Depressed about his family life and other personal problems, he impulsively crossed into North Korea. Military life was hard for Dresnok, who enlisted at 17. However, he became depressed due to family problems and was dissatisfied with the military’s official ban on gays. Hired by the US Air Force for his language skills, Jeff Carney listened to East German communications and translated important information for military intelligence. Aldrich Ames began working for the CIA during high school, and did so until he was discovered to be a Soviet double agent in 1994. In addition to appearing on the big screen, the four American defectors also aided Kim Jong-il by transcribing film dialogues, which were then turned into subtitles for the leader’s private movies. American defectors to the Soviet Union‎ (1 C, 17 P) Pages in category "American defectors" The following 33 pages are in this category, out of 33 total.