Epstein Secrets

rred Martin and Mitchell to remain in place as moles, since their infor- mation was dated as of the moment they left NSA.” The next NSA defector was Victor Norris Hamilton, a translator and analyst at the NSA. He arrived in Moscow in 1962, and like Mitchell and Martin he claimed the status of a whistle-blower. This time

cure debriefing room, he said that he had information that Russia would find interesting, but he wanted money in return. What interested me about the Pelton case was that Cherkashin proceeded to recruit Pelton, even though he was no longer working at the NSA and no longer had access to @ the NSA. In addi

urse grab them.” The final recruitment I asked Cherkashin about was that of Ronald Pelton, the civilian employee of the NSA who had retired in 1979. Pelton had left the NSA without taking any classified documents with him. After retiring, he had financial difficulties, and he sought to get money from the

ferred Martin and Mitchell to remain in place as moles, since their information was dated as of the moment they left NSA.” The next NSA defector was Victor Norris Hamilton. He was a translator and analyst at the NSA. He arrived in Moscow in 1962 and, like Mitchell and Martin, he claimed the status of a whistle-blower. T

urse grab them.” The final recruitment I asked Cherkashin about was that of Ronald Pelton, the civilian employee of the NSA who had retired in 1979. Pelton had left the NSA without taking any classified documents with him. After retiring, he had financial difficulties, and he sought to get money from the

return. What interested me about the Pelton case was that Cherkashin proceeded to recruit Pelton even though he was no longer working at the NSA, and Pelton no longer had access to the NSA. In addition, since the FBI had 24 hour surveillance on the embassy, Pelton had almost certainly been photographed en

iam Martin and Bernon Mitchell...”—David P. Mowry, “Betrayers of the Trust,” Cryptologic Almanac 50th Anniversary Series, (NSA) February 28, 2003 . “Victor Norris Hamilton...”-- Staff, “American Defector Is Found in Russian Prison,” New York Times, June 4, 1992 “He was found dead of...” Edward Jay Epstein, “The Spy Wa

ously tapped into Soviet undersea cables in the Sea of Okhotsk, which connected a to the Soviet Pacific Fleet's mainland headquarters at Vladivostok. Pelton received another $30,000 from the KGB. “Did the information in his head proved valuable?” I asked. “As long as the NSA didn’t know the tap was comp

he residence of the Soviet ambassador to Austria. A KGB’s electronic communications expert, Anatoly Slavnov, was then sent to Vienna to supervise the Pelton debriefings. The debriefing sessions, which went on for 15 days, were from 8 AM to 6 PM. In them, Pelton managed to recall Project A, a joint NSA-CIA

William Martin and Bernon Mitchell: David P. Mowry, “Betrayers of the Trust,” Cryptologic Almanac 50th Anniversary Series (NSA), Feb. 28, 2003. 220 Victor Norris Hamilton: “American Defector Is Found in Russian Prison,” New York Times, June 4, 1992. 220 He was found dead: Edward Jay Epstein, “The Spy Wars,” New York T

4 “There's definitely a deep state”: Vanden Heuvel and Cohen, “Snowden Speaks.” 255 according to Cherkashin: Cherkashin, interview with author. 258 Pelton had left the NSA: George E. Curry, “Ex-intelligence Expert Guilty of Espionage,” Chicago Tribune, June 6, 1986. CHAPTER 26 The Handler 261 “As for