Epstein Secrets

198 | HOW AMERICA LOST ITS SECRETS of the communications of its adversaries. Even though the Cold War had been declared over after the collapse of the Soviet Union a quar- ter of a century earlier, the age-old enterprise of espionage did not end with it. Russia and China still sought to blunt the edge that the N

s, and cultural exchanges. They therefore tended to recruit their coun- terparts in adversary services. In this regard, the successful entrapment of Harold Nicholson in the 1990s is highly instructive. From his impressive record, he seemed an unlikely candidate for recruitment. He had been a super- patriotic Ameri

memorandum noted: Former NSA executive who requested anonymity, interview with author. @ CHAPTER 21 The Russians Are Coming @ 217 “The collapse of the Soviet Union”: Nick Allen, “Soviet Break-Up Was Geopo- litical Disaster, Says Putin,” Telegraph, April 26, 2005. 217 Russian units had managed: Entous, Barnes, a

nd in Russian Prison,” New York Times, June 4, 1992. 220 He was found dead: Edward Jay Epstein, “The Spy Wars,” New York Times, Sept. 28, 1980. 222 Harold Nicholson: Elizabeth Farnsworth, “Update on the Case of CIA Agent Harold Nicholson,” PBS (transcript), Nov. 19, 1996. See also “Affidavit in Sup- port of Compl

re he leaked information that exposed CIA operations. Although Agee insisted he was a whistle-blower, and he adamantly denied offering any secrets to the Soviet Union, the KGB viewed him as a conventional spy. According to Oleg Kalugin, the top Soviet counterintelligence officer in the KGB in Moscow, who defected t

tablishing spies in CIA, FBI, NSA and other American intelligence agencies. The SVR’s last known (or caught) mole in US Intelligence was CIA officer Harold Nicholson in 1996. Before it could now expand its espionage capabilities. It needed to build a network of Russian sleeper agents in the United States. For this