>>10360338 (lb)

>https://www.cia.gov/search/?q=fifth%20column

Interesting read. I came across this by coincidence.

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-62-no-4/pdfs/intelligence-officers-bookshelf-Dec2018.pdf

>Svetlana Lokhova

>@RealSLokhova

The Spy Who Changed History: The Untold Story of How the Soviet Union Won the Race for America’s Secrets, by Svetlana Lokhova. (WilliamCollins, 2018) 476, endnotes, appendices, photos, index.

After the fall of communism, Svetlana Lokhova moved to England to work in banking. She soon decided to expand her interest in history and was accepted at Cambridge University where she acquired an MPhil and BA (Hons). Studying under Professor Christopher Andrew, she developed an interest in Soviet espionage operations in the West. She is presently a By-Fellow of Churchill College where she is translating the unpublished portions of the Mitrokhin Archives. While her web page states that her book, The Spy Who Changed History, contains information on a “previously undetected network of Soviet spies that infiltrated American universities in the early 1930s,” that is only partially accurate. Several of the principal figures Lokhova discusses appear in the book Spies, by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, and Alexander Vassiliev (Yale University Press, 2009). Others (for example, the Soviet military intelligence officer, American Raisa (Ray) Bennett) appear in her book for the first time.

The Spy Who Changed History seeks to show that Stalin initiated an espionage operation in the early 1930s designed to “learn from scientists and entrepreneurs how to industrialize the American way” with the long range objective of improving Soviet war making capabilities. It was not intended, Lokhova claims, “to undermine its system of government.” (xiv) She does not note that during that period Soviet intelligence had parallel networks of agents that penetrated the American government for subversive purposes.

The principal character in her story, “the spy who changed history,” is Stanislav Shumovsky. While a soldier, he “helped fight off the world’s great powers who sought to strangle communism in the cradle.” After his military service, Shumovsky turned to science and became “the most successful and audacious aviation spy in Soviet history.” (xv) Codenamed BLÉROIT, Shumovsky attended MIT and, through the contacts and recruitments he made there, helped the Soviet Union acquire essential aviation technology. He also paved the way for more than 20 other Soviet intelligence officers to attend the school.

Some would later be involved in Soviet atomic espionage handled out of New York City. Lokhova asserts that without Shumovsky’s contribution, “there would have been no Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, no Klaus Fuchs.” (8)

In addition to her treatment of the agents recruited and handled, the American aviation firms involved, and the technology they provided, often openly—Russia was, after all, “a friend”—Lokhova adds biographical details and information on how the Soviets selected and prepared personnel for service in America. Of particular interest is the role of Ray Bennett and her unusual links with both the KGB and GRU.

Shumovsky’s major accomplishment, in Lokhova’s view, was his acquisition of design data on the B-29 bomber that enabled the Soviet Union to produce an aircraft capable of delivering an atomic bomb. She acknowledges the fact that the Soviets possessed three B-29s, confiscated after running out of fuel over the Soviet Union during the war. They were, it is assumed in the West, copied in detail. She argues that Shumovsky’s role was critical and that Stalin rewarded his contributions.

The Spy Who Changed History cites Soviet sources, though not precisely identified. And what is somewhat troubling is that her means of access is not specified. Nevertheless, it is an interesting account of Soviet industrial espionage that echoes events in today’s world.

>>10360575

Hitler’s British Traitors: The Secret History of Spies, Saboteurs and Fifth Columnists

At the start of World War II, questions were raised in the London press and Parliament about the potential threat from British fascists spying for the Nazis and making preparations to support them in the event they invaded Britain. Historians F. H. Hinsley and C. A. G. Simkins addressed the issue in the fourth volume of British Intelligence in the Second World War,b noting that “interrogations and other intensive investigations carried out . . . produced no evidence of any preparations for sabotage by Fifth Column elements, let alone the existence of, an organized Fifth Column movement.”

British investigative journalist Tim Tate challenges that conclusion and similar claims by other historians. One argued that “the Fifth Column was a ‘myth’” and “became a means by which MI5 came to justify its growth, existence, and importance.”a Another, the authorized history of MI5, stated that, “None of the reports sent to MI5 led to the discovery of any real fifth column or the detection of a single enemy agent.”b Hitler’s British Traitors presents substantial evidence that contradicts these views.

Citing recently released MI5 files found in the National Archives—presumably not available to earlier historians—Tate writes that “between 1939 and 1945 more than 70 British men and women were convicted . . . of working to help Germany win the war.” (xx) Some were executed, George Armstrong being a case in point. (270) Others, for example, Dorothy O’Grady, who acted on their own initiative, served years in prison. (276) Still others, including several members of Parliament, were briefly interned and then released to resume their seats. Members of the upper class who exhibited fascist views openly, were allowed to resume their normal lives even when that included plotting in support of the Nazis. In every case, Tate provides a detailed account of their actions that documents what they did and at the same time leaves the impression that they were never considered by the government to be serious threats to national security.

On the subject of organized movements supporting the Nazis, Tate discusses the British Union of Fascists and the Right Club, among similar organizations, citing MI5 files that describe their plans (and how MI5 learned of them) to cooperate with the Nazis before and after an invasion. In most cases, Tate argues, the Home Office and the committee established to recommend action declined to recommend prosecution. Tate describes at length the bureaucratic tensions that resulted with MI5 and its supervisory elements from this approach.

Hitler’s British Traitors refutes previous scholarship on the subject of a British Fifth Column myth and thus fills an historical gap. But it leaves unanswered the question of whether the British fascists were ever a serious threat.

>>10360897

Search the archives on that image name/wikileaks thing. It's been done before. Nothing there.