Spies and Spying Chronology

Kim Philby, British, Soviet double agent, is born.

Ref: 70

Feb 14

Juan Pujol Garcia [Garbo/Arabel], Spanish British/German double agent, is born.

Ref: 5

Odette Hallowes, British classified agent in France (WWII), is born.

Ref: 5

1913

Mar 13

William J Casey headed CIA during Iran-contra scandal (1981-87), is born.

Ref: 68

Mar 30

Richard Helms CIA head (1966-73), is born.

Ref: 5

1914

Feb 15

Arthur Sydney Martin spy catcher, is born.

Ref: 5

1915

Sep 28

(Rosenberg) Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg, who, with her husband Julius, became one of the first American civilians executed for espionage, is born.

Ref: 87

Dec 03

The United States expels German attaches on spy charges.

Ref: 2

1916

Horace Hood, British spy (Battle of Jutland), dies in battle.

Ref: 5

1917

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) The Espionage Act that the Rosenbergs are convicted of violating is enacted.

Ref: 87

Feb 13

Mati Hari arrested by the French police as a spy.

Ref: 10

Jul 25

Mata Hari sentenced to death for espionage.

Ref: 10

Oct 15

Mata Hari (Gertrud Margarete Zelle), 41, a Paris dancer, courtesan, double agent: German spy: Agent H-21; executed by firing squad by the French near Paris.

Ref: 68

1918

Mar 05

Halsey S Colchester British SAS/spy (MI6)/priest, is born.

Ref: 5

May 12

Julius Rosenberg, American engineer;executed with his wife for espionage in 1953, is born.

Ref: 87

1920

Jan 04

William Egan Colby, CIA director (Nixon), is born.

Ref: 5

1923

Nov 22

Coolidge pardons WW I German spy Lothar Witzke, sentenced to death.

Ref: 5

Dec 01

Admiral Stansfield Turner U.S. Navy Ret, CIA Director, is born.

Ref: 4

1924

Mar 06

William H Webster US, judge/head FBI/CIA, is born.

Ref: 5

1929

Aug 17

U-2 Pilot, CIA Agent Gary Powers is born.

Ref: 68

1931

Apr 04

Bobby Ray Inman, Deputy Director of the CIA, 1981-82, is born.

Ref: 17

1934

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) Julius Rosenberg enters City College of New York; is involved in radical politics.

Ref: 87

1935

Jul 19

Philip Agee CIA agent; author: Inside the Company: CIA Diary, is born.

Ref: 4

1936

May 14

Samuel Pl'h Naber spy/librarian, dies at 71.

Ref: 5

1939

Jul 01

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) Julius and Ethel Rosenberg married.

Ref: 87

1941

Jun 28

Special Agents of the FBI arrested German spy Frederick Joubert "Fritz" Duquesne and 32 other German agents following a two-year investigation. Agents successfully filmed members of Duquesne's ring as they provided information to William Sebold, a confidential FBI informant.

Ref: 14

1942

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) Julius Rosenberg becomes member of U. S. Signal Corps.

Ref: 87

1943

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) The Rosenbergs cease open activities with Communist Party; Daily Worker subscription stops.

Ref: 87

Jun 01

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) Soviet spymaster Feklisov first meets with Julius Rosenberg

Ref: 87

Jun 13

German spies land on Long Island, New York, and are soon captured.

Ref: 2

1944

Jun 20

Congress charters Central Intelligence Agency.

Ref: 5

Jul 01

(Rosenberg) (day unspecified) David Greenglass chosen to work on the Manhattan Project.

Ref: 87

Nov 01

(Rosenberg) (day unspecified) Julius Rosenberg recruits aid of Greenglasses in obtaining information about the Manhattan Project.

Ref: 87

Dec 01

(Rosenberg) (day unspecified) Julius Rosenberg provides Soviets with a proximity fuse

Ref: 87

1945

(Rosenberg) (day unspecified) David Greenglass provides his own notes and a sketch of a high-explosive lens from the Manhattan Project

Ref: 87

Jun 01

(Rosenberg) (day unspecified) Harry Gold meets with Greenglass in Albuqurque.

Ref: 87

(Rosenberg) (day unspecified) Greenglass meets with Rosenberg while on forlough in New York

Ref: 87

Sep 09

Igor Gouzenko, a clerk at the Soviet embassy in Ottawa, Canada, seeks asylum at Canada's Department of Justice. He has with him secret memos detailing Soviet espionage in Canada and the United States, including atomic bomb secrets, and possible preparations for war with the United States. However, the Justice Minister refuses to see him, as the Soviet Union was Canada's wartime ally. Later in the day, he is questioned by the RCMP, and he tells his story to William Stephenson, head of British secret service operations in North America.

Oct 01

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) Julius Rosenberg is dismissed from U. S. Signal Corps

Ref: 87

1946

Jan 22

The Central Intelligence Group, which later became the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was established by U.S. President Harry S Truman’s directive issued this day.

Ref: 4

Jan 23

Rear Admiral Sidney W Souers, USNR, becomes first director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Feb 15

Royal Canadian mounted police arrest 22 as Soviet spies.

Ref: 2

Mar 02

Kingman Douglass, becomes deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Jul 01

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) Feklisov meets with Julius Rosenberg for the last time

Ref: 87

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) The Venona Code is broken.

Ref: 87

1947

Brigadier General Edwin K Wright, USA, becomes deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

May 01

Lieutenant General Hoyt S Vandenberg, USA, ends term as 2nd head of CIA. Rear Admiral Roscoe H Hillenkoetter, USN, becomes 3th director of the CIA.

Ref: 5

May 01

Rear Admiral Roscoe H Hillenkoetter, USN, becomes 3th director of the CIA.

Ref: 5

Jul 26

The CIA, the Department of Defense, the National Security Council and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are created, authorized by congress in a National Security Act in response to an order by President Truman. (XDG, p 4A, 7/26/2000)

Ref: 83

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) Rosenberg's machine shop business fails.

Ref: 87

Nov 25

France expels 19 Soviet citizens, charging them with intervention in internal affairs.

Ref: 2

Nov 26

France expels 19 Soviet citizens, charging them with intervention in internal affairs.

Ref: 2

1948

Jun 18

National Security Council authorizes covert operations for first time.

Ref: 5

Jun 30

(Rosenberg) Max Elitcher and Morton Sobell drive to Catherine Slip where Sobell met with Julius Rosenberg to exchange microfilm

Ref: 87

Aug 03

Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist, publicly accused former State Department official Alger Hiss of having been part of a Communist underground, a charge Hiss denied.

Ref: 70

Aug 17

Former State Department official Alger Hiss faced his chief accuser, Whittaker Chambers, during a closed-door meeting of the House Un-American Activities Committee in New York. Hiss repeated his denial that he'd ever been a Communist agent.

Ref: 70

Aug 20

The US expels Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob Lomakin.

Ref: 5

Dec 03

The House Un-American Activities Committee announced that former Communist spy Whittaker Chambers had produced microfilm of secret documents hidden inside a pumpkin on his Maryland farm. The "Pumpkin Papers" are claimed to be from Alger Hiss.

Ref: 70

Dec 06

The "Pumpkin spy papers" are found on the Maryland farm of Whittaker Chambers. They become evidence that State Department employee Alger Hiss is spying for the Soviet Union.

Ref: 2

Dec 15

Former State Department official Alger Hiss was indicted by a federal grand jury in NY on charges of perjury. (He was convicted in 1950.)

Ref: 5

1949

Mar 09

Brigadier General Edwin K Wright, USA, ends term as deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

1950

Jan 21

Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury in denying that he passed secret documents to Communist agent Whittaker Chambers.

Ref: 87

Feb 02

(Rosenberg) British security agents arrested Klaus Fuchs after an investigation based on an FBI tip derived from Soviet telegrams decrypted and decoded by the Army Signals Agency with FBI investigative assistance; these decrypted, decoded cables are known collectively under the codename Venona.

Ref: 14

Feb 03

Nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs arrested on spy charges.

Ref: 5

Mar 01

Klaus Fuchs sentenced to 14 years for atomic espionage (London).

Ref: 5

Mar 10

(Rosenberg) (day unspecified) Julius Rosenberg warns Greenglass to flee country.

Ref: 87

Apr 05

Prague espionage trial against bishops & priests begins.

Ref: 5

May 10

(Rosenberg) (day unspecified) Rosenberg asks his physician about what kind of shots are necessary for trip to Mexico.

Ref: 87

May 22

(Rosenberg) Harry Gold confesses to the FBI.

Ref: 87

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) The Rosenbergs visit a photographer to obtain passport photos.

Ref: 87

Jun 15

(Rosenberg) David Greenglass names Julius as the man who recruited him to spy for the Soviet Union.

Ref: 87

Jun 16

(Rosenberg) Julius Rosenberg is first interviewed by FBI; Joel Barr disappears in Paris

Ref: 87

Jul 17

(Rosenberg) Julius Rosenberg arrested while shaving.

Ref: 87

Aug 01

(Rosenberg) (day unspecified) Sobell and family are kidnapped by Mexican thugs and delivered to U. S. authorities at the Mexican border.

Ref: 87

Aug 11

(Rosenberg) Ethel Rosenberg arrested.

Ref: 87

Dec 09

Harry Gold gets 30 years imprisonment for passing atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II.

Ref: 2

1951

(Rosenberg) Grand jury indicts Rosenbergs, Sobell, David Greenglass, and Yakolev.

Ref: 87

Feb 10

(Rosenberg) (day unspecified) Greenglasses change their story, implicating Ethel Rosenberg in spy activities.

Ref: 87

Mar 06

(Rosenberg) The trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, David Greenglass, and Morton Sobell began in US District Court, New York City. All four were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage and sentenced on April 5.

Ref: 14

Mar 15

(Rosenberg) William Perl is arrested on espionage charge.

Ref: 87

Mar 28

(Rosenberg) Trial ends.

Ref: 87

Mar 29

(Rosenberg) Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.

Ref: 70

Apr 05

(Rosenberg) Judge Kaufman imposes the death sentence on Rosenbergs, sentences Morton Sobell to 30 years (he was released in 1969).

Ref: 87

Jun 23

British diplomats Guy Burgess & Donald Maclean flee to USSR.

Ref: 5

Dec 28

The United States pays $120,000 to free four fliers convicted of espionage in Hungary.

Ref: 2

1952

Jan 10

(Rosenberg) Appeal before the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Ref: 87

Walter Schellenberg, German lawyer/headed spy (Venlo), dies.

Ref: 5

Oct 13

(Rosenberg) Supreme Court announces that it ruled against granting certiorari on the Rosenberg's appeal.

Ref: 87

1953

Jan 15

German Democratic Republic Minister of Foreign affairs Georg Dertingen arrested for "espionage".

Ref: 5

Feb 09

General Walter Bedell Smith, USA, ends term as 4th director of CIA. Allen W Dulles, becomes acting director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Feb 11

(Rosenberg) President Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Rosenberg couple.

Ref: 5

Feb 13

(Rosenberg) The Pope asks the United States to grant clemency to convicted spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.

Ref: 2

Feb 26

Allen W Dulles, promoted from deputy to 5th director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Apr 23

General Charles P Cabell, USAF, becomes deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Jun 13

(Rosenberg) Supreme Court denies stay of execution.

Ref: 87

Jun 17

(Rosenberg) Supreme Court Justice Wm O Douglas stays executions of spies Julius & Ethel Rosenberg scheduled for the next day their 14th anniversary.

Ref: 87

Jun 19

(Rosenberg) Supreme Court, in special session, vacates Justice Douglas's stay of execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg; the Rosenberg's are executed. Julius takes 3 tries, Ethel 5. (XDG, p. 4A, 6/19/2000)

Ref: 83

Jun 21

(Rosenberg) Funeral of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Ref: 87

1954

May 19

Postmaster General Summerfield approves CIA mail-opening project.

Ref: 5

Jun 27

CIA-sponsored rebels overthrow elected government of Guatemala.

Ref: 5

Sep 23

East German police arrest 400 citizens as U.S. spies.

Ref: 2

Nov 27

Alger Hiss, convicted of being a Soviet spy, is freed after 44 months in prison.

Ref: 2

1957

Jan 25

FBI arrests Jack & Myra Sobel, charged with spying for the USSR.

Ref: 5

Jun 21

The FBI arrested Colonel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, a Soviet espionage agent.

Ref: 14

US sentences Soviet spy Rudolf Ivanovich Abel to 30 years & $3,000 fine.

Ref: 5

1959

Feb 08

William J Donovan, American Director of the O.S.S. in WW2, dies at age 76.

Ref: 70

1960

Jan 30

CIA okays Lockheed to produce a new U-2 aircraft (Oxcart).

Ref: 5

Mar 17

Eisenhower forms anti-Castro-exile army under the CIA.

Ref: 5

May 01

An American U-2 plane invaded Soviet airspace. The Soviets reacted by shooting down the plane piloted by the C.I.A.’s Francis Gary Powers. It took five days for the Soviets to announce the occurrance to the rest of the world. At first the U.S. referred to the U-2 as a weather reconnaissance plane, denying that Powers was a spy. Later, the U.S. State Department admitted that the mission was to photograph Soviet military installations, and that the mission was justified. Powers was tried as a spy by the Soviet Union. He was sentenced to solitary confinement for 10 years in "Matrosskaya Tishina". In 17 months, he was exchanged for Russian spy Rudolf Abel who had been exposed by the CIA.

Ref: 4

May 07

USSR announces Francis Gary Powers confessed to being a CIA spy.

Ref: 5

May 09

US sends a U-2 over USSR.

Ref: 5

May 16

A Big Four summit conference in Paris collapses on opening day as the Soviet Union leveled spy charges against the US in the wake of the U-Two incident.

Ref: 2

Jul 08

The Soviet Union charges American pilot Francis Gary Powers with espionage.

Ref: 2

Jul 17

American pilot Francis Gary Powers pleads guilty to spying charges in a Moscow court.

Ref: 2

Aug 17

American Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow. He pleads guilty to spying over the Soviet Union.

Ref: 2

Aug 19

A tribunal in Moscow convicts American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage.

Ref: 70

1961

Jan 16

Russian espionage ring detected in Great Britain.

Ref: 5

USAF launches Samos spy satellite to replace U-2 flights.

Ref: 5

Jul 09

Whittaker Chambers, American journalist; accuser in the Alger Hiss case, dies at age 60.

Ref: 70

1962

Jan 23

British spy Kim Philby defects to USSR.

Ref: 5

General Charles P Cabell, USAF, ends term as deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Feb 10

Colonel Rudolph Abel, a Soviet spy caught and convicted five years earlier, is released in exchange for U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers.

Ref: 3

Apr 03

Lieutenant General Marshall S Carter, USA, becomes deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

1963

Feb 11

CIA Domestic Operations Division created.

Ref: 5

Mar 13

2 Russian reconnaissance flights over Alaska.

Ref: 5

1964

Mar 10

US reconnaissance plane shot down over East Germany.

Ref: 5

May 19

The State Department disclosed that 40 hidden microphones had been found in the US embassy in Moscow.

Ref: 70

Dec 22

Lockheed SR-71 spy aircraft reaches 3,530 kph (record for a jet).

Ref: 5

1965

Richard Helms replaces Marshall S Carter as deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

William F Raborn Jr replaces John A McCone as 7th head of CIA.

Ref: 5

1968

Jan 23

North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the communist nation's territorial waters on a spying mission. (The crew was released eleven months later.)

Ref: 70

Dec 23

Eighty-two crew members of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.

Ref: 70

Dec 24

The crew of the U.S. Navy ship, Pueblo, walks across the Bridge of No Return (between North and South Korea), following their release by North Korea.

Ref: 4

1969

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) Martin Sobell is released from prison.

Ref: 87

Jan 27

14 spies hung in Baghdad.

Ref: 5

Jan 29

Allen Dulles, American diplomat and director of the C.I.A. (1953-61), dies at age 76.

Ref: 5

Jan 30

Allan Welsh Dulles US diplomat/director (CIA 1953-61), dies at 75.

Ref: 5

Vice Admiral Rufus L Taylor, USN, ends term as deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

May 07

Lieutenant General Robert E Cushman, Jr, USMC, becomes deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

1971

Rudolf Abel, Russian spy imprisoned by U.S. in 1957, dies at age 68.

Ref: 70

Dec 31

Lieutenant General Robert E Cushman, Jr, USMC, ends term as deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

1972

May 02

Lieutenant General Vernon A Walters, USA, becomes deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

1973

Feb 02

James R Schlesinger becomes director of the CIA (until July).

Ref: 5

Feb 02

Richath Helms, ends term as 8th director of CIA.

Ref: 5

1974

Apr 25

Chancellor Willy Brandt Secretary Günther Guillaume found to be a spy.

Ref: 5

1975

Jan 04

Ford Executive Order on CIA Activities within the US (No 11828).

Ref: 5

Jun 02

Vice President Nelson Rockefeller says his commission found no widespread pattern of illegal activities at the CIA. (XDG, p 4A, 6/2/2000)

Ref: 83

Dec 23

Richard S. Welch, the Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Athens, was shot and killed outside his home.

Ref: 5

1976

Jan 30

William E Colby, ends term as 10th director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Aug 08

John Roselli hired by CIA to kill Castro, found murdered.

Ref: 5

1977

George Bush, ends term as 11th director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Mr Knoche, serves as acting director of CIA through March 9.

Ref: 5

Mar 09

Admiral Stansfield Turner, USN (Ret), becomes 12th director of CIA replacing acting director Knoche.

Ref: 5

Christopher Boyce convicted for selling US secrets to the Russians.

Ref: 5

Aug 01

Francis Gary Powers, 47, the once captured U-2 pilot, is killed while flying a helicopter for a Los Angeles television station

Ref: 68

1978

Feb 09

Canada expels 11 Soviets in spying case.

Ref: 2

Feb 10

Frank C Carlucci succeeds John F Blake as deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Sep 11

Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian defector, dies at a British hospital four days after being stabbed by a man with a poison-tipped umbrella. (XDG, p 4A, 9/11/2003)

Ref: 83

Dec 31

CIA director, Admiral Stansfield Turner retires from the Navy.

Ref: 5

1979

The British government publicly identify Sir Anthony Blunt as the "fourth man" of a Soviet spy ring that included Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Kim Philby.

Ref: 5

1981

Admiral Stansfield Turner, USN (Retired), ends term as 12th director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Jan 28

William J Casey becomes the 13th director of CIA (until 1987).

Ref: 5

Feb 12

Admiral Bobby R Inman, USN, becomes deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Dec 04

President Reagan allows CIA to engage in domestic counter-intelligence (No 12333).

Ref: 5

1982

Jan 19

Leopold Trepper Polish/Israeli spy (WWII), dies at 77.

Ref: 5

1983

Mar 26

Anthony F Blunt British art historian/spy for USSR, dies at 75.

Ref: 5

1984

Mar 16

William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by gunmen; he died in captivity.

Ref: 70

Oct 02

Richard Miller, becomes first (former) FBI agent, charged with espionage.

Ref: 5

1985

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) Barr and Sarant flee to Soviet Union.

Ref: 87

May 20

FBI arrests John A Walker Jr, convicted of spying for USSR.

Ref: 5

May 22

US sailor Michael L Walker arrested for spying for USSR.

Ref: 5

Aug 09

A federal judge in Norfolk, Va., found retired Navy officer Arthur J. Walker guilty of seven counts of spying for the Soviet Union.

Ref: 70

Nov 21

Former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested, accused of spying for Israel. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

Ref: 70

Nov 23

Retired CIA analyst Larry Wu-tai Chin, arrested of spying for China.

Ref: 5

Nov 26

Former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested, accused of spying for Israel. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

Ref: 70

Dec 04

Robert McFarland resigns as National Security Advisor. Admiral John Poindexter is named to succeed.

Ref: 2

1986

Feb 21

Larry Wu-tai Chin, the first American found guilty of spying for China, killed himself in his Virginia jail cell.

Ref: 6

Mar 28

John N McMahon, ends term as deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Apr 18

Robert M Gates, becomes deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Jun 04

Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty in Washington to spying for Israel. (He is serving a life prison term.)

Ref: 70

Jun 06

A federal jury in Baltimore convicted Ronald W. Pelton of selling secrets to the Soviet Union.

Ref: 70

Jul 14

Richard W Miller became first FBI agent convicted of espionage.

Ref: 5

Jul 24

SF Federal jury convicts navy radioman Jerry Whitworth of espionage

Ref: 5

Aug 28

US Navy officer Jerry A Whitworth sentenced to 365 years for spying.

Ref: 5

Sep 06

USSR charges correspondent Nicholas Daniloff with spying.

Ref: 5

Sep 09

NYC jury indicts Gennadly Zakharov (Soviet UN employee) of spying.

Ref: 5

Sep 29

USSR releases US journalist Nicholas Daniloff confined on spy charges.

Ref: 5

Sep 30

The U.S. released accused Soviet spy Gennadiy Zakharov, one day after the Soviets released Nicholas Daniloff.

Ref: 70

Oct 19

USSR expells 5 US diplomats.

Ref: 5

Dec 15

CIA director William Casey suffers a cerebral seizure.

Ref: 5

Dec 18

Mr Gates serves as acting director of CIA.

Ref: 5

1987

Jan 29

William J Casey, ends term as 13th director of CIA.

Ref: 5

May 06

William J Casey director of CIA (1981-87), dies at 73.

Ref: 68

May 26

William H Webster replaces Robert M Gates as 14th director of CIA.

Ref: 5

May 28

Mathias Rust, a 19-year-old West German pilot, landed a private plane in Moscow's Red Square after evading Soviet air defenses.

Ref: 18

Aug 21

Sgt. Clayton Lonetree, the first Marine ever court-martialed for spying, was convicted in Quantico, Va., of passing secrets to the KGB.

Ref: 70

1988

Jan 28

Klaus Fuchs, German-born American physicist and spy, dies at age 76.

Ref: 70

Mar 15

Dmitri F Polyakov, Russian Secretary-General/top spy for US, executed.

Ref: 5

May 11

Kim Philby, British, Soviet double agent, dies at age 76.

Ref: 70

Aug 24

A former guard at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Marine Sergeant Clayton Lonetree, is sentenced to thirty years in prison for spying.

1989

Mar 20

Richard J Kerr replaces Robert M Gates as deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

1990

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) Khrushchev memoirs are published, suggesting that Rosenbergs helped Soviets acquire the A-bomb.

Ref: 87

Nov 14

Malcolm Muggeridge WW II spy for Britain, dies at 87

Ref: 5

1991

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) Soviet spymaster Feklisov admits in interviews that he met with Julius Rosenberg between 1943 and 1946.

Ref: 87

Jan 18

US acknowledges CIA and US Army paid Noriega $320,000 over his career.

Ref: 5

Feb 14

John A McCone Head of CIA (1961-65), dies.

Ref: 5

May 08

CIA Director William H. Webster announced his retirement; he was eventually succeeded by Robert Gates. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of American forces in the Persian Gulf War, received a hero's welcome as he addressed Congress. Concert pianist Rudolf Serkin died in Guilford, VT, at age 88.

Ref: 5

May 14

President Bush announced his selection of Robert M. Gates to head the Central Intelligence Agency.

Ref: 5

Jul 09

Former CIA officer Alan D. Fiers pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges in the Iran-Contra affair.

Ref: 6

Former State Department official Alger Hiss, who fell from grace in a Communist spy scandal, died in NY at age 91.

Ref: 70

1992

Feb 01

Irving Kaufman judge: first amendment, civil rights, antitrust cases: US vs. N.Y. Times, Taylor vs. Board of Education; sentenced Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death for espionage; dies at age 81.

Ref: 4

Apr 09

William O Studeman, becomes deputy director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Dec 09

Former CIA spy chief was Clair George was convicted of lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra Affair. He was subsequently pardoned by President Bush. (XDG, p 4A, 12/09/2002)

Ref: 83

1993

Jan 19

Robert M Gates, ends term as 15th director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Admiral Studeman, serves as acting director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Feb 04

Admiral Studeman, ends term as acting director of CIA.

Ref: 5

Feb 05

R James Woolsey, becomes 16th director of CIA.

Ref: 5

1994

Feb 07

Richard Bissell US under director of CIA (Pig's Bay), dies at 84.

Ref: 5

Feb 21

FBI Agents arrested Aldrich Hazen Ames, a 30-year Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) veteran, and his wife, Maria del Rosario Casas Ames on espionage charges. Ames' crimes began in April 1985, and resulted in at least ten Soviet sources of the CIA and FBI being killed. Other sources were imprisoned and more than 100 intelligence operations were compromised. Ames provided thousands of classified documents to the Soviet Union and later, the Russian Republic.

Ref: 14

Feb 22

The Justice Department charged 31-year CIA veteran Aldrich Ames and his wife, Rosario, with selling national security secrets to the Soviet Union.

Ref: 70

Former CIA official Aldrich Ames, who had betrayed U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and then Russia, pleaded guilty to espionage and tax evasion, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Ref: 70

1995

Jan 27

Halsey S Colchester British SAS/MI6-spy/priest, dies at 76.

Ref: 5

Jul 08

Chinese-American human rights activist Harry Wu was arrested in China and charged with obtaining state secrets.

Ref: 70

Jul 11

(Rosenberg) Decoded Venona cables indicating Rosenberg's involvement in espionage are released by NSA and CIA.

Ref: 87

Aug 24

Chinese-American activist Harry Wu is expelled from China hours after he is convicted of spying. (XDG, p. 4A, 8/24/2000)

Ref: 83

Nov 27

Halsey S Colchester British SAS/MI6-spy/priest, dies at 76.

Ref: 5

1996

Jan 10

Arthur Sydney Martin spycatcher, dies at 81.

Ref: 5

Apr 26

Former CIA Director William Colby was missing and presumed drowned by authorities in Maryland after an apparent boating accident; his body was later recovered.

Ref: 68

Apr 27

William Egan Colby CIA Director, dies at 76.

Ref: 5

William E Colby director of CIA (1973-76), dies.

Ref: 5

Apr 29

Former CIA Director William Colby was missing and presumed drowned after an apparent boating accident in Maryland.

Ref: 70

May 06

The body of former CIA director William E. Colby was found washed up on the Wicomico River riverbank near his southern Maryland vacation home, eight days after he'd disappeared. (TWA, 1997)

Ref: 95

May 07

Howard Frank Trayton Smith diplomat/head of MI5, dies at 76

Ref: 5

Former State Department official Alger Hiss, who fell from grace in a Communist spy scandal, dies in NY at age 91.

Ref: 68

Dec 18

FBI agent Earl Edwin Pitts was arrested, accused of selling secrets to the Russians. (Pitts was sentenced in June 1997 to 27 years in prison after admitting that he'd conspired and attempted to commit espionage.)

Ref: 64

1997

Feb 28

FBI agent Earl Pitts pleads guilty to selling secrets to Russia.

Ref: 5

1998

Apr 03

Douglas Fred Groat, a disgruntled spy fired by the CIA, was charged with extortion and espionage. Groat would later plead guilty to extortion and be sentenced to 5 years in prison. (XDG, p 6A, 4/03/2003)

Ref: 83

1999

Mar 08

The Clinton administration directed the firing of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee from his job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory because of alleged security violations.

Ref: 70

Apr 01

Taiwanese-based Four Pillars Enterprises became the first foreign company convicted of economic espionage under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. This landmark investigation was conducted by the Cleveland Division.

Ref: 14

Aug 20

The CIA pulls the security clearances for former director John Deutch for keeping secret files on an unsecured home computer. (XDG, p 4A, 8/20/2000)

Ref: 83

Dec 10

Computer scientist Wen Ho Lee was arrested and charged with removing secrets from secure computers at the Los Alamos weapons lab. (Lee was later freed after pleading guilty to one count of downloading restricted data to tape; 58 other counts were dropped.)

Ref: 70

2000

Apr 24

Concerned about the disappearance of a laptop computer with highly sensitive documents, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced a five-point plan to help guard against such lapses in the future.

Ref: 6

Sep 13

With the government all but abandoning its case against him, former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee pleaded guilty in Albuquerque, N.M., to a single count of mishandling nuclear secrets; he was then set free with an apology from U.S. District Judge James Parker.

Ref: 70

Dec 06

U.S. businessman Edmond Pope was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment by a Moscow court for espionage; however, Pope was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin and released eight days after his sentencing.

Ref: 64

2001

(Rosenberg) (month, day unspecified) David Greenglass admits that the trial testimony of the Greenglasses concerning Ethel Rosenberg's role in the conspiracy was perjured.

Ref: 87

Feb 18

FBI Agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested for conspiracy to commit espionage. The affidavit in support of an arrest warrant for Hanssen charged that he had engaged in a lengthy relationship with the KGB and its agencies.

Ref: 14

Apr 11

Ending an 11-day standoff, China agreed to free the 24 crew members of an American spy plane after President George W. Bush said he was "very sorry" for the death of a Chinese fighter pilot whose plane had collided with the American aircraft.

Ref: 70

May 08

China protests the resumption of US surveillance flights off its coast and said it would refuse to let the US fly out a crippled Navy spy plane. (XDG, p 4A, 5/08/2002)

Ref: 83

May 16

Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen was indicted on charges of spying for Moscow.

Ref: 70