Oleg Penkovsky - Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU) Colonel and Highest-Ranking Soviet Spying for the West - CIA Files
This collection contains 3,167 pages of mostly CIA files.
Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky, “the single most valuable agent in CIA history,” went from a Russian World War II military hero, and a colonel in Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU), to becoming America's best human intelligence asset in the Soviet Union.
He believed that Nikita Khrushchev's leadership was taking the Soviet Union onto the path of destruction. Penkovsky was the highest-level Soviet officer to ever spy for the United States or British Intelligence. The Penkovsky case is considered to have been the most successful Cold War espionage operation. Penkovsky was observed by KGB agents after a meeting with a British intelligence contact, which lead to his arrest and execution.
This group of documents highlights the wins and an ultimate loss in the intelligence business. We see documented the acquisition of a well-placed spy, in this case a high-ranking Soviet military intelligence officer. We see how this Cold War success for the West lessened the tensions of the conflict by providing information on the intentions, strength, and technological advancement of the Soviet Union.
At the same time, recorded are the enormous risks for the spy himself, which became evident in the fate of Penkovsky, who was shot as a traitor by the Soviets in 1963, for spying for the United States and United Kingdom. These documents provide an over-the-shoulder look from the perspective of the CIA Director as well as from Penkovsky himself in operational meeting reports. This collection offers insights on the spy's motives as well as the yields of his espionage for the United States.
Penkovsky allowed the administrations of President Eisenhower and President Kennedy to bypass the bluster and rhetoric of Nikita Khrushchev, and to know the true facts concerning Soviet military preparedness. The files indicate that Penkovsky's acts of espionage were able to define for the United Sates the limitations of Soviet power.
Through Penkovsky, the United States learned of the number of nuclear missiles the Soviets held and the problems with their guidance systems. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Penkovsky was able to provide information on how those missiles operated in the field. Soviet GRU (military intelligence) documents provided by Penkovsky show the friction between the Soviet high command over whether Soviet military strategy should depend on nuclear weapons, or general-purpose forces.
This collection Includes
CIA Files
2,405 pages of CIA files dating from 1960 to 2003. Files include CIA reports on the top-secret Soviet intelligence reports provided by Penkovsky; Penkovsky's debriefings to CIA and SIS officials during visits to England and France.
FBI Files
313 pages of well redacted FBI files dating from 1962 to 1969, related to Penkovsky.
Newspapers
39 Full sheet American newspaper pages, mostly from the Washington D.C. Evening Star, dating from December 11, 1962, to December 1, 1963, covering events related to Penkovsky.
