RIDEAL, SIR ERIC• 455about the atomic problem. Later in the conversation his attitude changed
and he said that he hoped it would not be an Englishman since his English
comrades were very careless. Finally, after assurances that everything
would be properly organized, he said that he would be glad to meet our
comrade.The meeting took place in January 1943 at a London tube station,
and after the usual signs and passwords had been exchanged, the sci-
entist was judged to be straightforward and friendly, although obvi-
ously nervous. He verified all the arrangements for the meeting and it
lasted more than an hour and a half, during which nothing was called
directly by its name, but, concluded therezidentura,‘‘ericknew
with whom he had agreed to cooperate.’’ Barkovsky remembers that
when he met his new source for the first time, he had been asked
whether he understood nuclear physics. Upon receiving an unsatis-
factory reply,ericsaid that he wanted his contact not to be just a
transmitting channel but to understand what it was all about. He
urged the intelligence officer to studyApplied Nuclear Physicsby
Pollard and Davidson. Barkovsky took his advice and was grateful to
ericfor insisting on this, as the American textbook turned out to be
a great help to him in running his source.
He told me, ‘‘We’ll go through the book together, and then it will be con-
siderably easier for you to deal with me.’’ I also did not see any other way
out. I was completely swamped with work, but I started poring over the
textbook.ericpassed on the secret material to which he had direct access and,
being of a daring nature and something of an adventurer, he also took
what was kept in the safes of his colleagues. Barkovsky recalls how,
when the scientist told him about this opportunity and brought him
the impression of a door key, a duplicate was required. It was too
dangerous to have this work done in a local shop, and it would take
too long to send the impression to the Center, as the wartime diplo-
matic bag had to be sent via the United States and the Far East and
took months to reach Moscow. However, as a young man Barkovsky
had been a sixth-grade fitter, and he did the job himself and made a
duplicate that fitted perfectly.
As a result of the decision taken by us we manufactured a copy of the key
forericand worked out arrangements for meetings so that we can contact