456 • RIDEAL, SIR ERIC
him three times a week in London without prior notification. As a result
we managed to remove fromericall the available American materials...
and other interesting materials onenormoz[the Anglo-American atomic
bomb project].eric’s importance as a source is confirmed by a reference to him in
an internal NKVD memorandum entitled ‘‘On the Composition of
the Agent Network forenormozof the First Directorate of the
NKVD of the USSR (as of August 1945)’’:During the period of his cooperation with us he supplied an enor-
mous quantity of most valuable, genuine documents in the form of
official American and British reports on the work onenormozand,
in particular, on the construction of uranium piles.Describingeric’s relationship with the NKVD, Barkovsky noted in
a letter to the Center that he had been motivated by ideology and was
scrupulous when it came to money:ericas before works for us with enthusiasm, but still turns down the slight-
est hint of financial reward. Once we gave him more to cover his expenses
than he had asked for. He showed his displeasure and stated that he was
suspicious of our desire to give him financial help. He asked us to stop
once and for all our attempts to do so. In view of this we fear that any gift
to him as a sign of gratitude for his work would have a negative effect.eric
is completely unselfish and extremely scrupulous in regard to anything that
might appear as ‘‘payment’’ for his work.Althougheric’s true name has not been disclosed, it is highly likely,
based on recent Russian efforts to conceal his original code name—
and the poor security exercised at the time in the choice of crypto-
nyms, which was left to the often limited imaginations of individual
Soviet case officers—that it was indeed Rideal. Barkovsky described
ericas a young physicist and CPGB member who volunteered infor-
mation from inside the British atomic research program, but also had
access to data from the United States and was able in 1943 to assert
that ‘‘the Americans are far ahead.’’ He was ‘‘a person who had come
to us by himself, without any recruitment. He wanted to help and
correct the injustice.’’ Ineric’s opinion, justice lay in preventing