however, to replicate the success of Soviet intelligence chiefs during
the 1940s, when they had spectacular sources of political intelli-
gence. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Feklisov was used as a
back channelbetween Moscow and the John F. Kennedy adminis-
tration. His role in the crisis is still controversial: while some believe
it opened a channel of communications at a difficult time, others be-
lieve it further confused a perilous situation.
In retirement, Feklisov wrote one of the best memoirs of a Cold
Warintelligence officer. Originally published in French as Confes-
sions d’un agent sovietique, it was published in the United States as
The Man behind the Rosenbergs. The book, which deeply angered
some in Moscow, confirmed that Julius Rosenberg had indeed been a
Soviet agent—though he had had little to do with nuclear espionage—
and that the Anglo-American decryption of the Soviet intelligence
messages was genuine. Feklisov remains deeply proud of his and his
service’s achievements, especially the collection of nuclear intelli-
gence. See also ENORMOZ; VENONA.FELFE, HEINZ PAUL JOHANN (1918– ). After joining the Gestapo,
Felfe served in the Netherlands, working against the Dutch under-
ground during World War II. Following the war, the British Secret
Intelligence Service (SIS) recruited Felfe as their agent to identify
communists and former Nazis in the British zone of occupied West
Germany. Felfe was quite effective and was allowed to join the nas-
cent German intelligence organization run by Reinhard Gehlen. In
1955 Felfe followed Gehlen into the Bundesnachrichtendienst
(BND), the West German intelligence service.
Felfe was recruited in 1951 by the KGB, which was able to supply
money to maintain his lavish lifestyle. Over 10 years, he was paid
178,000 marks ($44,500). The KGB also played on Felfe’s hatred of
the United States for its bombing of his home town, Dresden, in- For 10 years Felfe was an important intelligence source for
Moscow, providing information on NATO operations in Eastern Eu-
rope. He provided the KGB with over 15,000 pages of classified doc-
uments, as well as 20 audiotapes of classified meetings. His position
in the BND allowed the KGB to manipulate the German service’s op-
erations. He was betrayed by Michael Goleniewskiand arrested in - In 1963 he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He was ex-
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