A critical strength of Soviet tradecraft was mastery of “the street.”
Soviet case officers were drilled in the arts of surveillance and coun-
tersurveillance. When one young Soviet intelligence officer arrived
in New York in the 1940s, he was told to look for drugstores with two
entrances that would allow him to lose possible surveillance. The
same case officer often met his contacts in movie theaters, where it
was possible for an agent and case officer to arrive and depart sepa-
rately and to meet in the dark. When Yuri Modinwas running agents
in London in the late 1940s, he took five hours to make sure that he
had no surveillance before he met with agents.
The creation of effective covers was another strength. Intelligence
officers, especially illegals, were expected to live their covers. In the
United States, Joseph Golosoperated a tourist company. Decades
later, Morrisand Lona Cohenran a bookshop in a London suburb.
Lona was remembered by her English neighbors as an eccentric New
Zealander with a love for gin and an interest in cricket.
Patience and study were also crucial. Potential agents were in-
vestigated for years before they were approached by the service.
NKVDcables from the 1930s showed a great deal of understanding
of the motivationthat led young British aristocrats to betray their
country. In the reports are comments about their parents, their edu-
cation, and their sexuality. NKVD case officers often demanded
that agents write a detailed autobiography to get a better under-
standing of their personality. This autobiography was used exten-
sively in Moscow as well. The Soviet services also gave their case
officers time to develop and work with their agents. Ruth Werner,
the GRUofficer who ran Klaus Fuchs, noted in her biography:
“they always gave me plenty of time.”
Agents were to be run with care. Ideological spies like John Car-
incrossreceived Soviet military combat medals. Elizabeth Bentley
received the Order of the Red Star. Oleg Kaluginand his colleagues
in the Washington rezidenturaran John Walker, a U.S. Navy war-
rant officer who was in espionage for money, with great interpersonal
skills. They treated Walker as an equal and made sure that he knew
he could retire in the Soviet Union with the rank of admiral. Viktor
Cherkashinpersuaded Aldrich Amesthat it was time for him to re-
veal all the secrets he knew. Ames had already provided the KGB
with the names of two agents, so Cherkashin argued persuasively that264 •TRADECRAFT06-313 P-Z.qxd 7/27/06 7:57 AM Page 264