Anatoly Veniaminovich Gorsky (Анатолий Вениаминович Горский) (c. 1907 – 1980), was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

who, under cover as First Secretary "Anatoly Borisovich Gromov" of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, was secretly ''

rezident A resident spy in the world of espionage is an agent operating within a foreign country for extended periods of time. A base of operations within a foreign country with which a resident spy may liaise is known as a "station" in English and a (, 're ...

'' in the United States at the end of World War II.

Career

Gorsky joined the

Soviet secret police The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in 1928 and worked in the internal political police. In 1936 he transferred to foreign intelligence and was sent to England as cipher clerk and assistant to the London ''rezident''. During the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secret ...

of 1939 the London ''rezidentura'' was liquidated, and in March 1940 Gorsky was recalled to Moscow. Gorsky survived the purges and was appointed London ''rezident'' in November 1940, during the Hitler–Stalin Pact. In London his first cover was attaché, then second secretary of the Soviet embassy. As London ''rezident'' Gorsky took over managing eighteen agents, including the

Cambridge Five The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted ...

, and the initial

penetration of the British atomic bomb project. The London ''rezidentura'' consisted of only three people. By the end of the war there were twelve operational workers. In the heaviest period of war, from 1941 to 1942 the London ''rezidentura'' was the basic information source of Soviet operations on Germany and countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. More than ten thousand documentary items along political, economic, military and other matter were sent from the London ''rezidentura'' to Moscow. In September 1941 the London ''rezidentura'' obtained and sent to Moscow documentary materials on work in Great Britain and the US on the creation of nuclear weapons and supplied a constant stream of information. During January 1944 Gorsky returned to Moscow after the completion of this mission and was assigned deputy division head.

Espionage activities in the United States

Following the sudden recall of

Vasily Zarubin Vasily Mikhailovich Zarubin (russian: Васи́лий Михáйлович Зарýбин) (4 February 1894 – 18 September 1972) was a Soviet intelligence officer. In the United States, he used the cover name Vasily Zubilin and served as th ...

in 1944, Gorsky was appointed ''rezident'' in the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation identified him the following year when, at the direction of the Bureau, defecting Soviet courier Elizabeth Bentley met under FBI surveillance with Gorsky, whom she knew as "Al." When FBI Director

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation � ...

informed Sir William Stephenson, head of British intelligence in the western hemisphere, of Bentley’s defection, the head of British counter-espionage against the Soviet Union—-Soviet agent

Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British secr ...

of the

Cambridge spy ring The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted for ...

—-promptly alerted Soviet intelligence. Moscow cabled all U.S. station chiefs to “cease immediately their connection with all persons known to Bentley in our work ndto warn the agents about Bentley’s betrayal.” The cable specifically ordered Gorsky to cease meeting with

Harold Glasser Harold Glasser (November 24, 1905 – November 16, 1992) was an economist in the United States Department of the Treasury and spokesman on the affairs of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) 'throughout its whole ...

, Donald Wheeler, Alan Rosenberg, Charles Kramer,

Victor Perlo Victor Perlo (May 15, 1912December 1, 1999) was an American Marxist economist, government functionary, and a longtime member of the governing National Committee of the Communist Party USA. Biography Early years Victor Perlo was born May 15, 19 ...

, Helen Tenney, Maurice Halperin, Lauchlin Currie, and others. Gorsky sent a long memorandum to Moscow discussing the best way to kill Bentley. He considered shooting, poisoning, faking an accident or faking her suicide, suggesting that the job might be assigned to Joseph Katz. Within two months of the meeting, Gorsky had been recalled to Moscow, along with Iskhak Akhmerov and others.

Later career

In 1948, Gorsky authored the Gorsky memo, an internal

document in which he listed 43 Soviet sources and intelligence officers likely to be identified to American authorities by Bentley after her defection, including Alger Hiss, Harry White and Lauchlin Currie. In 1953 Gorsky shifted to internal security work. For successful work in the United States Gorsky obtained the rank of Colonel and in 1945 was awarded the

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisa ...

. He also received the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of t ...

, the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

, the

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour (russian: орден «Знак Почёта», orden "Znak Pochyota") was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding ...

, and the Order of the Red Star.

References

External links

*
Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (in Russian)
*John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'', Yale University Press (1999)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorsky, Anatoly 1900s births 1980 deaths Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Star KGB officers NKVD officers Soviet spies against the United States