Gus W. Weiss was a

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

policy adviser on technology, intelligence and economic affairs who worked primarily on national security, intelligence and concerns on technology transfers to communist countries.

Education

Weiss graduated from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

in Nashville. He received his MBA from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and taught at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

where he also received a PhD in economics.

Career

* Under Presidents

Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and

Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

, Weiss served as a foreign affairs officer and on the

U.S. National Security Council The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Exe ...

. * Under

President Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...

, he was an assistant to the Secretary of Defense (Space Policy), a member of the Pentagon Defense Science Board and also of the US Intelligence Board.

The Farewell Dossier

Weiss was also one of the people that worked on the

Farewell Dossier The Farewell Dossier was the collection of documents that Colonel Vladimir Vetrov, a KGB defector "en place" (code-named "Farewell"), gathered and gave to the Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST) in 1981–82, during the Cold War. V ...

. The USSR collected western computer and scientific technology through espionage and used it for its own national defense. One of the KGB defectors,

Vladimir Vetrov , nickname = , image = , caption = , allegiance = Soviet Union later France , service = KGB, DST , serviceyears = , rank = Lieutenant Colonel , operation = F ...

, submitted documents collected by the KGB, and potential target items to the French. French president

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

then shared them with US President Reagan. Weiss suggested that the US export whatever was on the potential targets list to the USSR, but that these items be modified, meaning sourced from the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

, the Defense Department and the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

. The products would look genuine, bu
fail
once the USSR started operating them. One successful notable result was a massive fire near the Urengoi starting point of the Trans-Siberian Pipeline in 1983 that could be seen from space.

Death

Weiss died on November 25, 2003 under what the UK newspaper ''The Independent'' has characterized as "mysterious circumstances". His body was found on the walk beneath his upstairs apartment in the

Watergate building The Watergate complex is a group of six buildings in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Covering a total of 10 acres (4 ha) just north of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the buildings incl ...

in Washington, DC. The local medical examiner ruled his death a suicide, according to ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

.'' The ''Post'' obituary, which came twelve days after the fact, was the first local report that Weiss had died. It gave no reason for the suicide determination. The ''Post'' published its Weiss obituary six days after his hometown newspaper, the Nashville ''Tennessean,'' had reported his death. The ''Tennessean'' did not know the cause of death. He was 72 years old.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20111222233325/http://bss.sfsu.edu/fischer/IR%20360/Readings/Duping%20the%20Soviets.htm * https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/01/classified/paid-notice-deaths-weiss-gus-w.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Gus W. 2003 deaths People from Nashville, Tennessee 1930s births Harvard Business School alumni United States Assistant Secretaries of Defense Vanderbilt University alumni New York University alumni