The Guardian On The Solely Agent Who Has Infiltrated The Cia

Karel Koecher's floor is odd from many viewpoints

Hours ago, Benjamin Cunningham – who, acting equally a author for the Economist, gave me an hour-long telephone telephone call upwards final calendar month because of the intelligence "Czechia" – published a long floor inwards The Guardian,

How a Czech 'super-spy' infiltrated the CIA.

The spy was Karel Koecher. As a teenager, he had pretty much trigger-happy relationships amongst the communist regime. But inwards the 1960s, the atmosphere began to meliorate too inwards 1965, he at nowadays agreed to live on sent to the U.S. of America amongst the finish of infiltrating the CIA – which he did although it doesn't seem similar he has used this success to hit something particular.



At some moment, his supervisors inwards Prague ordered him to write downwards too mail all the plate numbers of the cars of janitors who build clean toilets for the CIA. He idea that his talent wasn't unused too found a to a greater extent than direct path to collaborate straight amongst Moscow instead of the losers inwards Prague.




Koecher spoke 5 languages. In Prague, he studied maths too physics at the really same subdivision where I did some undergraduate studies. But he also studied film. In the New York City, he studied philosophy too Soviet studies at Columbia too infiltrated the CIA thence he became a double agent. Meanwhile, his married adult woman Hana was trading diamonds, they became well-known at the swingers clubs, too they were wealthy enough, amongst a BMW too a rather luxurious bird at Manhattan, around some famous people.




At some point, inwards 1984, he was betrayed (by Kalugin, a summit U.S. of America mole inwards KGB too at nowadays a U.S. of America citizen) too outed too inwards 1986, he was exchanged inwards Berlin for a Soviet dissident (now an Israeli politician). And the floor is total of complicated relationships amongst the Czechoslovak communist undercover agency, StB, equally good equally KGB, CIA, too FBI – what he was expected to do, who trusted him when, who found him suspicious, too thence on. It seems similar a messy job.

When Koecher spoke at the Jan Kraus TV show exactly a few years ago, the host Kraus didn't forget to lift some facial similarities betwixt Koecher too Klaus. They select worked inwards the same institute a twelvemonth earlier the autumn of communism, too. Are they cloning those faces inwards that institute, Kraus asked? ;-) During the Velvet Revolution, Koecher was said to flora the Civic Forum. But Koecher says that exactly some American journalists saw Klaus too said: Look, Koecher is making some difficult activeness here.

Koecher shouldn't live on confused amongst Klaus Fuchs, a theoretical physicist too a spy who is sometimes commenting on this spider web log too bringing us some really undercover information, too. The identity of Klaus Fuchs is a summit undercover because she or he may live on an otherwise well-known personality too I am wearing a cyanide pill for the province of affairs that someone would grab me, torture me, too need that I bring out Klaus Fuchs' truthful identity. :-)

Kraus' give-and-take is entertaining. He asks: How did y'all penetrate the CIA? Koecher said: The bosses exactly said that it was my problem. And I figured out the correct plan: to enroll inwards an Ivy League school, highlight myself equally a summit notch student, too everything volition live on automatic afterwards. And that's how it has worked, indeed. Kraus said: It was interesting, I never realized it's that simple. Just move to the Ivy League school, larn a summit student, too thence it is automatic. ;-) He impressed Brzezinski, his teacher, too that guy was already looking for jobs for Koecher.

BTW Czechoslovakia has had several agents at diverse places, e.g. well-nigh 5 agents inwards the Munich-based Radio Free Europe. Cpt. Pavel Minařík was the most famous one. He was preparing bomb attacks against 5 RFE antennas inwards Munich too was ordered to move to jail inwards the early on 1990s for iv years – but he was never arrested. A call back propagandist vocal sung past times Josef Laufer praising him too denouncing the costless globe has absolutely scared me when I heard it for the starting fourth dimension time. It's especially unexpected for such a guy to sing similar anti-capitalist jihadist songs – because he was born to a Jewish manful mortal nurture too a Castilian woman nurture inwards French Republic (as Don José Pedro Rodriguez de Montagnes de Laufer) too spent his childhood inwards Britain.