A Secret Life (53 page)
Authors: Benjamin Weiser
Tags: #History, #Europe, #Germany, #World, #True Crime, #Espionage
Tenet also cited another group of “Cold War heroes,” the men and women from behind the Iron Curtain who helped us. . . . They were like most of their countrymen, ordinary people who dearly loved their families and their native lands, and who wanted to see a better future for them. But these courageous men and women were extraordinary because they chose to act. They chose to work for the West. Their honor and their convictions gave them the fortitude to follow their conscience down a very lonely path into mortal danger.
Many had not lived to see “that joyous day dawn.”
Tenet then introduced Kuklinski and suggested that his mission was emblematic of the kinds of clandestine operations that were pursued throughout the Cold War. Kuklinski, he said, was “a man who risked great danger to work for us, and who by the grace of God survived.” Tenet said it was because of “the bravery and sacrifice of patriots like Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski that his own native Poland and the other once-captive nations of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are now free.”
Kuklinski stepped forward. “I am deeply honored,” he told the crowd, “to represent my many anonymous comrades who served on both sides of the front line. I am pleased that our long, hard struggle has brought peace, freedom, and democracy, not only to my country, but to many other people as well.”
Kuklinski was later escorted to a waiting car, which took him to the airport and the flight back to the neighborhood where he and Hanka still live private lives under assumed identities.
POSTSCRIPT
Because of the strict compartmentalization of information in the CIA, until recent years a number of the CIA officers involved in the early stages of the Kuklinski operation had no idea how it had turned out.
John Dimmer, the chief of Bonn Station who had received Kuklinski’s original letter and helped coordinate the first meetings, retired shortly afterward and did not know that the case became one of the most significant in CIA history. He now lives in retirement in rural Maine.
Colonel Henry, the avuncular officer who participated in the early meetings with Kuklinski, retired and never saw Kuklinski again. He died in the early 1990s.
Walter Lang, who accompanied Colonel Henry in the first meeting in 1972, has retired, and he occasionally returns to the CIA to discuss the case with young officers.
David Blee, the Soviet Division chief who first approved the Gull operation, retired in 1985 and died fifteen years later at his home in Bethesda, Maryland.
Tom Ryan, who made the drive with his wife Lucille from Berlin to Warsaw to help move Kuklinski out of Poland, has retired.
Sue Burggraf, who coordinated the exfiltration from Warsaw, has also retired and now works in charitable activities around Washington, D.C., such as library book sales and Meals on Wheels.
Stanley Patkowski, the original Gull operation translator, has died. Victor Kliss, his successor, retired and stayed in touch with Kuklinski until Kliss’s death in late 2003.
Ted Gilbertson, who found Kuklinski’s message in the snow in 1980, recently retired from the CIA. Aris Pappas, the martial-law analyst, retired in 2003 after twenty-eight years with the agency.
Jerzy Kozminski completed his tenure as ambassador in 2000 and is now president of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation. Leszek Miller became Poland’s prime minister in 2001, a post he held until 2004.
Iza and Bogdan were married for about seven years, but the relationship ultimately failed, and they were divorced. Iza works today as a research scientist in New England. Bogdan began a new relationship with an American woman of Polish birth, which lasted until he died.
Ryszard and Hanka Kuklinski chose to remain in the United States, which they considered their home. After traveling to Poland in 1998, Kuklinski made several more visits, and he was greeted warmly each time. On one trip in the fall of 2003, he ventured into the streets of Warsaw for the first time without security, encountering smiles and shaking the hands of surprised passersby who recognized him.
David and Aurelia Forden were married for over nineteen years. In September 2003, five weeks after they moved into a new home outside Washington, Aurelia died of cancer. David still lives there, and he and Kuklinski remained close friends.
On February 11, 2004, several days after suffering a massive stroke, Ryszard Kuklinski died. He was seventy-three years old.
Kuklinski’s ashes, and those of his son Waldek, were flown to Poland, and on June 19, they were buried in the historic Powazki military cemetery in Warsaw. The ceremony was attended by Kuklinski’s widow, Hanka, and thousands of Poles, including war veterans, an Army honor guard, former prime ministers, and the U.S. ambassador, Christopher Hill. The Polish government sent no official representative.
In the months that followed, thousands of people visited the grave site, leaving candles and flowers.
Author’s NOTES
Bibliographical Note
This book does not attempt to offer a history of Poland or of the Solidarity period. But as I learned about the era, I benefited from a number of books and other works. These included: Tina Rosenberg’s
The Haunted Land
(New York: Random House, 1995); Douglas J. MacEachin’s
U.S. Intelligence and the Confrontation in Poland, 1980-1981
(University Park, Pa.: Penn State Press, 2002); Robert M. Gates’
From the Shadows
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996); Benjamin B. Fischer’s “The Vilification and Vindication of Colonel Kuklinski” (
Studies in Intelligence
, Summer 2000, unclassified edition); Zbigniew Brzezinski’s “A White House Diary” (
Orbis,
Winter 1988); Mark Kramer’s “Colonel Kuklinski and the Polish Crisis, 1980-81” (
Cold War International History Project Bulletin 11,
Winter 1998) and the introduction by Malcolm Byrne; Bob Woodward’s
Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981-1987
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987); and Ryszard Kuklinski’s 1987 interview with
Kultura
(excerpts published in
Orbis
, “The Crushing of Solidarity,” Winter 1988; and
Between East and West: Writings from Kultura
, edited by Robert Kostrzewa, Hill and Wang, N.Y. 1990.)
The Haunted Land
(New York: Random House, 1995); Douglas J. MacEachin’s
U.S. Intelligence and the Confrontation in Poland, 1980-1981
(University Park, Pa.: Penn State Press, 2002); Robert M. Gates’
From the Shadows
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996); Benjamin B. Fischer’s “The Vilification and Vindication of Colonel Kuklinski” (
Studies in Intelligence
, Summer 2000, unclassified edition); Zbigniew Brzezinski’s “A White House Diary” (
Orbis,
Winter 1988); Mark Kramer’s “Colonel Kuklinski and the Polish Crisis, 1980-81” (
Cold War International History Project Bulletin 11,
Winter 1998) and the introduction by Malcolm Byrne; Bob Woodward’s
Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981-1987
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987); and Ryszard Kuklinski’s 1987 interview with
Kultura
(excerpts published in
Orbis
, “The Crushing of Solidarity,” Winter 1988; and
Between East and West: Writings from Kultura
, edited by Robert Kostrzewa, Hill and Wang, N.Y. 1990.)
Several books on the CIA were also helpful: John Ranelagh’s
The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986); David Wise’s
Molehunt: The Secret Search for Traitors that Shattered the CIA
(New York: Random House, 1992); and
The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA’s Final Showdown with the KGB,
by Milt Bearden and James Risen (New York: Random House, 2003). I also want to cite the writers Christine Spolar, Jane Perlez, Iwona Jurczenko, Carl Bernstein, and Michael Dobbs.
The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986); David Wise’s
Molehunt: The Secret Search for Traitors that Shattered the CIA
(New York: Random House, 1992); and
The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA’s Final Showdown with the KGB,
by Milt Bearden and James Risen (New York: Random House, 2003). I also want to cite the writers Christine Spolar, Jane Perlez, Iwona Jurczenko, Carl Bernstein, and Michael Dobbs.
On Names
At the request of several of the officers cited in this book, their names have been replaced with pseudonyms. I have marked those names with an asterisk where they first appear.
On Cables
In the CIA archival material relied on for this book, cables were typically rendered in all capital letters, but for the sake of readability, I have avoided that style. Some cables are also written in “cable-ese,” which is not always grammatical. I have rendered those as in the original text, except to add bracketed words in some cases to improve clarity.
On Translations
Kuklinski’s recorded and written comments to the agency, usually made in Polish (and in the first year also in Russian), were typically translated quickly by the CIA, and not always grammatically. Kuklinski is an eloquent writer and speaker of Polish; I have corrected obvious errors in the translations of his words, and in some cases, I have added bracketed words for clarity.
On Code Names
During the operation, Kuklinski’s name was generally replaced in cables or memos with a code name such as CKGULL or QTGULL (the CK and QT are “digraphs,” which typically are used to identify the country of origin of an operation or a source). In the archival material released to me, these code names were removed. To keep the text clear, I have reinserted “Gull” wherever his name was deleted. Place-names, such as Warsaw or Moscow, were also deleted from the archival material. Where it is obvious which location is being discussed, I have reinserted the place-name in brackets.
On Dialogue
In most cases where dialogue is quoted in the text, it comes from transcripts of recordings or notes taken shortly after the conversation in question. In some cases, I have reconstructed quoted conversations where one participant, who is usually identified in the text or in the notes, recalled the discussion. Some sections of this text that are not otherwise footnoted are based on extensive interviews with Kuklinski over the years.
The Archive
My use of the phrase “archival note” below refers to summaries or observations made by Peter Earnest, the retired case officer who researched the archive, of materials that are not otherwise sourced to a specific document.
In the notes below, an asterisk (*) represents a pseudonym in the text. “HQ” stands for CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia. “Field” is sometimes used for Warsaw Station. “RK” stands for Kuklinski. I have not footnoted an interview with Kuklinski each time one of his documents is cited, but he was interviewed about each, and the text often reflects his thinking at the time they were prepared or received.
Prologue
Key interview: Kuklinski.
Chapter
1
Crossing the Line
1
Crossing the Line
Key interviews: RK, John P. Dimmer Jr., Walter Lang*, David Blee, Katharine Hart, Richard Stolz, Clair George, Richard Helms, Bill Donnelly, David Forden, Peter Earnest, Ed Schooley*.
6
“Bonn Station was led...”
Interview Dimmer; excerpts of Dimmer cable to HQ and HQ response.
“Bonn Station was led...”
Interview Dimmer; excerpts of Dimmer cable to HQ and HQ response.
6
“I’m sorry for my English . . . ”
Text of RK letter to the Army August 11, 1972.
“I’m sorry for my English . . . ”
Text of RK letter to the Army August 11, 1972.
7
“Fifty-five years old . . . ”
Interviews Blee, Donnelly, Stolz, Helms, Hart, George.
“Fifty-five years old . . . ”
Interviews Blee, Donnelly, Stolz, Helms, Hart, George.
8
“thanks to the excessive . . . ”
Robert M. Gates,
From the Shadows
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996), p. 34.
“thanks to the excessive . . . ”
Robert M. Gates,
From the Shadows
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996), p. 34.
9
“Blee surrounded himself . . . ”
Blee’s predecessor, Rolfe Kingsley, who served as Soviet Division chief 1968-1971, has been given credit for some of the changes that refocused the division and fended off Angleton from further interference with the division’s officers. In some ways, one former officer said, Kingsley thus made it possible for Blee to arrive when he did and maintain the aggressive approach to developing new sources.
“Blee surrounded himself . . . ”
Blee’s predecessor, Rolfe Kingsley, who served as Soviet Division chief 1968-1971, has been given credit for some of the changes that refocused the division and fended off Angleton from further interference with the division’s officers. In some ways, one former officer said, Kingsley thus made it possible for Blee to arrive when he did and maintain the aggressive approach to developing new sources.
9
“There’s nothing he can tell us . . . ”
Interview Blee. Once Hart learned who P.V. really was, and the access he had, she was enthusiastically on board; interview Hart.
“There’s nothing he can tell us . . . ”
Interview Blee. Once Hart learned who P.V. really was, and the access he had, she was enthusiastically on board; interview Hart.
10-18
“In Bonn, Dimmer summoned . . . ”
The account of setting up the first meeting with RK, and the meeting itself, is based on interviews with RK, Blee, Lang, Dimmer, Forden, Earnest; also excerpts of Lang’s and Henry’s cable to HQ August 18, 1972; cable and detailed contact report pouched to HQ from Henry and Lang August 19; HQ cables to team August 18, 19; archival notes.
“In Bonn, Dimmer summoned . . . ”
The account of setting up the first meeting with RK, and the meeting itself, is based on interviews with RK, Blee, Lang, Dimmer, Forden, Earnest; also excerpts of Lang’s and Henry’s cable to HQ August 18, 1972; cable and detailed contact report pouched to HQ from Henry and Lang August 19; HQ cables to team August 18, 19; archival notes.
18
“What does P.V. mean?...”
Interviews Lang, RK.
“What does P.V. mean?...”
Interviews Lang, RK.
21-24
“I live in Warsaw . . . ”
Account of meeting is based on interviews with RK and Lang and excerpt of meeting transcript.
“I live in Warsaw . . . ”
Account of meeting is based on interviews with RK and Lang and excerpt of meeting transcript.
22
“Warsaw Pact commanders . . . ”
Besides the Soviet Union and Poland, the Warsaw Pact included East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania.
“Warsaw Pact commanders . . . ”
Besides the Soviet Union and Poland, the Warsaw Pact included East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania.
23
“They said the Americans would begin...”
The CIA anticipated that if Kuklinski had to be exfiltrated, he and his family would leave Poland with nothing and would need support to rebuild their lives. The CIA’s policy in such cases is to put aside funds regularly, over a period of time, and create an escrow account for such emergencies.
“They said the Americans would begin...”
The CIA anticipated that if Kuklinski had to be exfiltrated, he and his family would leave Poland with nothing and would need support to rebuild their lives. The CIA’s policy in such cases is to put aside funds regularly, over a period of time, and create an escrow account for such emergencies.
25
“It was not unusual for Schooley to go driving...”
Interview Schooley.
“It was not unusual for Schooley to go driving...”
Interview Schooley.
27-28
“Please forgive me...”
Transcript of RK.
“Please forgive me...”
Transcript of RK.
28
“they walked to the harbor...”
Interview Lang.
“they walked to the harbor...”
Interview Lang.
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