WI HUAC had found actual spies?
- Thread starter phx1138
- Start date
Time is really the only thing that will solve this. CI was in its infancy in the 50s, the result of an America that was largely isolationist a decade before and which viewed CI as unnecessary until WWII. US intelligence was also still in its infancy, filled with well-meaning people from the right schools who were largely amateurs at their craft and who still adhered somewhat to a philosophy that "gentlemen do not open another gentleman's mail". While noble, this was not a prescription for effective CI since the correct philosophy is that nobody is above suspicion and you build a system in which checks and balances and monitoring are taken for granted as is the notion that anything untoward will be caught. The best counterintelligence lies in deterrence. If you're catching people after the fact, you're doing it wrong.
Man, I would read the hell out of a TL based on this. That would be very interesting.
GeographyDude
Gone Fishin'
I'd say, low to mid-90s percentage chance that Dickstein actually spied for money for the Soviets. (and this would be a plum for HUAC to actually expose!)
Spying's a twisty-turvy business. Always a chance the Soviets added him to their records back in 1930s in attempt to smoke out mole on their side, etc. Or, he was added in the '90s in order to charge these two writers even more for a second round of documents.
Or it was disinformation to discredit Dickstein, or HUAC, or both...
Or maybe it was two of these reasons, or another one entirely...
I tend to credit the accusation. Diickstein was, by all accounts a fairly corrupt guy whose vote and influence was thought to be for sale to the highest bidder, even as a judge after leaving Congress. Running a scam with the Soviets-passing off gossip and rumor as high-grade intelligence-would have been right up his alley. He wouldn't have been the only person to have done this. Robert Allen, a journalist who latter served on George Patton's staff in the ETO, is thought to have pulled the same stunt with the Soviets in the 1930's by selling them gossip he planned to retail in his journalism anyhow. He was cut loose in short order when they caught on.
GeographyDude
Gone Fishin'
I still don't like it.
It sounds like fun and games, selling the Soviets recycled rumors for good cash money, but . . . you might end up giving them a key bit of information which makes some ugly blackmail attempt much more effective.
They call it a witch hunt for a reason, rules of evidence. There's also hearsay evidence that he was anti-nazi, and used influence and position to obtain passports and assist immigrants. What a corrupt bastard. So what evidence of what he did with his $1250/month exists? Did he declare it on his taxes? Was any evidence of being a Soviet spy not revealed by Soviet agents, who fully understood maskirovka?
False news could come from a single unverifiable source, and if repeated often enough, becomes the new truth.
GeographyDude
Gone Fishin'
Yes, evidence the guy lived above his means would provide some confirmation. But of course he could be corrupt or semi-corrupt in different ways.
A congresscritter "living above their means"? I'm shocked, shocked to find out there is gambling in this establishment. Those who were Soviet agents and were exposed later with the fall of the USSR and the temporary leakage of old information, such as the Cambridge 5, had significant evidence against them. In this case this may be true or not, but absent credible sources, such as multiple honest witnesses and/or genuine documentation it is all rumor and innuendo. Personally, matters not to me what the truth is in this case, merely that that which is rumor is separated from that which is fact.
I'd suggest, if it's being used in AH, it really doesn't. The accusation can be a POD on its own.
In most cases like this the "seller" is ALWAYS fully aware things "might" go badly but also usually very, (often wrongly mind you) aware that they are 'not' like anyone else and therefore always in control. Right up to the point the 'handler' shows them they are not.
In this case it would sound like such. As noted no matter if it's "real" or not the POD is in the possibilities either way.
Randy
The Soviets did have Boris Morros (Agent FROST), who peddled them stories about his personal contacts with Margaret Truman, for example. He also managed to lose several thousand dollars in an investment provided by Alfred and Martha Stern.
They were desperate for sources after the ideological spies (Julius Rosenberg, Teddy Hall, Alger Hiss, Harry Dexter White, etc.) had dried up. The best source that William Fisher ("Rudolf Abel") had was Teddy Hall and he dropped out.
GeographyDude
Gone Fishin'
And Bridge of Spies starring Mark Rylance and Tom Hanks was a heck of a good movie.
You barely needed CI to catch him; just wait till he screws up.