2011/10/01 by Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Twentieth Century Scientific Developments #Nuclear Issues and Defense #Intelligence, Security, War Strategy
paper · doi:10.1080/02684527.2011.604203
openalex publication_date 2011/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
A careful review of the depiction of Soviet atomic espionage provided in Pavel Sudoplatov's Special Tasks and Sacred Secrets by Jerrold and Leona Schecter demonstrates how faulty memories, Soviet intelligence agency disinformation, sloppy citations, misplaced trust in documents provided by unidentified sources under unexplained circumstances, and egregious lapses in logic and judgment can lead to conclusions unsupported by evidence. The accounts of Soviet atomic espionage in both books are neither reliable nor credible. In particular, the assertions that Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Leo Szilard consciously cooperated with and assisted Soviet atomic intelligence are without credibility.