5
[ZHOLUD'] is the Russian original of the translated ACORN. The
deciphered cables often
contain both the original Russian in transliterated form and the translation into English. Many cables,
however have only the translation or the transliteration. Consequently both forms are indexed. In this
case there is a separate index entry of ZHOLUD' as well as for ACORN. While Vassiliev’s notebooks
were transliterated with a single transliteration system (BGN/PCGN), the cables of the Venona project
were decrypted and translated over a more than thirty year period by many different cryptanalysts and
translators. Several different transliteration systems were used and there is significant inconsistency in
how Russian names and terms are rendered into the Latin alphabet. In order to simplify the indexing
task, all transliterated cover names appear in the index in all capital letters (following the Venona
convention for the English translation) no matter how it actually appears in the decryption (ZHOLUD',
for examples, appears as ZhOULD'). The transcribed decryptions, however, reproduce exactly the
format of the original Venona project decryption.
Bela (William) Gold is the real name behind the ACORN cover name. In many cases,
however, the real identify of the cover named person is not known. In those cases, the entry indicates
that the cover name is unidentified but may cite something about that person’s attributes if those are given
in the text of the decrypted messages. As with Vassiliev’s notebooks, there is a separate entry for the
real name that cites where the real name occurs and where the cover name (or names) of that person
occurs.
While they are not indexed, the non-USA Venona cables have been transcribed into electronic
format, compiled into thirty-three volumes, and are electronically searchable. The unindexed volumes
are:
Venona Addis Ababa Diplomatic
Venona Ankara Diplomatic
Venona Berlin KGB
Venona Bogota KGB
Venona Bogota Diplomatic
Venona Canadian Trade
Venona Canberra KGB
Venona Capetown Diplomatic
Venona Hague KGB
Venona Harbin Diplomatic
Venona Havana KGB
Venona Havana Diplomatic
Venona Istanbul KGB
Venona Kazvin Diplomatic
Venona KGB Circulars
Venona London GRU
Venona London KGB
Venona London Trade
Venona Meshed Diplomatic
Venona Mexico City KGB
Venona Montevideo Diplomatic
Venona Montevideo KGB
Venona Ottawa Diplomatic
Venona Ottawa GRU
Venona Ottawa KGB
Venona Paris KGB
Venona Prague KGB
Venona Sofia KGB
6
Venona Stockholm Diplomatic
Venona Stockholm GRU
Venona Stockholm KGB
Venona Stockholm Naval GRU
Venona Tokyo Diplomatic.
Use of the Index
: Points to keep in mind
Cover names are changed. Julius Rosenberg, for example, had three different cover names
during his association with the KGB. Each cover name has its own entry with citations to
the pages
where it appears. The real name entry cites where the real name appears and repeats the cover name
citations as well.
Cover names are reused. Four different persons, for example, had the cover name “Smith” at
one time or another. When more than one person had the same cover name this index attempts to
separate out the different “Smiths”. Usually this is without difficulty because the multiple uses are well
separated by time or activity. Occasionally, however, it is difficult and in those cases the lack of
certainty is indicated in the entry.
Identifying the real name behind a cover name. Often this is without difficulty because the
text of Vassiliev’s notebooks or the deciphered Venona messages simply provides the real name without
ambiguity. Where the real name is not provided by the text, then the description of that person’s activity,
where he or she worked, where they lived, or what trips they took at a particular time may make
identification possible. In the case of the Venona decryptions, when the text did not provide a real name,
most of the work of identification was done by the FBI whose field agents used the information about the
activities of a cover name to pin down the real person behind it. Often, however, the information was
insufficient to establish identification. Consequently, more than half of the cover names in this index are
unidentified. When evidence about a cover name suggests an identification but is not conclusive, the
uncertainty is noted.
Two separate but overlapping set of documentation. Vassiliev’s notebooks contain long
quoted extracts and summaries he made of KGB archival material on KGB activities in the United States
from the early 1930s to the early 1950s with some scattered later material as well. The deciphered
cables of the Venona project dated from 1941 to 1950 with the bulk in the period 1943 to 1945. Most
are also about KGB activity in the United States although there are also decoded cables of other Soviet
agencies as well. There is, consequently, a considerable overlap in the two sets of material for KGB
activity in the United States in the 1940s. In a number of cases a passage in Vassiliev’s notebooks turns
out to be the complete text of a Venona cable that was only partially decoded. Vassiliev’s notebooks
and the Venona decryptions have identical real name identification for nearly two hundred cover names.
Vassiliev’s notebooks provide the real names for more than sixty cover names that were unidentified in
the Venona decryptions. The Venona decryptions provide the real names behind nearly thirty cover
names that are unidentified in Vassiliev’s notebooks. Vassiliev’s notebooks correct misidentification of
four cover names in the Venona decryptions.
Partial decoding and partial names. In the case of the Venona decryptions while some
messages were fully decoded, most had passages that were indecipherable and sometimes names were
only partially spelled. These partial spellings are indexed with eclipses indicating the missing letters.
In both the Venona cables and Vassiliev’s notebooks often only the surname of a person is given in the
text. When originally written, this would have been perfectly understandable to those reading the