Igor Gouzenko (January 13, 1919 – June 28, 1982)
Given the news of the ten (10!) sleeper Russian spies recently arrested here in CONUS, and their subsequent swap for some of our USA spies:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j_Fmz__pKb-YmXtA5fSYdbz6ptRAD9GKGHN80
It seems timely to note that the notion of Russian sleeper cells and the techniques of using them were first pointed out by the Russian defector Igor Gouzenko, in September 1945.
Igor, a cipher clerk employed at the Russian embassy in Ottawa, Canada, his job was coding/decoding messages for the GRU routed through the embassy. Of course, this gave him particular and timely insight to the comings and goings of Soviet espionage activities. When he learned that his relatively free lifestyle was soon to end when he would be shipped back to Russia, he decided to defect. His specialized knowledge would make him a fortunate man.
But not immediately.
He first went to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) – they thought he was a crank.
He went next to the Ottawa Journal newspaper – the night editor couldn’t be bothered.
He made it next to the Department of Justice – But nobody was there.
Finally, he went home, a briefcase full of Soviet secrets under his arm.
Fearing that that all of his frantic attempts at exposing himself to the West in trying to defect had merely exposed his efforts to his still-Soviet colleagues, he sought refuge in the apartment across the hall from his own, due to the kindness of a neighbor. His fears were not unfounded. While he and his wife Svetlana peered nervously through a keyhole, Soviet agents entered his apartment and began searching for him or anything that would help in stopping him.
The next day, he finally snagged the attention of an RCMP team, and over the course of some days and weeks, unveiled a treasure-trove of information. Indeed, in the years that followed, almost always in a mask in public appearances, his contributions would detail espionage procedures, plans, and players that while shocking at the time, woke up the Western intelligence community to a very threatening and aggressive Soviet spy cadre.
