David A. Salmon
Encyclopedia
David Aden Salmon was a career government functionary in the U.S. Department of War and the U.S. Department of State. In 1931, Salmon rose to head the State Department's Bureau of Indexes and Archives, a department with over 150 employees at the time. In 2008 Cold War historian John Earl Haynes
identified Salmon as "Willy", a codename for a Soviet agent, followed by a 2009 book which argued that Salmon was, from 1934 until early 1937, a paid source of classified
diplomat
ic and military
information which ended in the hands of Soviet intelligence. This identification his been challenged by at least one historian specializing in espionage history.
, under whom Salmon worked at the War Department from 1899.
In 1905 Root brought Salmon with him to the State Department he assumed the role of Secretary of State
. Salmon became known as an expert in cryptography
and had supervisory control over the State Department's code room. He was in charge of coded communications from the various major international conferences of the era, often traveling with the American delegations.
In 1916, Salmon was named head of the State Department's Bureau of Indexes and Archives. This bureau was restructured in 1931, becoming the State Department's Division of Communications and Records, of which Salmon was again named as chief. Salmon supervised over 150 employees in his department's expanded incarnation, making it the largest State Department sub-agency of the day.
As an expert in State Department communications, Salmon was called before a grand jury
on December 8, 1948 to authenticate documents produced by Whittaker Chambers
to support his espionage accusations against State Department employee Alger Hiss
.
Salmon retired from government service sometime after World War II
.
s John Earl Haynes
and Harvey Klehr
and Russian journalist Alexander Vassiliev
published a book entitled Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America. In this thick tome, the three identified David A. Salmon as a key State Department source of classified documents code-named "Willy" by his Soviet handlers.
The identification of Salmon as "Willy" was challenged by Russian historian Svetlana Chervonnaya
, who asserted that the American historians had been "tricked by the odd collection of records to which their Russian source, Vassiliev, had access." Chervonnaya asserted that the Soviet's agent-group leader Ludwig Lore
had falsely claimed Salmon as his source to his Soviet handlers so as to throw them off the trail of his actual source and particularly of the fact that he was himself rewriting information from "lower level clerks at the Communications and Records Division." After enhancing the information which he received with his own interpretive content, Lore then pocketed the handsome monthly stipend which was purportedly destined for the top-ranking official Salmon, Chervonnaya explains.
Chervonnaya indicates that in February 1937 Lore's deception was discovered by Soviet intelligence when they rented an apartment across the street from Lore and began round-the-clock surveillance.
As the basis for her conclusions, Chervonnaya cites the published work of J.N. Kobiakov, former high official (Major General) of the KGB foreign intelligence, which was based on Ludwig Lore case file:
Chervonnaya's conclusions, which were initially presented on her behalf by Jeff Kisseloff on May 20, 2009, at a conference hosted by the Wilson Center, have been rejected by a number of academics. Mark Kramer, director of the Harvard Cold War Studies program, stated in response that he did not "trust a word [Kobiakov] says." In an article published a few days earlier David Garrow
, a historian of the civil rights movement, accepted as fact that Salmon "handed over reams of classified information simply for the money."
According to Chervonnaya, on the other hand, conclusive proof of David Salmon's misidentification as the source known variously as "Willie" and "11th" appears in the published archival notes made by former KGB
officer and historian Alexander Vassiliev
. Vassilliev read the case file of Laurence Duggan
, a Soviet source at the State Department with a cover name "19th", which included a May 14, 1937 letter of Soviet intelligence's Moscow Center to its New York station chief Boris Bazarov
in which the Center asked if Duggan could provide more materials "regarding the US data on the Soviet military-naval supply orders." These notes are followed by Vassiliev's notation in brackets, that apparently was his brief summary of Bazarov's response to the Center's request: "The actual '11' didn’t give '19' the folder, because these materials should not be of interest to 19.”
It follows from Vassiliev's notation that by mid-May 1937 the Soviets have already ascertained the identity of Lore's actual source at the State's Division of Communications and Records.
Following the publication of Haynes, Klehr, and Vassiliev's book in May 2009, some in the mainstream media
made Salmon's name a watchword for those who "handed over reams of classified information simply for the money." It is in this capacity, regardless of whether the accusation is with or without merit, that Salmon's name is currently remembered.
John Earl Haynes
John Earl Haynes is an American historian who is a specialist in 20th century political history in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress...
identified Salmon as "Willy", a codename for a Soviet agent, followed by a 2009 book which argued that Salmon was, from 1934 until early 1937, a paid source of classified
Classified information
Classified information is sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of persons. A formal security clearance is required to handle classified documents or access classified data. The clearance process requires a satisfactory background investigation...
diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
ic and military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
information which ended in the hands of Soviet intelligence. This identification his been challenged by at least one historian specializing in espionage history.
Government career
Salmon joined the U.S. Department of War in 1896 as a junior clerk. His efficient work attracted the attention of Elihu RootElihu Root
Elihu Root was an American lawyer and statesman and the 1912 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the prototype of the 20th century "wise man", who shuttled between high-level government positions in Washington, D.C...
, under whom Salmon worked at the War Department from 1899.
In 1905 Root brought Salmon with him to the State Department he assumed the role of Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
. Salmon became known as an expert in cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
and had supervisory control over the State Department's code room. He was in charge of coded communications from the various major international conferences of the era, often traveling with the American delegations.
In 1916, Salmon was named head of the State Department's Bureau of Indexes and Archives. This bureau was restructured in 1931, becoming the State Department's Division of Communications and Records, of which Salmon was again named as chief. Salmon supervised over 150 employees in his department's expanded incarnation, making it the largest State Department sub-agency of the day.
As an expert in State Department communications, Salmon was called before a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
on December 8, 1948 to authenticate documents produced by Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers was born Jay Vivian Chambers and also known as David Whittaker Chambers , was an American writer and editor. After being a Communist Party USA member and Soviet spy, he later renounced communism and became an outspoken opponent later testifying in the perjury and espionage trial...
to support his espionage accusations against State Department employee Alger Hiss
Alger Hiss
Alger Hiss was an American lawyer, government official, author, and lecturer. He was involved in the establishment of the United Nations both as a U.S. State Department and U.N. official...
.
Salmon retired from government service sometime after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Espionage allegations
In May 2009, American historianHistorian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
s John Earl Haynes
John Earl Haynes
John Earl Haynes is an American historian who is a specialist in 20th century political history in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress...
and Harvey Klehr
Harvey Klehr
Harvey E. Klehr is a professor of politics and history at Emory University; he is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist movement, and on Soviet espionage in America ....
and Russian journalist Alexander Vassiliev
Alexander Vassiliev
Alexander Vassiliev is a Russian journalist, writer, and espionage historian living in London. A former officer in the Soviet Committee for State Security , Vassiliev is known for his two books based upon KGB archival documents: Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America, co-authored with John...
published a book entitled Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America. In this thick tome, the three identified David A. Salmon as a key State Department source of classified documents code-named "Willy" by his Soviet handlers.
The identification of Salmon as "Willy" was challenged by Russian historian Svetlana Chervonnaya
Svetlana Chervonnaya
Svetlana Alexandrovna Chervonnaya is a historian living in Russia specializing in the political history of the Cold War period and Soviet espionage activities in the United States of America. Along with Ellen Schrecker, Chervonnaya is known as one of the leading scholarly voices arguing against...
, who asserted that the American historians had been "tricked by the odd collection of records to which their Russian source, Vassiliev, had access." Chervonnaya asserted that the Soviet's agent-group leader Ludwig Lore
Ludwig Lore
Ludwig Lore was an American socialist newspaper editor and politician, best remembered for his tenure as editor of the New Yorker Volkszeitung and role as a factional leader in the early American communist movement...
had falsely claimed Salmon as his source to his Soviet handlers so as to throw them off the trail of his actual source and particularly of the fact that he was himself rewriting information from "lower level clerks at the Communications and Records Division." After enhancing the information which he received with his own interpretive content, Lore then pocketed the handsome monthly stipend which was purportedly destined for the top-ranking official Salmon, Chervonnaya explains.
Chervonnaya indicates that in February 1937 Lore's deception was discovered by Soviet intelligence when they rented an apartment across the street from Lore and began round-the-clock surveillance.
As the basis for her conclusions, Chervonnaya cites the published work of J.N. Kobiakov, former high official (Major General) of the KGB foreign intelligence, which was based on Ludwig Lore case file:
"Throughout the whole period of surveillance, he left his home only once, for four hours. For three nights running, [Lore's] study was bustling with work, with the participation of all the family members; in particular, [Lore's] wife and son were taking turns at the typewriter typing something. When providing us with the materials, [Lore] repeated his usual lies about a trip to Washington and meetings with sources. * * *
"With the results of physical surveillance, the Centre arrived at a preliminary conclusion, that [Lore] was an exceptionally talented compiler. The use of information from open sources, fishing in them for any new data, as well as their analysis and evaluation, often produce outstanding results; many intelligence services do not neglect this method of information-gathering. But such work is considered auxiliary to the main task — obtaining information from agent sources... * * *
"The situation was aggravated in late spring 1937, when the Soviet 'illegals' managed to ascertain that the 'Willie' and 'Daniel' whom Lore had presented to his Soviet handlers, were 'dummies.'"
Chervonnaya's conclusions, which were initially presented on her behalf by Jeff Kisseloff on May 20, 2009, at a conference hosted by the Wilson Center, have been rejected by a number of academics. Mark Kramer, director of the Harvard Cold War Studies program, stated in response that he did not "trust a word [Kobiakov] says." In an article published a few days earlier David Garrow
David Garrow
David J. Garrow is an American historian and author of the book Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. He is also the author of Liberty and Sexuality, a history of the legal struggles over...
, a historian of the civil rights movement, accepted as fact that Salmon "handed over reams of classified information simply for the money."
According to Chervonnaya, on the other hand, conclusive proof of David Salmon's misidentification as the source known variously as "Willie" and "11th" appears in the published archival notes made by former KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
officer and historian Alexander Vassiliev
Alexander Vassiliev
Alexander Vassiliev is a Russian journalist, writer, and espionage historian living in London. A former officer in the Soviet Committee for State Security , Vassiliev is known for his two books based upon KGB archival documents: Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America, co-authored with John...
. Vassilliev read the case file of Laurence Duggan
Laurence Duggan
Laurence Duggan , was head of the South American desk at the United States Department of State during World War II. In 1948, Duggan fell to his death from the window of his office in New York, ten days after being questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation about whether he had had contacts...
, a Soviet source at the State Department with a cover name "19th", which included a May 14, 1937 letter of Soviet intelligence's Moscow Center to its New York station chief Boris Bazarov
Boris Bazarov
Boris Bazarov was a Soviet secret police officer who served as the chief illegal rezident in New York City from 1935 until 1937.-Early years:...
in which the Center asked if Duggan could provide more materials "regarding the US data on the Soviet military-naval supply orders." These notes are followed by Vassiliev's notation in brackets, that apparently was his brief summary of Bazarov's response to the Center's request: "The actual '11' didn’t give '19' the folder, because these materials should not be of interest to 19.”
It follows from Vassiliev's notation that by mid-May 1937 the Soviets have already ascertained the identity of Lore's actual source at the State's Division of Communications and Records.
Death and legacy
The date of death of David A. Salmon is not known as of this writing.Following the publication of Haynes, Klehr, and Vassiliev's book in May 2009, some in the mainstream media
Mainstream media
Mainstream media are those media disseminated via the largest distribution channels, which therefore represent what the majority of media consumers are likely to encounter...
made Salmon's name a watchword for those who "handed over reams of classified information simply for the money." It is in this capacity, regardless of whether the accusation is with or without merit, that Salmon's name is currently remembered.
Additional reading
- John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.
- John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, and Alexander Vassiliev, Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
External links
- Alexander Vassiliev Notebooks Index, Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. Retrieved August 11, 2010.