George Koval Discussion: The Atomic Spy Who Got Away

Ann Hagedorn discusses her new book SLEEPER AGENT – about the little known Soviet-trained atomic spy who got away.

George Koval was born to Russian immigrant parents and raised in Sioux City, Iowa. At the age of 17, he emigrated back to Russia in 1932 where, after university studies, he was discovered and trained by the GRU.  He returned to the US, registered for the draft and used his scientific background to secure an assignment at a Uranium and Plutonium production site at Oak Ridge, Ohio.  There he had full access to all facilities and passed along information to Moscow via an electronics shop in Manhattan. He escaped back to Russia with out a scratch. It was only years later that the FBI finally identified him. By then it was too late. He might have faded into obscurity had he not tried to collect social security from the US Embassy in Moscow. And writer Alexander Solzhenietsen may have inadvertently outed him in his book THE FIRST CIRCLE, published in 1968.  Ann and I spoke about her research and narrative technique, but mostly we just tried to figure out the motive, process, and timeline of the elusive George Koval.  

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