Implosion was a completely different: Bruce Cameron Reed, in “Electronics and Detonators,” Atomic Heritage Foundation.
Teller was a brilliant physicist: Lilli Hornig, interview with author, Aug. 11, 2011.
When he refused to head: BRITLIBE, Rotblat interview C464/17/01-17; Joel N. Shurkin, “Edward Teller, ‘Father of the Hydrogen Bomb,’ Is Dead at 95,” Stanford Report, Sept. 23, 2003.
The best minds in physics: NA, AB 1/576, RP to George Placzek, 9.10.1944.
Los Alamos a “scientific paradise”: BRITLIBE, Nicholas Metropolis, taped interview, in Moss, “We Built the Bomb.” BBC Radio 4, July 16, 1985, T8056R C1.
a perfect research environment: NBLA, Williams Collection [DOE Archives], box 2, folder 11, War Department, 4.24.1944, 3.7.1945, 3.17.1945.
Fuchs’s first invitation to a colloquium: NBLA, Williams Collection [DOE Archives], box 2, folder 11, War Department, 4.24.1944, 3.7.1945, 3.17.1945.
Bethe considered him vital: Bethe, interview with author, 1997; FBI, Bethe interview, 2.14.1950; Lilli Hornig, interview with author, Aug. 2011.
Weisskopf was yet another: Teller, interview with author, Dec. 1999.
The scientists were sworn to silence: John Wickerham interview, Voices of the Manhattan Project, Atomic Heritage Foundation.
The British team was particularly close knit: BODLEIAN-P, Genia Peierls, taped interview.
He dated a couple: NA, KV 2/1253, KF to the Skinners, 2.27.1959; FBI, Skyrme interview, 78.
filling the few down hours: Conant, 109 East Palace, 260.
He also had a reputation: BODLEIAN-P, Special Collections D.54, R. Peierls to Schneir, Dec. 1962, and to Hans Bethe, 2.15.1950.
Everyone on the Hill was entitled: McKibbin, “Under a Pinon Tree,” 77; Szasz, British Scientists and the Manhattan Project, 27.
Raymond and Rest were reunited: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 70–73. Klaus, Christel, and Gold all gave separate descriptions of this encounter from memory. This account is from Gold’s contemporaneous notes to the KGB.
principles of the A-bomb construction: FBI, “Fuchs’ Scientific Knowledge and Disclosure to the Russians,” 107H-I.
He did have a request: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 73.
Fuchs remained an enigma: Jette, Inside Box 1663, 118; Laura Fermi, in Conant, 109 East Palace, 245.
“He was willing to help”: Teller, Memoirs, 185.
Fuchs was everyone’s favorite: BODLEIAN-P, Genia Peierls, taped interview.
the creation of an atomic bomb should end: BRITLIBE, Moss, “We Built the Bomb.”
Churchill and Roosevelt had secretly agreed: The Roosevelt-Churchill “Tube Alloys’ Deal,” 10.19.1944, Atomicarchives.com.
But also in April: Fuchs, “Wenn die Neugier nicht wär’!,” 26.
Fuchs, in a lecture to students: Fuchs, “Wenn die Neugier nicht wär’!,” 26.
On June 2, 1945, Fuchs: Daniel Lang, “Letter from Harwell,” New Yorker, Oct. 6, 1956, 153.
the bomb would not be ready: Williams, Appendix C, FBI Gold statement, 213–14.
the nuclear detonation would ignite: McKibbin, “Under a Pinon Tree,” 102–5; Jette, Inside Box 1663, 94, 198–200; Lilli Hornig, interview with author, Aug. 11, 2011.
Russian radio interference: BRITLIBE, Norris Bradbury, interview, in Moss, “We Built the Bomb.”
“an unholy light”: McKibbin, “Under a Pinon Tree,” 106.
“bedraggled and depressed”: BRITLIBE, Mrs. Deutsch and Martin Deutsch, interviews, in Moss, “We Built the Bomb.”
One exception to the funereal mood: Bird and Sherwin, American Prometheus, 313.
The next day a petition circulated: Szilard petition, Atomic Heritage Foundation.
Whatever warning the Japanese: Alex Wellerstein, “A Day Too Late,” Restricted Data: Nuclear Secrecy Blog, April 26, 2013.
The military argued that: BRITLIBE, Rotblat interview, tape side A, 5, 7.25.1999. Some historians believe that Rotblat’s memory was faulty, that it was out of character for Groves to have said this at a dinner party. Rotblat repeated this claim many times in interviews. Although memories are often faulty, it’s usually not the content but the context: who said it, when, and where. That Rotblat heard this from some important person is likely, if not Groves.
After learning of the massive: FBI, interview of associates of Fuchs, Martin Deutsch, 80.
Scientists gravely cautioned their governments: NA, AB 16/705, “Memorandum from British Scientists at the Los Alamos Laboratory, New Mexico,” n.d.
“We, a group of the scientists”: LANL, “An Open Letter to the President,” Bethe, draft memo, n.d.
they rendezvoused on the outskirts: Williams, Klaus Fuchs, Atom Spy, 214–15.
His first remark was: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 76.
Fuchs later related: LANL, LA-UR-14-27960, issued 10.10.2014, 24.
Alamogordo is approximately: Hornblum, Invisible Harry Gold, 149.
What had been theory: FBI, “V. Fuchs’ Scientific Knowledge and Disclosure to the Russians,” 107J.
Before parting, they set: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 76.
Fuchs’s only time away: NA, KV 2/1249, 12.2.1949.
The foursome had a relaxed trip: Teller, Memoirs, 223; Peierls, Bird of Passage, 205–6.
When Raymond met with his contact: VENONA, Vassiliev black notebook, 11.12.1945, 125.
caution was very much in order: VENONA, Vassiliev black notebook, 126.
one more visit to Cambridge: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 12.27.1946, 80.
During Fuchs’s twenty-two-month stay: LANL, Alan Brady Carr, “Lists of Material Held at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Research Library,” Project Y Inventory, 11/5/2009.
“I developed the theory”: LANL, Klaus Fuchs, personnel form, 6.27.1945, 5.
CHAPTER 14: DIRECTOR, HARWELL 1946
Britain’s stature was declining: Hyde, Atom Bomb Spies, 124; Leebaert, Fifty-Year Wound, 42, 43, 203.
He accepted the offer: NA, AB 1/444, 3.6.1946, 3.11.1946, 3.14.1946.
advised Fuchs on staff possibilities: NA, AB 1/574, RP to KF, 3.29.1946.
“The location of the place”: NA, AB 1/574, RP to KF, 5.6.1946.
The similarities with Los Alamos: NA, AB 27/8; Alan Dick, “Didcot Days: Atom Scientist Lifts the Veil.”
Fuchs advised the British: NA, AB 6/30, KF and Chadwick correspondence, 4.1–6.3.46.
he visited Christel in Cambridge: NA, AB 1/574, KF to RP, 8.7.1950; memoir of Christel Fuchs Heinemann, family material of Dietmar and Silke Goebel.
Harwell was impatient: NA, AB 1/444, McMillan to KF, 6.25.1946.
One of his first “duty calls”: Flowers, “Friends and Fences,” in Atomic Spice.
required a more extensive background check: NA, KV 4/202, 9.27–12.4.1946.
the counterspies opened an investigation: NA, KV 2/1658, 12.20.1946.
ordered mail inspections on both men: NA, KV 2/1658, 1.23.1947.
Fuchs was to meet his new handler: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 80–81; Feklisov, Man Behind the Rosenbergs, 189–93.
nuclear energy for domestic use: NA, AB 27/8, Cockcroft to Basil Schonland, 2.22.1950.
use in an atomic bomb: Farmelo, Churchill’s Bomb, 371–72.
preserve its monopoly on atomic energy: NBLA, Williams Collection, T. O. Jones and Ralph Carlisle Smith report, 9.18.1945.
“As a result of the passage”: NA, AB 1/444, McMillan to KF, 8.21.1946.
the British moved forward: NA, AB 27/8, Cockcroft to Basil Schonland, 2.22.1950.
Fuchs’s Theoretical Division: NA, AB 27/8, Cockcroft to Basil Schonland, 2.22.1950.
he took a personal hand: Hyde, Atom Bomb Spies, 94, as quoted from Gowing, Independence and Deterrence, 144.
He kept his ties to American scientists: NA, AB 6/30, Awbery to KF, 7.16.1946.
He brought back invaluable intelligence: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 82.
Fuchs’s approach to running the division: BRITLIBE, Flowers, interview.
a director who energetically intervened: BODLEIAN-P, RP to Hans Bethe, 2.15.1950.
She saw none of the “opinionated conceit”: Flowers, “Friends and Fences,” in Atomic Spice.
all of the disparate assessments: BODLEIAN-P, RP to Hans Bethe, 2.15.1950.
In 1948, Rudi Peierls: ROYSOC, LC/1951/08.
Klaus missed his first meeting: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 82–83; Feklisov, Man Behind the Rosenbergs, 195–96, 205.
“kind, generous, quiet”: Michael Buneman, interview with author.
Mary remembered a hesitant Klaus: Flowers, “Harwell and Hamburg,” in Atomic Spice.
The two men became good friends: Kathy Behrens Cowell, interview with author, Oct. 27, 2016.
asked them to search: NA, ES 1/493, KF to Akers, 2.8.1946.
to exit Germany was almost impossible: USHMM, memo on conference, 6.5.1947.
What it was and what he had done: USHMM, AFSC memo to Jones and Gallagher, 6.10.1950.
assumed name of Strauss: Feklisov, Man Behind the Rosenbergs, 225.
He reported back that his father: Flowers, “Harwell and Hamburg,” in Atomic Spice; NA, KV 2/1254, Skardon memo on questions, 4.5.1950; Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski, interview with author, March 15, 2017.
Surviving the war: All information on these war years from author interviews with Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski.
It was a harsh life: GEHEEB, EF to PG, 10.18.1945; Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski, interview with author, March 2014.
Emil suffered from exhaustion: USHMM, AFSC correspondence, 6.5.1947.
he found a niche lecturing: NA, KV 2/1247, 10.6.1949; AFSC correspondence, 8.19.1946; GEHEEB, EF to PG, 11.3.1947.
Emil’s ultimate objective: GEHEEB, EF to PG, 9.11.1947.
provided a visa for Emil only: AFSC correspondence, 4.22.1948.
Eventually, they both received: USHMM, AFSC correspondence, 8.22.1947, 3.8.1948, 5.14,1948.
trying to immigrate to the United States: USHMM, Kraus to Pendle Hill, 12.13.1948.
the university wanted him: USHMM, EF to “Friends,” 6.16.1949.
Christel sat despondent: USHMM, AFSC note for file, 4.4.1949.
Klaus and Eugene met: Feklisov, Man Behind the Rosenbergs, 198.
They ended the meeting: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 83.
he developed bronchial pneumonia: NA, AB27/8, KF to John Cockcroft, 6.8.1949; Moorehead, Traitors, 126.
Another reason for increased caution: John Simkin, “Venona Project,” Spartacus, Yuri Bruslov, memorandum on William Weisband, Feb. 1948.
Mary Buneman was there: Mary Flowers, interview with author, March 2012.
if young Klaus came with him: USHMM, AFSC note, 1.1.1949.
the progressive Shady Hill School: Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski, interview with author.
Emil had another concern: Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski, interview with author.
CHAPTER 15: SUSPECTS, LONDON, SEPTEMBER 1949
“Comparison of evidence”: NA, KV 6/134, no. 11, 9.5.1949.
“Consider evidence against Fuchs”: NA, KV 6/134, no. 10, 9.5.1949.
Martin labeled “adverse traces”: NA, KV 6/134, no. 12, 9.5.1949.
It was an obvious role: Charles Perrin, interview with author.
Perrin would follow up: NA, KV 6/134, 9.7.1949.
Robertson was very much: Nigel West, interview with author.
a comprehensive surveillance web: NA, AB 46/232, 9.7.1949; Nigel West, interview with author.
they would check every contact: NA, AB 46/232, 9.12.1949.
Fuchs must not sense: NA, AB 46/232, minutes 116 and 135.
Emil Julius Klaus Fuchs was born: NA, AB 4/232, no. 120, 9.8.1949, and KV 2/1245, no. 32, 8.30.1943.
he now required scrutiny: NA, AB 46/232, minutes 120 and 123.
a discrepancy piqued Valentine: NA, KV 6/134, 9.13.1949.
a clerk accidentally transposed: NA, KV 2/1245, registration.
duly recorded Perrin’s frank opinions: NA, KV 6/134, 9.8.1949.
summarizing Perrin’s information: NA, AB 46/232, 9.9.1949, and KV 6/134, 9.7.1949.
surveillance plan included: NA, AB 46/232, minute 115, 9.7.1949.
Arnold was a perfect source: Lang, “Letter from Harwell,” 148.
his talents as a sympathetic listener: Flowers, Atomic Spice.
Arnold had a philosophy: KV 2/1257, 1–7.
His warmth also hid: KV 2/1257, article.
he watched carefully for those: NA, KV 2/1245.
Fuchs was just the kind of person: KV 2/1257, “Notes on Dr. K E J Fuchs,” 1.
Arnold invited Fuchs to his house: KV 2/1257, “Notes on Dr. K E J Fuchs,” 4.
“In the early days”: KV 2/1257, “Notes on Dr. K E J Fuchs,” 2.
What Arnold might have missed: Kathy Behrens Cowell, interview with author, Oct. 27, 2016.
He dodged talking to Oscar: Mary Flowers, interview with author, March 2012.
he contacted MI5: NA, AB 46/232, Robertson’s minutes of meeting, 9.7.1949.
a lax attitude toward security: NA, KV 2/1245, minutes 45 and 46.
Serpell spoke with the field operative: NA, KV 2/1245, minute 47.
information contained an unsettling sentence: NA, KV 2/1245, minute 48.
Serpell wrote a piercing summary: KV 2/1245, no. 49, 11.13.1946.
danger to security would be a prime issue: KV 2/1245, no. 55, 12.4.1946.
Serpell’s memo also: KV 2/1245, nos. 51 and 49, 11.26.1946.
Serpell’s attack ruffled staff: KV 2/1245, no. 57, 12.20.1946.
Hollis ordered warrants: KV 2/1245, Nos. 50, 53, 57, 58, 59.
Arnold’s suspicions about Fuchs: AB 46/232, 9.9.1949.
supply ample background: AB 46/232, 9.9.1949.
CHAPTER 16: SURVEILLANCE, HARWELL, SEPTEMBER 1949
recorded Fuchs’s every word: NA, AB 46/232, Progress Report, 9.16.1946; Wright, Spy Catcher, 55.
Fuchs’s incoming and outgoing mail: Wright, Spy Catcher, 57.
a select team of Watchers: NA, AB 46/232, Progress Report, 9.16.1946.
The chief of the Watchers: Wright, Spy Catcher, 63; Hyde, Atom Bomb Spies, 100.
a basic description: NA, AB 46/232, 9.12.1949.
Fuchs’s pattern was office: NA, AB 46/232, Skardon to Storrier, note, 9.12.1949.
kept tabs on his plans: NA, AB 46/232, 9.16.1949.
With holes, the whole system: NA, AB 46/232, Progress Report, 9.16.1946; NA, AB 46/232, night duty officer, 9.17.1946.
tracking had their tribulations: NA, AB 46/232, 9.19–20.1949.
Fuchs invited Arnold: NA, AB 46/232, 9.22.1949 and 9.26.1949.
Arnold reported to MI5: NA, AB 46/232, Robertson note, 9.19.1946; AB 46/232, call with Arnold, 9.19.1949; AB 46/232, visit to Harwell, 9.20.1949.
The first real test: NA, KV 46/232, 9.21.1949.
recapped the trip’s arrangements: NA, AB 46/232, 9.26.1949.
The only person disappointed: NA, KV 2/1266, 9.21.1949.
The investigation slogged along: NA, AB 46/232, 9.21.1949.
Listeners reported two visitors: NA, KV 2/1266, 9.20.1949.
The friendship between the Skinners: Flowers, Atomic Spice.
he and Erna saw each other: Flowers, Atomic Spice.
prefer older women: Fuchs’s girlfriend in Kiel, Erna Skinner, and his later wife were all older.
Arnold described Erna: NA, KV 2/1246, 9.29.1949.
she talked a lot: Mary Flowers, interview with author.
details from British passport records: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.11.1949, and KV 2/2080, 3.9.1950.
her father was a respected journalist: JTA, “Daily New Bulletin,” March 19, 1952, 6.
The Skinners had married: NA, KV 2/2080, draft book review, 1952.
Skinner a proper English gentleman: Moorehead, Traitors, 62.
He knew of her affairs: Mary Flowers, interview with author, March 2012.
Erna to be Fuchs’s mistress: NA, KV 2/1248, minute note, no. 335, 11.21.1949.
Fuchs visited the Skinners: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.7.1949.
MI5 had a tap on: NA, AB 46/232, note and passport request, 9.19.1949; KV 2/1247, passport check, 9.28.1949; KV 2/1246, 9.29.1949.
MI5 was following: NA, KV 2/1658, 10.6.1949 and 10.7.1949.
an explosive finding: NA, KV 6/134, 9.19.1949 and 9.21.1949.
unlikely to consider transferring: NA, KV 6/134, 9.21.1949.
didn’t want the timetable embedded: NA, KV 6/134, 9.30.1949.
The presence of a sister: NA, KV 6/134, 9.15.1949 (2) and 9.16.1949.
requested any records on Kristel: NA, AB 46/232, 9.16.1949 and 9.21.1949.
His minute on September 20: NA, AB 46/232, 9.20.1949.
another troubling fact about Kristel: NA, KV 6/134, 9.14.1949, and Liddell diary, approx. 9.9.1949, date redacted.
Martin pressured his main contact: NA, KV 6/134, 9.21.1949.
Could they at least confirm: NA, KV 6/134, 9.23.1949.
MI5 couldn’t eliminate: NA, AB 46/232, Sillitoe letter, 9.30.1949.
suspicions of Western intelligence: NA, KV 2/1266, 9.24.1949.
CHAPTER 17: DISPOSAL, LONDON, OCTOBER 1949
Fuchs went to London: NA, AB 46/232, Arnold meeting, 9.26.1949.
Their first sighting: NA, KV 2/1246.
They stayed in Fuchs’s shadow: NA, AB 46/232, 9.27.1949 and 9.28.1949.
ended their preliminary report: NA, AB 46/232, 9.27.1949 and 9.28.1949.
Fuchs spent the next day: NA, AB 46/232, 9.29.1949.
details on Fuchs’s health: NA, AB 46/232 and KV 2/1266, both 9.29.1949.
Watchers swiftly garnered facts: NA, KV 2/1247, 10.6–19.1949.
According to that dossier: NA, AB 46/232, note, 9.29.1949; KV 2/2080, 3.9.1950, and 2/1247, 10.5.1949.
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