it was time to intensify the investigation: NA, KV 2/1247, 10.4.1949.
Erna’s friends concerned Robertson: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.23.1949, 12.
to open a file on Erna: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.4.1949 and 11.24.1949, and KV 2/1247, 10.13.1949.
Erna had been diagnosed with anxiety: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.2.1949, 11.4.1949, 11.23.1949, 14.
This was Tatiana Malleson: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.23.1949, 13.
her then husband had been in touch: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.8.1949.
Arnold kept an eye on the visitors: NA, KV 2/2080, 10.16.1951.
the Skinners’ seemed like a boardinghouse: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.3.1949.
required the setting of priorities: NA, KV 2/1247, 10.4.1949.
data cluttered the investigation timeline: NA, KV 2/1247, 10.17.1949.
Robertson ordered all letters: NA, KV 2/1247, 10.7.1949.
Fuchs’s bank records: NA, AB 46/232, 9.22.1949; KV 2/1247, 10.5.1949.
a curious trip to photography supply shops: NA, KV 2/1247, report, 10.7.1949; KV 2/1248, general October surveillance, 11.2.1949.
scour the administrative files: NA, KV 6/134, 10.7.1949.
MI5 and the government would pull back resources: NA, KV 6/134, 10.7.1949.
Patterson promised Martin: NA, KV 6/134, 10.14.1949.
scoured the British mission’s files: NA, KV 6/134, 10.13.1949.
framework with disquieting facts: NA, KV 6/134, 10.19.1949.
There was still no evidence: NA, KV 6/134, 10.19.1949.
Fuchs might break: NA, KV 6/134, 10.19–22.1949.
advice concerning his father: NA, KV 2/1247, 10.17.1949.
a letter from an old family friend: NA, KV 2/1247, Hertzsch letter, 10.5.1949.
He requested a mail check: NA, KV 2/1247, 11.7.1949.
Arnold and Fuchs met again: NA, KV 2/1247, 10.17.1949, and KV 4/471, Liddell, 195–96, 10.31.1949.
Arnold described in a memo: NA, Arnold to Robertson, note, KV 2/1247.
Fuchs’s response about reacting to pressure: NA, KV 2/1247, MS, 10.26.1949.
CHAPTER 18: INTERROGATION, LONDON, NOVEMBER 1949
Sillitoe subscribed to the argument: NA, KV 4/471, Liddell diary, 10.31.1949.
Sillitoe and Liddell were very different: NA, KV 6/134, 11.1.1949; KV 4/471, 10.31.1949, 176.
Sillitoe cabled Patterson in Washington: NA, KV 6/134, 11.1.1949.
Weighing whether Fuchs would confess: NA, KV 6/134, 11.2.1949.
Fuchs’s ultimate fate: NA, KV 6/134, 11.2.1949 and 11.4.1949.
Listeners heard Fuchs mention his passport: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.10.1949.
agreement for an interrogation: NA, KV 6/134, 11.10.1949.
edging Fuchs out of Harwell: NA, KV 4/471, 11.15.1949 and KV 6/134, 11.16.1949.
Fuchs’s value to Harwell: NA, KV 6/134, 11.17.1949.
agreed with the strategy of interrogation: NA, PREM 18/1279, 11.17.1949.
not pursuing Fuchs outside London: NA, KV 2/1248, Marriott, minute 293, 11.3.1949.
suspending the Listeners’ services: NA, KV 2/1249, 12.1.1949.
Robertson delved more deeply: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.3.1949 and 11.7.1949.
An inquisitive postman had informed: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.7.1949.
Gunn could be involved in: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.23.1949 and 11.22.1949.
theory about potential spies: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.21.1949.
Americans had rejected Peierls’s recommendation: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.21.1949.
the discovery of the Russian machine: NA, KV 4/471, 11.21.1949.
Martin received a list: NA, KV 6/134, 11.22.1949.
Fuchs kept going about: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.12.1949.
The Watchers followed: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.14–17.1949.
Fuchs played host: NA, KV 2/1248, 11.19.1949 and 11.21.1949.
“all necessary clearance”: NA, KV 6/134, 11.25.1949.
Jim Skardon, their top interrogator: NA, KV 6/134, 12.15.1949.
Watchers and Listeners on alert: NA, KV 2/1249, 12.21.1949.
“to detain FUCHS on any pretext”: NA, KV 2/1249, 12.21.1949.
not to forewarn Fuchs: NA, KV 2/1249, 12.21.1949.
Skardon opened up: NA, KV 2/1249, 12.21.1949.
denied being a spy: NA, KV 2/1249, 12.21.1949.
Fuchs’s office tap recorded: NA, KV 2/1249, 12.21.1949.
Liddell summarized MI5’s evening meeting: NA, KV 4/471, 12.21.1949.
Liddell’s conclusion: NA, KV 4/471, 12.21.1949.
Listeners came back on: NA, KV 2/1249, 12.21.1949.
Erna’s call to him: NA, KV 2/1269, 12.22.1949.
recorded a knock on the front door: NA, KV 2/1249, 12.21.1949. The surveillance sheet is very confusing on the time of the knock on the door. The typed notation directly follows “midnight” on December 21, 1949. It reads, “21.15 (22.12.49) There was a knock on the front door—unanswered.” The time signature would translate to 9:15 p.m. on the next day. Following this note is “08.45 R. [Ramsey] got up.” I have assumed that the time recorded is a typo, and the time is either 1:15 a.m. or 2:15 a.m. This surveillance sheet covers through 9:35 a.m. of December 22, 1949, only.
many unanswered questions: NA, KV 2/1269, 1.21.1950. Erna called Klaus on that night, and he also didn’t answer. Perhaps he was out both nights, but no departure and return were picked up on the bug.
MI5’s records focused on: NA, KV 6/134, 12.22.1949.
“FUCHS volunteered or admitted”: Venona changed names a few times. Early on it was STOCK, and in this message “STOCK” was used.
analysis of the evidence: NA, KV 4/471, 12.22.1949.
all signs still pointed to him: NA, KV 6/134, 12.23.1949.
what was to become of Fuchs: NA, KV 6/134, 12.28.1949.
MI5 group reviewed: NA, KV 6/134, 12.29.1949.
The decoders in Arlington: NA, KV 4/471.
CHAPTER 19: DISPOSAL AGAIN, LONDON, JANUARY 1950
Liddell reviewed the case: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 1.2.1950.
finalize Fuchs’s disposal: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 1.4.1950.
no real interest in absolving her: NA, KV 6/134, 1.4.1950.
he had to resign from Harwell: NA, KV 2/1269, several surveillance records, 1.10.1950.
Cockcroft’s account disturbed them: NA, KV 2/1250, Marriott memo, 1.13.1950; KV 2/1249, Robertson memo, 1.11.1950; KV 2/1263, 2.1.1950, summary report.
exposed another travel option: NA, KV 2/1249, 1.11.1950, and KV 2/1269, 1.11.1950.
MI5 picked up hints: NA, KV 2/1249, 1.11.1950. Little in the conversation of January 10, 1950, that MI5 released to the public suggests that Fuchs told Erna much. There are later suggestions that he told her about giving the Russians information on diffusion. Erna’s conversations with friends the next day also don’t hint at anything. It is possible that MI5 didn’t release a document that contained that discussion.
plans to reduce surveillance: NA, KV 2/1249, Marriott note, 1.5.1950, restated in KV 2/1250, Robertson note, 1.24.1950.
The regular taps on Fuchs’s home: NA, KV 2/1249, 1.11.1950.
“He had been told that”: NA, KV 2/1263, Skardon report, 1.18.1950.
Fuchs’s understanding about his departure: NA, KV 2/1250, White note, 1.18.1950.
Fuchs needed to leave Harwell: NA, KV 2/1250, 1.19.1950.
In the convoluted world of espionage: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson note, 1.20.1950.
the Skinners to talk: STASI, Klaus Fuchs, filmed interview.
he called Henry Arnold: NA, KV 2/1269, phone bug, 1.21.1950; KV 2/1250, Robertson note, 1.23.1950.
then discussed the Bunemans: NA, KV 2/1269, phone bug, 1.22.1950.
Seemingly, Arnold made his call to MI5: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson note, 1.23.1950.
he asked to speak to the MI5 security
officer: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson note, 1.23.1950.
both men were at the Skinners’: NA, KV 2/1269, phone bug, 1.23.1950.
She was concerned about Klaus’s level: NA, KV 2/2081, Arnold to Robertson, 10.7.1952; KV 2/1250, Robertson memo, 1.23.1950.
It was just the two: NA, KV 2/1250, 1.20.1950.
The Fuchs who opened: Moorehead, Traitors, 139; NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 1.25.1950.
seemed to drain Fuchs: Moorehead, Traitors, 139.
Seeing Fuchs’s emotional stress: NA, KV 2/1263, 4th–7th interviews, 1.31.1950; Moorehead, Traitors, 138.
Fuchs was distracted: Moorehead, Traitors, 140.
CHAPTER 20: CONFESSION, HARWELL, JANUARY 1950
“About the middle of 1942”: Moorehead, Traitors, 140. Fuchs pegged his spying as beginning in 1942. In fact, it began in August 1941, six weeks after Hitler invaded Russia. Whether the invasion played a role or he misremembered isn’t clear.
This second half of the narrative: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson note, 1.24.1950; Moorehead, Traitors, 141. Even though Moorehead wrote that Skardon didn’t take notes, this may not be true. MI5 still retains documents on this interview. Moorehead used Skardon as his main source along with documents shown to him. MI5 saying it had no documents excused them from providing any. Moorehead wouldn’t necessarily have known the truth. That there was no SF does seem true. That decision was made as of January 5. NA, KV 2/1249, 1.5.1950.
Fuchs understood the risk: NA, KV 2/1263, 4th interview, 1.24.1950.
“a duty to the world”: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 1.25.1950.
he had cut the tie: NA, KV 2/1263, 4th interview, 1.24.1950; KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 1.25.1950.
Fuchs had made a full confession: NA, KV 2/1269 (2), KV 2/1250, Robertson note, 1.24.1950; Moorehead, Traitors, 141.
reestablish monitoring with Listeners: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson note, 1.11.1950.
report suspicious activity: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson memo, 1.24.1950.
do no investigating: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson note, 1.25.1950; Moorehead, Traitors, 147–48.
extract as much information: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson diary of events, 1.25.1950.
what had finally made Fuchs break: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 1.25.1950.
Without Fuchs’s trust in Arnold: Hyde, Atom Bomb Spies, 123.
it was the deeper psychology: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 1.25.1950.
Skardon had not cautioned Fuchs: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson minutes of Perrin meeting, 1.25.1950.
Did the government gain: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson minutes of Perrin meeting, 1.25.1950.
“In his present state of mind”: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson minutes of Perrin meeting, 1.25.1950.
a tape recording might embarrass him: NA, KV 2/1250, Dick White to Marriott, 1.25.1950; KV 2/1250, Robertson minutes on Perrin call, 1.27.1950.
No one expected Fuchs: NA, KV 2/1250, MI5 meeting with Perrin, 1.25.1950.
Arnold knew more than he admitted: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson diary of events, 1.25.1950.
An ordinary day: NA, KV 2/1269, phone records, 1.25.1950.
Arnold asked Fuchs if he had handed: NA, KV 2/1263, Appendix B to MI5 report on Fuchs, n.d.
They discussed Fuchs’s main concern: NA, KV 2/1263, interviews, 12.24–30.1949, 2.
Fuchs generally described his rendezvous: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson minutes on Perrin call, 1.27.1950.
he was going to see Mary Buneman: NA, KV 2/1269, Skinners’ phone check, 1.26.1950.
It was a ruse: NA, KV 2/1250, note on White’s call with Perrin, 1.27.1950.
Fuchs’s statement gave a largely accurate: NA, KV 6/134, Fuchs’s written confession, 1.27.1950.
“namely to give information”: NA, KV 2/1263, KF confession, 2.24.1950, 8.
if Fuchs made his confession: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 1.27.1950.
government could bury those words: Moorehead, Traitors, 143.
Klaus puttered about: NA, KV 2/1269, phone checks, 1.28–29.1950.
Skinner planned to take steps: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson minutes on Perrin call, 1.27.1950; KV 2/1250, note on White call with Perrin, 1.27.1950.
The FBI, as yet, had received no report: NA, KV 2/134, Martin cable from Washington, 1.26.1950; KV 2/1250, White to Perrin, 1.27.1950.
Russians had other sources: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson note, 2.1.1950.
What had surprised Fuchs: FBI, “V. Fuchs’ Scientific Knowledge and Disclosures to Russians,” 107F; NA, AB 1/695, Perrin report, 1.30.1950.
Fuchs’s details of the plutonium bomb: David Holloway, interview with Cindy Kelly, May 14, 2018, Atomic Heritage Foundation.
“From what I have seen”: Teller, Memoirs, 276.
The state of Russian electronics: Hans Bethe, interview with Richard Rhodes, 1993, Atomic Heritage Foundation.
the Russians faced additional hurdles: David Holloway, interview with Cindy Kelly, May 14, 2018, Atomic Heritage Foundation.
he confessed because of his friends: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 1.31.1950.
“I would deal a grave blow”: NA, KV 6/134, Fuchs’s written confession, 1.27.1950.
Fuchs took the train back to Harwell: NA, KV 2/1269, phone check, 1.30.1950.
Perrin later reflected: “Profile: Michael Perrin, the Man to Whom Fuchs Confessed,” New Scientist, Jan. 24, 1957, 28.
He wanted her to come to Germany: NA, KV 2/1250, EF to KF, 1.19.1950, rec’d 1.30.1950.
Fuchs called Henry Arnold: NA, KV 2/1269, phone check, 1.31.1950.
Arnold pleaded ignorance: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson note, 2.1.1950.
CHAPTER 21: ARREST, LONDON, FEBRUARY 1950
Hill outlined the evidence: NA, KV 2/1263, Hill memo, 2.1.1950.
Humphreys would present: NA, KV 2/1263, note on the case against Fuchs for the Director General and the Prime Minister, 1.31.1950; KV 2/1263, Hill note on 2.1.1950 conference, 2.2.1950.
Fuchs, unsuspicious, kept his schedule: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson note on 1.31.1950 meeting, 2.1.1950.
Perrin called Fuchs: NA, KV 2/1270, phone check, 2.2.1950.
they laid out two counts: NA, KV 2/1263, Hill, meeting in public prosecutor’s office, 2.2.1950.
possible embarrassment to the FBI: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 2.2.1950.
Portal’s point overrode the objections: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 2.2.1950; NA, KV 2/1263, Hill, meeting in public prosecutor’s office, 2.2.1950.
Bostwick folding security gate: Interview with Charles Perrin and observations of author
Perrin was at Shell Mex: Some sources report that Burt arrived at 3:15. Burt distorted most of the information on Fuchs in his autobiography. Given the times that Hill wrote in his memo, it would have been impossible for Burt to be there then. Liddell writes in his diary on February 2 that it was at 3:45.
he wanted to speak to Perrin: NA, KV 2/1252, KF to the Skinners, 2.3.1950.
Fuchs said the first thing: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 2.2.1950; NA, KV 2/1252, KF to the Skinners, 2.3.1950.
He later said of the remark: NA, KV 2/1252, KF to the Skinners, 2.3.1950.
formally charged and processed: NA, KV 2/1263, Inspector Smith, Metropolitan Police note, 3.6.1950, and AB 126/383, 2.3.1950.
He spent the night in a cell: NA, KV 2/1252, KF to the Skinners, 2.3.1950.
Burt traveled on to Harwell: NA, KV 2/1270, phone checks, 2.2.1950.
Robertson collected his own cache: NA, KV 2/1250, Robertson notes, 2.2.1950 and 2.3.1950.
“According to what we heard”: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 2.2.1950; Moorehead, Traitors, 150.
Fuchs was remanded into custody: NA, AB 126/383, 2.3.1950.
MI5 expected calls from the press: NA, KV 2/1263, Hill memos, 2.3.1950.
they pondered how they had overlooked: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 1.25.1950.
Fuchs case was front-page news: NA, CSC 11/103, “Scientist Accused of Atomic Leak,” Daily Telegraph, Feb. 4, 1950.
juxtaposed the FBI’s rapid exposure: NA, KV 2/1263, Arthur J. Cohen to Elwyn Jones, MP, 2.7.1950.
“It is re-assuring to note”: NA, AB 126.383, British Embassy Washington to Cabinet, 2.8.1950.
the Brits had been lax: NA, KV 2/1263, Arthur J. Cohen to Elwyn Jones, MP, 2.7.1950.
The Skinners had left: NA, KV 2/1270, Skinners’ phone check, 2.1.1950 and 2.3.1950.
Burt interviewed Peierls: NA, KV 2/1263, Marriott note, 2.6.1950.
Peierls asked Fuchs why he had spied: NA, KV 2/1661, Metropolitan Police note, 2.6.1950.
Scotland Yard installed a microphone: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 2.4.1950.
Fuchs who was depressed: NA, KV 2/1270, Skinner phone check, 2.4.1950; KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 2.4.1950.
Klaus had told Erna details: NA, KV 2/1970, Skinner’s phone call to Cherwell, 2.5.1950.
They felt the hurt and betrayal: NA, KV 2/1254, Skinners to KF, 3.17.1950; KV 2/1259, minute 968, Robertson, and Skardon note, 9.24.1950.
Klaus’s work pressure: NA, KV 2/1661, RP to Commander Burt, rec’d 2.6.1950.
At what point does the price: BODLEIAN-P, Special Collections, RP to Bohr and Bethe, 2.14–15.1950.
Anyone who had worked with Fuchs: FBI, B. interviews of associates of Fuchs, 84Fn2.
Henry Arnold wrote to Oscar: Flowers, Atomic Spice, 10.
MI5 put mail and/or phone warrants: Sir Norman Wooding, CBE, “Christopher Frank Kearton, Baron Kearton of Whitchurch, Bucks, Kt, O.B.E., 17 February 1911–2 July 1992,” Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 224; Cathy Cowell, interview with author, Oct. 2016.
Peierls tried to reconcile: Peierls, Bird of Passage, 9.
Klaus had taken the fate: BODLEIAN-P, Genia Peierls, taped interview.
Brixton meted out Fuchs’s perquisite: NA, KV 2/1270, Gunn’s visit, 2.16.1950.
The bug didn’t capture much: NA, KV 2/1270, Skinner phone check, 2.6.1950; prison bug, 2.8.1950.
She wrote a direct, honest: NA, KV 2/1661, Genia Peierls to KF, 2.4.1950.
Klaus responded in kind: BODLEIAN, KF to Genia Peierls.
Liddell, who had access: NA, KV 4/472, Liddell diary, 2.7.1950.
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