A Secret Life (58 page)
Authors: Benjamin Weiser
Tags: #History, #Europe, #Germany, #World, #True Crime, #Espionage
310
“I would welcome...”
Interview Oklesinski by Skrzydelski.
“I would welcome...”
Interview Oklesinski by Skrzydelski.
310-311
“From the point of view...”
Interview Poltorak by Skrzydelski.
“From the point of view...”
Interview Poltorak by Skrzydelski.
311
“In September 1992, I first wrote...”
Benjamin Weiser, “Polish Officer Was U.S.’s Window on Soviet War Plans” and “Traitor or Patriot: Puzzle for Polish Military,” September 27, 1992,
Washington Post;
“A Question of Loyalty,”
Washington Post Magazine
, December 13, 1992; on reaction, Blaine Harden, “Poles Debate Who’s a Real Patriot; Defector’s Claims, Jaruzelski’s Testimony Ignite Controversy,”
Washington Post
, October 9, 1992.
“In September 1992, I first wrote...”
Benjamin Weiser, “Polish Officer Was U.S.’s Window on Soviet War Plans” and “Traitor or Patriot: Puzzle for Polish Military,” September 27, 1992,
Washington Post;
“A Question of Loyalty,”
Washington Post Magazine
, December 13, 1992; on reaction, Blaine Harden, “Poles Debate Who’s a Real Patriot; Defector’s Claims, Jaruzelski’s Testimony Ignite Controversy,”
Washington Post
, October 9, 1992.
311
“In our opinion . . . ”
Trybuna,
quoted in UPI, “Traitor or Hero: Controversy Rages,” Warsaw, September 30, 1992.
“In our opinion . . . ”
Trybuna,
quoted in UPI, “Traitor or Hero: Controversy Rages,” Warsaw, September 30, 1992.
311
“In the face of total evil . . . ”
Damian Kalbarczyk in
Zycie Warszawy
, as quoted by Dariusz Fikus, “Wallenrodism,”
Rzeczpospolita
(
Zawsze w Sobote supplement
), Warsaw, October 24-25, 1992, p. 1.
“In the face of total evil . . . ”
Damian Kalbarczyk in
Zycie Warszawy
, as quoted by Dariusz Fikus, “Wallenrodism,”
Rzeczpospolita
(
Zawsze w Sobote supplement
), Warsaw, October 24-25, 1992, p. 1.
311-312
“began an energetic letter-writing campaign...”
Interview Davies, who provided me with copies of his many letters and responses.
“began an energetic letter-writing campaign...”
Interview Davies, who provided me with copies of his many letters and responses.
312
“It would be a great tragedy ...”
RK to Davies March 8, 1993.
“It would be a great tragedy ...”
RK to Davies March 8, 1993.
312
“I hope you ...”
Davies letter to Clinton February 28, 1994.
“I hope you ...”
Davies letter to Clinton February 28, 1994.
312
“sharing your concern...”
White House letter to Davies April 25, 1994.
“sharing your concern...”
White House letter to Davies April 25, 1994.
313
“In the spring of 1994 ...
” Interview Kozminski.
“In the spring of 1994 ...
” Interview Kozminski.
314
“I no longer expect anything . . . ”
RK interview with
Tygodnik Solidarnosc
(Solidarity Weekly), December 9, 1994.
“I no longer expect anything . . . ”
RK interview with
Tygodnik Solidarnosc
(Solidarity Weekly), December 9, 1994.
314
“Kuklinski, risking his life...”
Herbert letter to Walesa, quoted by UPI, January 9, 1995.
“Kuklinski, risking his life...”
Herbert letter to Walesa, quoted by UPI, January 9, 1995.
Chapter
12
Return
12
Return
Key interviews: RK, Forden, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Brzezinski, Kozminski, Jack Platt, Davies.
315-318
“in a white granite building . . . ”
Marek Skrzydelski covered the court hearing on May 25, 1995; I later interviewed Piesiewicz in New York.
“in a white granite building . . . ”
Marek Skrzydelski covered the court hearing on May 25, 1995; I later interviewed Piesiewicz in New York.
318
“Ambassador Jerzy Kozminski ...”
Interviews Kozminski, Brzezinski.
“Ambassador Jerzy Kozminski ...”
Interviews Kozminski, Brzezinski.
320
“to the memory hole . . . ”
R. T. Davies, “The Hero Anthony Lake Has Forgotten,”
Washington Times
, Op-Ed, February 24, 1997.
“to the memory hole . . . ”
R. T. Davies, “The Hero Anthony Lake Has Forgotten,”
Washington Times
, Op-Ed, February 24, 1997.
321
“Kozminski gave a talk...”
Interviews Kozminski, Forden.
“Kozminski gave a talk...”
Interviews Kozminski, Forden.
321
“Forden learned...”
Interviews Forden, Platt.
“Forden learned...”
Interviews Forden, Platt.
322-326
“The prosecutors seemed nervous and stiff . . . ”
The detailed account of RK’s sessions with the Polish prosecutors is based on interviews with Brzezinski, Kozminski, RK, and seven pages of “informal notes for the record” kept by Brzezinski. All direct quotes from the meetings quoted in the text, as well many other observations, are from these notes.
“The prosecutors seemed nervous and stiff . . . ”
The detailed account of RK’s sessions with the Polish prosecutors is based on interviews with Brzezinski, Kozminski, RK, and seven pages of “informal notes for the record” kept by Brzezinski. All direct quotes from the meetings quoted in the text, as well many other observations, are from these notes.
328
“an accusation against us ...”
BBC, “Generals Demand Explanation of Spy Case Decision by Prosecutor,” October 8, 1997.
“an accusation against us ...”
BBC, “Generals Demand Explanation of Spy Case Decision by Prosecutor,” October 8, 1997.
328
“conference just outside of Warsaw . . . ”
The conference was jointly organized by the Institute for Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the National Security Archive at George Washington University, with the Cold War International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Kulikov’s quote is from Jane Perlez, “Iron Curtain Chills: A Cold War Spy Doesn’t Dare Go Home,”
New York Times
, November 16, 1997. Thanks also to Malcolm Byrne.
“conference just outside of Warsaw . . . ”
The conference was jointly organized by the Institute for Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the National Security Archive at George Washington University, with the Cold War International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Kulikov’s quote is from Jane Perlez, “Iron Curtain Chills: A Cold War Spy Doesn’t Dare Go Home,”
New York Times
, November 16, 1997. Thanks also to Malcolm Byrne.
328
“If you come...”
Mary Williams Walsh, “Poland’s Spy Who’s Still Out in the Cold,”
Los Angeles Times
, December 17, 1997.
“If you come...”
Mary Williams Walsh, “Poland’s Spy Who’s Still Out in the Cold,”
Los Angeles Times
, December 17, 1997.
328-329
“Kuklinski has also since said...”
Interview RK.
“Kuklinski has also since said...”
Interview RK.
329
“I’d like to retreat . . . ”
Andrew Nagorski, “In from the Cold,”
Newsweek
, October 27, 1997.
“I’d like to retreat . . . ”
Andrew Nagorski, “In from the Cold,”
Newsweek
, October 27, 1997.
329
“The popular Italian weekly . . . ”
Solomatin interview with
Panorama
, March 22, 1992, according to Forden’s notes and translation.
“The popular Italian weekly . . . ”
Solomatin interview with
Panorama
, March 22, 1992, according to Forden’s notes and translation.
329
“That same year...”
Carl Bernstein, “The Holy Alliance,”
Time
, February 24, 1992.
“That same year...”
Carl Bernstein, “The Holy Alliance,”
Time
, February 24, 1992.
329
“Forden began to wonder...”
Interviews Forden, Platt.
“Forden began to wonder...”
Interviews Forden, Platt.
329
“A 1996 book...”
Carl Bernstein and Marco Politi,
His Holiness: John Paul II and the Hidden History of Our Time
(New York: Doubleday, 1996).
“A 1996 book...”
Carl Bernstein and Marco Politi,
His Holiness: John Paul II and the Hidden History of Our Time
(New York: Doubleday, 1996).
331
“I was skeptical...”
Forden letter to Kozminski March 15, 1998.
“I was skeptical...”
Forden letter to Kozminski March 15, 1998.
331
“It’s hard for me to breathe . . . ”
“Former Spy Has Emotional Return After 17 Years,” from TV Polonia satellite service, Warsaw, in Polish 1730 gmt, April 27, 1998/BBC Monitoring, April 29, 1998.
“It’s hard for me to breathe . . . ”
“Former Spy Has Emotional Return After 17 Years,” from TV Polonia satellite service, Warsaw, in Polish 1730 gmt, April 27, 1998/BBC Monitoring, April 29, 1998.
332
“I love this time of year...”
Interview RK.
“I love this time of year...”
Interview RK.
332 “
My 25-year journey . . . ”
“Former Spy Has Emotional Return,” TV Polonia April 27, 1998/BBC Monitoring.
My 25-year journey . . . ”
“Former Spy Has Emotional Return,” TV Polonia April 27, 1998/BBC Monitoring.
333-335
“I never doubted . . . ”
RK speech; interview RK. Speech excerpts, Source: Polish Radio 1, Warsaw, in Polish 1034 gmt 29 April 98/BBC Monitoring.
“I never doubted . . . ”
RK speech; interview RK. Speech excerpts, Source: Polish Radio 1, Warsaw, in Polish 1034 gmt 29 April 98/BBC Monitoring.
336
“Too old to car ry . . . ”
Selected lines from Zbigniew Herbert, “Report from the Besieged City and Other Poems,” trans. with an introduction and notes by John Carpenter and Bogdana Carpenter (New York: Ecco Press, 1985). Copyright © 1985 Zbigniew Herbert. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
“Too old to car ry . . . ”
Selected lines from Zbigniew Herbert, “Report from the Besieged City and Other Poems,” trans. with an introduction and notes by John Carpenter and Bogdana Carpenter (New York: Ecco Press, 1985). Copyright © 1985 Zbigniew Herbert. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
337
“To his surprise...”
Interview RK.
“To his surprise...”
Interview RK.
337
“Soldiers are not like the mafia . . . ”
BBC, “Former Spy Explains His Silence on Martial Law to Solidarity Presidium,” May 5, 1998 (source PAP news agency, Warsaw, May 4, 1998).
“Soldiers are not like the mafia . . . ”
BBC, “Former Spy Explains His Silence on Martial Law to Solidarity Presidium,” May 5, 1998 (source PAP news agency, Warsaw, May 4, 1998).
337
“If this entire hullabaloo . . . ”
Adam Michnik, “The Trap of Political Beatification,”
Gazeta Wyborcza
, May 1998, pp. 10-11. (I have used the translation that appears in Benjamin B. Fischer, “The Vilification and Vindication of Colonel Kuklinski,”
Studies in Intelligence,
Summer 2000, no. 9, unclassified edition.)
“If this entire hullabaloo . . . ”
Adam Michnik, “The Trap of Political Beatification,”
Gazeta Wyborcza
, May 1998, pp. 10-11. (I have used the translation that appears in Benjamin B. Fischer, “The Vilification and Vindication of Colonel Kuklinski,”
Studies in Intelligence,
Summer 2000, no. 9, unclassified edition.)
338-339
“In November 1999 ...”
Transcript “U.S. Intelligence and the End of the Cold War,” Texas A&M University Memorial Ceremony, November 20, 1999; CIA Public Affairs.
“In November 1999 ...”
Transcript “U.S. Intelligence and the End of the Cold War,” Texas A&M University Memorial Ceremony, November 20, 1999; CIA Public Affairs.
339
“Kuklinski was later...”
Interview RK.
“Kuklinski was later...”
Interview RK.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book could not have been written without the extraordinary assistance of Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski, who opened up his life and memories to me over the years and endured my endless questions with patience and good humor. I also thank Hanka Kuklinski, who welcomed me when I arrived for interviews. The contribution of Peter Earnest, a retired CIA case officer, was also invaluable. He was a strong advocate for the project from the start, spent hours painstakingly researching the agency archive for me, and offered many thoughts about the history of the period as I pursued my interviews and writing. Peter has since gone on to become executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington. I am grateful for his assistance.
Marek Skrzydelski acted as a skilled interpreter and guide in Poland, conducted several interviews for me on his own, and covered an important court hearing which appears in the book. Halina Potocka and Jola Ciborowska were helpful in setting up and translating interviews in Warsaw.
Several friends gave me critical readings of the manuscript, discussed it conceptually, and offered valuable insights at the end. They include Evan Thomas, Andrew Nagorski, Steve Engelberg, David Remnick, Bob Woodward, and Phillip Blumberg. I thank them all.
Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who always understood the importance of the case, answered questions, offered context, and provided notes he took during an important meeting in 1997 that figures prominently in one chapter. Thanks also to Jerzy Kozminski, the former Polish ambassador to the United States, for his observations about Poland and the Kuklinski case.
I first wrote about the case in 1992 for the
Washington Post
and
Post Magazine.
Former
Post
colleagues who gave me good counsel about the CIA and Poland as I proceeded include Bob Woodward, Steve Luxenberg, David Maraniss, Blaine Harden, Jackson Diehl, Mary Battiata, David Ignatius, Rick Atkinson, Chuck Babcock, Michael Getler, Lucy Shackelford, and the staff then at the magazine, including Linton Weeks, Bob Thompson, John Cotter, and Deborah Needleman. Thanks also to Olwen Price. A number of editors at the
New York Times
were supportive, particularly in the months I brought this project to completion. They include Jon Landman, Susan Edgerley, Joe Sexton, Richard Berke, Joyce Purnick, Matt Purdy, Gerry Mullany, Tony Marcano, Christine Kay, Bill Goss, Anne Cronin, and Wendell Jamieson.
Washington Post
and
Post Magazine.
Former
Post
colleagues who gave me good counsel about the CIA and Poland as I proceeded include Bob Woodward, Steve Luxenberg, David Maraniss, Blaine Harden, Jackson Diehl, Mary Battiata, David Ignatius, Rick Atkinson, Chuck Babcock, Michael Getler, Lucy Shackelford, and the staff then at the magazine, including Linton Weeks, Bob Thompson, John Cotter, and Deborah Needleman. Thanks also to Olwen Price. A number of editors at the
New York Times
were supportive, particularly in the months I brought this project to completion. They include Jon Landman, Susan Edgerley, Joe Sexton, Richard Berke, Joyce Purnick, Matt Purdy, Gerry Mullany, Tony Marcano, Christine Kay, Bill Goss, Anne Cronin, and Wendell Jamieson.
I was lucky at various stages to receive encouragement and advice from Stephen Sestanovich, Delia Marshall, John Orefice, Nick Lemann, Elsa Walsh, Chris Drew, David McCraw, Maggie Drucker, Dale Russakoff, Jay Mathews, Adam Liptak, Jim Risen, John Darnton, Jeff Frank, Linda Healey, Sara Forden, Megan Barnett, Joanna and Ren Weschler, Simon Schama, Vint Lawrence, Anne Garrels, Luke Menand, Jonathan Karp, Rick Hertzberg, Kris Dahl, Malcolm Byrne, and the late Robert Jones, Charles Rembar, and Michael Dorris. Thanks to Caroline Backlund, Jamie Baylis, David Wickenden and Cindy Snyder, Joy and Murray Zinoman, Whitney Pinger and Roger Pollak, and Ellen Dennis and Rudi Pribitzer for listening and welcoming me on reporting trips in the U.S. and abroad. A special thanks to Judy Dennis for always being there, and, of course, to Norma Weiser and Hermione Wickenden.
During my negotiations with the CIA, two officials—Molly J. Tasker, then chair of the Publications Review Board, and Carolyn M. Ekedahl, then Director of Media Relations—were strong supporters of allowing me access to the archival material. I thank them, and John Hedley, who succeeded Molly at the PRB, and other CIA personnel who are not known to me, for their efforts. I also thank Mark Mansfield, Tom Crispell, Midge Holmes, and their colleagues in the CIA’s public affairs office.
Dozens of current and former CIA officers and officials, some of whom I can’t identify, granted me extensive interviews. Most had never talked to a reporter before. David Forden’s unfailing judgment and good sense shaped our discussions, and will be evident to anyone who reads this book. I also thank him and his late wife Aurelia for their graciousness on my visits. I appreciate the help of Tom and Lucille Ryan, Sue Burggraf, Aris Pappas, Bill Donnelly, Katharine Hart, Richard Stolz, Ron Estes, Haviland Smith, Carl and Nancy Gebhardt, James M. Simon Jr., the late David Blee, John Dimmer, Bobby Ray Inman, Clair George, John Horton, the late Victor Kliss, Bob Lubbehusen, Jack Platt, Hal Larsen, the late Richard Helms, Douglas J. MacEachin, Kurt Taylor, Mary Gormley, and several people who are identified in this book only by pseudonyms: Ted Gilbertson, Michael Dwyer, Ed Schooley, Ruth Brerewood, and Walter Lang. Several people portrayed in the book were kind enough to read the manuscript, or parts of it, and to point out inaccuracies or to make other suggestions.
Many thanks to Michael Pollak, Bill Vourvoulias, and Ida May Nor-ton for their careful checking of the manuscript; to Victor Kliss for translating the poetry of Waldemar Kuklinski; to Thaddeus Mirecki for his guidance and to Adam Gillon for his insight into Joseph Conrad. Others who spoke to me over the years about the Kuklinski case include: the late Richard Davies, Jan Nowak, Francis Meehan, Richard Pipes, William Odom, Les Griggs, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Al Gray, Edmund Thompson, the late Roy Jonkers, Peter Falk, Alan Goldfarb, Roman and Barbara Barszcz, Stanislaw Radaj, Jacek Szymanderski, Stanislaw Przyjemski, Wojciech Jaruzelski, Florian Siwicki, Czeslaw Kiszczak, and Janusz Onyszkiewicz.
My agent, Amanda Urban, was an early and enthusiastic advocate of this project, and offered expert guidance along the way. Peter Osnos and his editors at PublicAffairs have been unflagging proponents of the book. In particular, I thank my editor Kate Darnton, whose enthusiasm was infectious, and who deftly guided me through the editing process. Much appreciation also goes to Robert Kimzey, Melanie Peirson John-stone, Nina D’Amario, Kasey Pfaff, Gene Taft, Matthew Goldberg, and Lindsay Jones.
In the end, no one deserves more thanks than my daughters, Sarah and Rebecca, and my wife, Dorothy, whose discernment and wisdom informed this book at every turn.
INDEX
The abbreviation RK is used in this index for Ryszard J. Kuklinski.
Afghanistan, Soviet invasion
Andropov, Yuri (Soviet KGB chief)
Angleton, James J. (CIA Director of counterintelligence)
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