The Third Man
The havoc he wreaked stretched far and wide
Philby's influence on the Cold War could be direct, such as when he sabotaged Anglo-American operations, but it was subtle, as well. In 1945, Philby told the Soviets that Elizabeth Bentley, an American working for the communists, had turned herself in to the FBI and had become a double agent. The Soviets quickly shut down their American spies, frustrating the FBI's attempts to substantiate Bentley's accusations of a large Soviet espionage network in the United States. Three years later, upset that the FBI had not caught any spies, Bentley brought her story to a newspaper. By that time Stalin wasn't Uncle Joe anymore, and Bentley's accusations led to hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee. But that is where the hunt ended."The reason they didn't catch anyone was Philby," says Kathryn Olmsted, the author of Red Spy Queen, a biography of Bentley. "We are starting to realize Philby played a critical role in destroying her credibility."
Philby also had to protect himself. In 1945, a Soviet intelligence officer, Konstantin Volkov, offered to defect and give up the names of Englishmen spying for Russia. The offer was sent to London in a diplomatic pouch. When Philby, then working as head of the Soviet counterintelligence desk, opened the communique, he realized that Volkov was offering to out him. "I stared at the papers rather longer than necessary," Philby wrote in his memoir. Soon after, Volkov was taken to Moscow by Soviet agents and killed.
Countless other deaths have been blamed on Philby. Stationed in Istanbul in 1946, he assigned British agents to penetrate the Soviet Union and then told his communist masters who was coming and when. The Soviets promptly murdered the agents. "He could get large numbers of people killed," Thompson says, "and did it with relish." Yet Philby's most important operational success came when he derailed a British and American plan to try to roll back the Iron Curtain. In December 1949, America and Britain helped arm a group of anticommunist eastern Europeans to lead an insurgency into Albania, a starving country that seemed ready to shake off Stalin. Philby, based in Washington, helped plan the attack--and ensured its failure. He tipped the Soviets; Albanian communists ambushed the insurgents. "It was a total disaster," said Gene Poteat, a retired CIA intelligence officer. "Every single agent was captured . . . all thanks to Kim Philby."
Although Philby could sabotage covert operations, the Soviets ignored much of what he provided because Stalin feared the Cambridge ring was feeding him misinformation. "The Soviets didn't imagine anyone could penetrate British intelligence so well," says Phillip Knightley, Philby's biographer. "They were paranoid. In Philby's case, a lot of material he provided was never read."
Mole hunt. In 1951, Americans decoded a five-year-old Soviet cable and discovered that there was a mole sending their secrets to Moscow. Maclean, who had suffered a nervous breakdown and was drinking excessively, was among the suspects. When Philby learned about the discovery, he had Burgess arrange for Maclean to escape. The Soviets made Burgess flee, too, casting suspicion on Philby. The Americans demanded his removal, but the British defended him. Philby returned to England, where he was publically accused of being "The Third Man." After Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan rose to his defense, he was sent to Beirut to work as a field agent. But the game would soon be up. In 1963, a British agent confronted Philby in Lebanon with irrefutable evidence that he was a spy. Philby confessed, then stole away on a Soviet freighter.
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