![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/033012-1.jpg\" "\\"033012-1\\"")
\n(State Department Official and Soviet Spy Alger Hiss in handcuffs. He dined out on his innocence for decades after. Photo AP.)<\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I was sitting with Mac last night at Willow. We are trying to get him out when he<\/p>\n
feels up to it, and he is, of course, a rock star to the Regulars at the Amen<\/p>\n
Corner.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I did not take notes. My leg is bothering me still, and we talked about the future<\/p>\n
rather than the past- plans for the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, and<\/p>\n
whether or not we should wear tux for the Ball (Mac will not).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We managed to get Liz-with-an-S in trouble with management along the way- I won\u2019t go into the intricacies of the restaurant business, except to say that we should have balanced our relations with Labor and Management less effectively. It is a delicate balance, and the value of labor always has to be balanced against the essential energy of those sweat has made the work possible in the beginning.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t always balance that well, and it is important to keep the lines of<\/p>\n
communication open. So, in the interest of that, I am going to keep my mouth shut about whether or not certain industry events get a little confused on the concept of whether an \u201copen bar\u201d means a \u201cno tip\u201d bar for people who are making $2.13 an hour.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI made more than that on the loading dock in 1966,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The waitress was in mufti- on the civilian side of the bar for a change- and she<\/p>\n
shrugged. \u201cWe work for tips. The rest of it just goes to cover the social security<\/p>\n
and Medicare.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is enough to make you feel like a fellow-traveler in solidarity with the workers<\/p>\n
of the world, you know?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We wound up with a great crowd at the bar- Senior Executive Jeff and John-with and Jon-without, and Old Jim and the other usual suspects. Mac had exactly two Anchor Steam beers, and I had about enough happy Hour White to navigate on my cane to the Bluesmobile parked at the curb down the block.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Of course, talking about the present lead right back around the rosebush to the<\/p>\n
past. We talked about Mac\u2019s return to Hawaii as we discussed arrangements for<\/p>\n
lodging in the future, commingling the atmosphere of the pleasant islands against<\/p>\n
the backdrop of wars against the Empire of Japan and the later one against the VC and North Vietnamese Regulars.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mac had been the Pacific Fleet Intelligence Officer (N2) in the mid-sixties during<\/p>\n
the big uild-up in South East Asia, and he described (a little wistfully) how he and<\/p>\n
his wife Billie would get a room at one of the grand hotels to stay over night while<\/p>\n
attending social events over in Honolulu or Kahala. \u201cWe used to do the same thing,\u201d I said. \u201cIt made you feel a little like a well-heeled tourist rather than a staff<\/p>\n
puke at the Headquarters.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Somehow the Health Care arguments before the Supreme Court came up in passing, since it affects all of us, not just those of a certain age, and Mac vowed that he was going to make the century mark. That lead in a round about matter to a discussion of the role of the Judicial Branch in the \u2018separation of powers\u2019 scheme of our topsy-turvy government.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Say what you like about the Court- mostly invisible, the SCOTUS has a direct and<\/p>\n
sometimes startling impact on the rest of our sprawling government. Remember Bush V. Gore? And they may be at it again with the Affordable (or not) Health Care Act\u2019s constitutionality.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government could not come up with a defining reason for why it could not force<\/p>\n
us to buy Broccoli,\u201d said John-with. \u201cIt is about liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI am uncomfortable with the whole green vegetable mandate,\u201d I said. \u201cBut all<\/p>\n
President\u2019s have had problems with the Supremes. Remember FDR and packing the Court?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Old Jim pursed his lips. \u201cThe Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 would have<\/p>\n
added more associate justices to the High Court. That was FDR\u2019s scheme to pack the court with New Deal sympathizers to approve legislation that had been declared<\/p>\n
unconstitutional by the mostly Republican-appointed court.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d I said. \u201cCourt-packing. The constitution doesn\u2019t specify the number of<\/p>\n
judges, and FDR wanted the authority to an additional Justice, up to a maximum of six, for every sitting member over the age of 70 years and 6 months.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not so old,\u201d said Old Jim, taking a swig of Budweiser.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cAll things in perspective,\u201d said Mac. \u201cThat is positively youthful.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was quite a sea change in Washington in those days. I wrote a series of<\/p>\n
stories about the neighborhood around Big Pink. The Buckingham housing development and the others along Route 50 were created to house all the New Dealers who were coming to town to fix the Depression.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not the only bunch who came to town. So did the spies.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mac came back to DC from Hawaii in 1946, and transferred to the Restricted Line- Special Duty Intelligence. He married Billie here, and served for a year in the<\/p>\n
Pentagon and at Foggy Bottom as an editor on the Diplomatic Cable, a summary product of the War Department, Navy and State. Then he got a transfer to London and Naples, and had some excellent adventures in the opening days of the Cold War in Europe.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Diplomatic Cable was composed from the intercepted communications of the embassies, right? Did it include the VENONA information?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mac shook his head. \u201cNo, that stuff was too sensitive. Army Chief of Staff Omar<\/p>\n
Bradley kept the lid on that stuff pretty tight.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was Venona?\u201d asked Jon-without, adjusting his bow tie. We had also been<\/p>\n
talking about how he kept the black caps on his well-crafted shoes with such an<\/p>\n
authoritative gleam- his description of the old t-shirt rags and black polish<\/p>\n
reminded me of Aviation Officer Candidate School, and my vow never to have a highly polished gleam on any shoes I owned since.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u201cVENONA was a break in Soviet diplomatic cables,\u201d said Mac. \u201cThe Army did the work<\/p>\n at Arlington Hall, across from where Vic lives. I do not have time to delve too<\/p>\n deeply into the Sources and Methods aspect of VENONA. That was just the last<\/p>\n codeword for a dozen exploit programs that took advantage of a flaw in the Soviet<\/p>\n communications system. They re-used some of the cyphers contained in one-time pads<\/p>\n due to the exigencies of an expanding war in the East. Only the years between<\/p>\n 1942-44 yielded much data, though the files were worked all the way up to 1980<\/p>\n before cryptologic resources were moved on to more pressing issues.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThose were the ones that had the names of all the Soviet Agents in the US<\/p>\n Government,\u201d I said. \u201cIt was political dynamite. That is how they got tipped to the<\/p>\n Rosenberg atom spy ring at Los Alamos.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mac nodded. \u201cWhat we did on the Diplomatic Cable did not include that material. Our<\/p>\n produce was the lineal antecedent of what you guys call the National Intelligence<\/p>\n Daily.” He paused in thought. “The VENONA matter was an uncomfortable one for<\/p>\n everyone. The true names of the Soviet agents were not in the cables, only code<\/p>\n words, so there was a little ambiguity. They were afraid it would all be<\/p>\n inadmissible in court, so they sat on it.\u201d<\/p>\n (Bill Weisband in uniform. He was a great guy, well-liked by his Arlington Hall co-workers. Photo US Army).<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d I said, taking a sip of Happy Hour White. \u201cThe Soviets were tipped to the<\/p>\n matter fairly early on- the bulk of the successfully decrypted messages were<\/p>\n harvested only up to 1945. An Army officer named Bill Weisband, a native of Odessa,<\/p>\n was the mole who probably disclosed the success of the operation to his handlers in Moscow.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAsshole,\u201d said John-with.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYeah, he never faced the music for what he did. Died of a massive heart attack on<\/p>\n the George Washington Parkway. Sold insurance after they eased him out of Arlington hall. He never stood trial.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMost of them didn\u2019t. It was too explosive,\u201d said Mac. \u201cWeisband was born in Odessa, and his Russian was flawless. He had access to all areas of Arlington Hall’s Soviet work, including the Western atomic scientists who cooperated with the Soviets at least as early as 1944.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAnd Alger Hiss,\u201d I said. \u201cThat asshole.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThat was quite the controversy in the day- him and Whittaker Chambers and the<\/p>\n Pumpkin Papers.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHiss had his defenders all the rest of his life. The trial of the century is what<\/p>\n they called it when they tried him for perjury.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mac nodded. \u201cIt was not until the KGB files opened up briefly in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n That is what nailed him as a Soviet Agent almost conclusively.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe ambiguity of his guilt became a litmus test of political views, since the very<\/p>\n basis of evidence was likewise ambiguous. Senior army officers, in consultation with<\/p>\n the FBI and CIA, made the decision to restrict knowledge of VENONA within the<\/p>\n government. Army Chief of Staff Omar Bradley was concerned about the White House’s history of leaking sensitive information.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d I said. \u201cHarry Hopkins was fingered as a mole, and he was at FDR\u2019s shoulder the whole war.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTo some degree, Bradley’s decision to keep the VENONA material secret was<\/p>\n counter-productive; Truman was distrustful enough of J. Edgar Hoover, and suspected the reports of Soviet penetration were exaggerated to obtain political leverage for the Bureau.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cEnter Tail Gunner Joe, and Dick Nixon and Ray Cohn the great Communist witch-hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt is only a witch hunt if there aren\u2019t witches,\u201d I said. \u201cThere really wasn\u2019t any<\/p>\n organization in town here that wasn\u2019t penetrated. It was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cStill controversial in some quarters,\u201d said Old Jim. \u201cI met Bill Kunstler one time,<\/p>\n the hired legal gun of the \u201960s radicals. One of his last great quotes was after the<\/p>\n Moynihan Commission on government secrecy reported out with all the VENONA<\/p>\n revelations. Kunstler claimed the Army had forged the whole project to discredit<\/p>\n honest Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHe was another asshole,\u201d I said. \u201cI remember him well.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n John-with snorted. \u201cThat was back when things were harder and they had to steal<\/p>\n secrets the hard way, by human agent.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYeah, you are right,\u201d I declared, draining my glass of wine and covering the top<\/p>\n with my palm when Liz-S attempted to fill it up again. \u201cNow the Chinese just hack it all without having to leave a computer terminal in Guangdong Province.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSort of makes you homesick for the old days,\u201d said Jon-without.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mac shook his head. \u201cNot so much,\u201d he said. \u201cJust think of Alger Hiss in handcuffs.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra<\/p>\n www.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (State Department Official and Soviet Spy Alger Hiss in handcuffs. He dined out on his innocence for decades after. Photo AP.) I was sitting with Mac last night at Willow. We are trying to get him out when he feels up to it, and he is, of course, a rock star to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2753"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2756,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753\/revisions\/2756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/033012-2.jpg\" "\\"033012-2\\"")
\n(The Headquarters Building at Arlington Hall. It is still there, though they don’t do codes there any more. Photo US Army.)<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/033012-3.jpg\" "\\"033012-3\\"")
<\/p>\n