HW 53320 \ they read the Fieldhouse/Snowdon study on Nosenko DocId: 32397298 .Page 10 sojourn in the Soviet Union. In brief, Epstein accepted Angleton! S conclusion that. "Nosenko was a Soviet intelligence agent dispatched by the KGB expressly for the purpose of delivering disinformation | to the CIA, FBI and Warren Commission." In this scheme of things, Oswald, the Supposed lone assassin of President Kennedy,.likely was working for the KGB; Nosenko said this was not true, but, therefore, by the logic in Legend--it is. Oswald the ex- Marine who defected to the USSR in 1959 and returned three years later, had been living a "legend," a false biography concocted for him by the KGB. Amongst these two stories is a central thene, carefully stated but always present, which is that. the highest level of the intelligence community, and certainly the CIA, is penetrated by a "mole! working for the KGB. Although by 1978 this "mole" had not been found, the best proof that he existed rested in the assertion of Nosenko that he knew of no penetration, which contradicted statements made to the contrary by a "Mr. Stone," who proves to be Anatole Golitsyn. Epstein thus promoted the Angleton twin beliefs of deception and penetration by the KGB which was enshrined in his concept which came to be derisively ee u " } we, called "The Monster Plot. For CIA officers who wish to ~ learn the full story of the Nosenko case, it is recommended ‘commissioned by then DCI Casey in 1981. | an ve In his source notes, Epstein is quite frank in stating that his work is based on interviews with Nosenko ana retired CIA officers. He then lists a number including Gordon Stewart, Admiral Turner, Richard Helms, James Angleton and members of his cI Staff, William Sullivan ana Sam Papich of the FBI, and others connected with the Golitsyn and Nosenko cases. - Although Epstein is careful to ion his | sources by never quoting them verbatim or airectiy,/ b ty As)otear that a number of CIA officers had - provided “immense amount of classified information to 18 CONFIDENTIAL N OCONTRACT
AW 53320 - CONFIDE NOCONTRACT Epstein. This was leakage about hitherto most sensitive Soviet cases on a scale the CIA had not before experienced. However, because Epstein so. cleverly refrained from pin point sourcing, Ait was /impossible to say exactly which CIA and/or FBI officers’ had leaked what. In 1989 the mystery was resolved with the publication of a second book by Epstein called Deception which dealt with the contentious old cases, including Nosenko and Golitsyn again. But now with his major source, Angleton, dead, Epstein revealed in detail who his informants had been. This will be reviewed in detail in the Summary on Deception. Although the presentation of these hitherto highly classified cases shocked most observers, within a year the entire Nosenko Case was to be revealed to the public in detail via the uU.s. House Select Committee on Assassinations. Legend sold better than might have been expected, and the conspiracy buffs found it a welcome addition to the growing literature on the Kennedy assassination. Many, however, found the book confusing and its clains extravagant and unsupported by factual evidence. One of the chief critics was George Lardner of The Washington Post who wrote, "What Epstein has written...is a fascinating, important, and essentially dishonest book... Fascinating because it offers new information about Oswald, about the KGB, and about the CIA. Dishonest because it pretends to be objective, because it is saddled with demonstrative errors and inexcusable omissions, because it assumes the KGB always knows what it is doing while the CIA does not. It is paranoid. It is naive," . However, there is no question but ‘that Legend set the f tone for the debate which was to ensue in the media about the Nosenko affair. It gave the Angleton and Bagley forces we an advantage by putting their aan un if dishonestly before | ‘the public. Gt y was/ not until David al 19 CONFIDENTIAL NOFORN-NOCONTRACT- Docld: 32397298 Page 11
HW .53320 NOCONTRACT. « DECEPTION: The Invisible War Between the KGB and the cra by Edward J. Epstein; Simon and Schuster (New York, N.Y.), 1989--335 pages J. ve, /tt is j onic that Edward J. Epstein should have © pubhished his book called Deception in mid-1989 just as the . Soviet Union was undergoing massive changes, which woula by autumn 1991 result in its total demise. So also has its a major intelligence arm, the KGB, vanished, which. according to Epstein and his principal source, James Angleton, was a a responsible for many mind-boggling feats of deception. ye SS, little heralded result of these events has been the he " Va “disappearance: ‘almost overnight of what once was a burgeoning cottage industry employing hundreds of academics and self- appointed experts around in the country in universities and _ think tanks devoted to the study of Soviet deception, disinformation, active measures and subversion. This already antique field of academic endeavor now has, like “os Epstein's book, the smell of attic dust. This book, rather like its predecessor Le end, is really two books; the first book in 105 pages explains Angleton'g theories. developed largely from the defector, Anatole Golitsyn. The second part--the remainder of the book--is devoted to various forms: of deception. As this subject has been better covered ‘in other works (‘it ig of no concern here except to note that one chapter is devoéted to. the Soviet defector, Vitali Yurchenko, designated by Epstein as an obvious KGB provocation similar to Nosenko. Epstein concludes the book with a long chapter on glasnost, which he dismisses as simply another massive KGB deception. The most arresting information imparted in Deception is Epstein's confession regarding his sources for both Legend and this book. With Angleton now dead, Epstein apparently —SauetnessiniNopoR RoCORTE ct Docld:32397298 .Page 12. Se te Sees
HW, 53320 ~ - CONFIDENT ORN NOCONTRALT feels free to admit the former chief of CIA counterintelligence was his major source since 1976 when they first met. It-waS Angleton who p passed Epstein e to ‘his assistants, Miler and Recea, Sf velioe proviathy introductions to William Hood Cee wet officers William Sullivan and sam Papich. Angleton sent Epstein to Europe to see Stephen de Mowbray, the former MI~6 officer and a devoted disciple of Golitsyn, in England ana to Tennent ("Pete") Bagley in Belgium. That the latter understood he was passing on Classified information is revealed by Epstein's amusing description of the clandestine circumstances under which they met. All down the years, Angleton remained a constant and prolific source for Epstein; the latter showed his appreciation by taking Angleton with him to Israel when he went there in 1982 to do research @m his book about the diamond trade (later published as The Rise and Fall of Diamonds). Although it was obvious to most astute observers that Angleton was leaking classified information to Epstein and others, nothing was done to caution him. on the other hand, when it was agreed Clare E, Petty had been leaking classifiea wig Y yee te ; ae material to the press, he was sent an official warning ” . be letter by CIA, Thus, in retirement, as when he was a CIA ( u Ad ue jv ne “f official, Angleton enjoyed a protected and special status. ae : “fi fie at In Part One Epstein recites again, as in Legend, the io Angleton belief in the KGB program of deception and penetration, which over the years he had absorbed from the defector Golitsyn and had then embellished further with special embroidery of his own. These theories came to be. described by Angleton's critics as "The Monster Plot." as Epstein never seems to have grasped the real meaning of how the theory was Supposed to have Operated, the reader is advised to read the appropriate section in the. er Staff. official history or the special chapter in the cr Staff Docld: 3239729§.;.Page 13