Karl Koecher - Infiltration

Infiltration

Because of his English language skills, Koecher was selected to become a mole in the West. In 1965 he and his wife, Hana Koecher (the daughter of a Communist Party official), seemingly emigrated to the United States. He gained a doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University, and became an American citizen in 1971. After several years as a sleeper he was hired by the CIA as a translator/analyst in 1973 due to his fake dissident credentials and skills in a number of Eastern European languages. He was given high level security clearance and given the job of translating and analyzing documents handed over by CIA agents and transcripts of wiretaps and bugs. He quickly became one of the USSR's best sources of information, allowing them to mount an effective defense against CIA covert actions. He is believed to have betrayed Aleksandr Dmitrievich Ogorodnik, a Soviet diplomat who spied for the CIA.

In 1975, however, Koecher was summoned back to a meeting with KGB head of counter-intelligence, Oleg Kalugin. Koecher claims that after testing Koecher, Kalugin argued that he was in fact a double agent and his information could not be trusted. Koecher then retired, leaving the CIA for a post in academia. By the end of the 1970s Koecher was rehabilitated by the KGB. In 1980, with growing tensions due to the election of Ronald Reagan, Koecher was one of a number of agents reactivated. He returned to work part-time for the CIA. Although the FBI asserts that it was at that time already on to him, no action was taken against him. To this day, neither the FBI nor the CIA will reveal what alerted them to Koecher's treachery. Koecher and other KGB officials claim it was Kalugin.