User:Adrian829/Operation Whisper

= Operation Whisper = The novel Operation Whisper by Barnes Carr is about the recruitment and development of the infamous American born Soviet Spies Morris Cohen and Lona Cohen known for acquiring the designs of the first nuclear bomb. The novel focuses more on Morris Cohen instead of his wife Lona Cohen. The novel follows the Cohens throughout their journey as a Spy. The novel begins by describing Morris and how the Cohens would come to run the Portland Spy Ring. Everything that Carr writes about the Cohens is in chronological order, following Morris through recruitment and spy school. He goes onto discuss the return of the Cohens after their training, and what they did once they returned to the United States. The novel continues on to their escape and arrival to England, where they ended up running the Portland Spy Ring.

Recruitment
Morris came to Spain during the Spanish Civil War to aid the Loyalists. Whilst in Spain Morris was recommenced to become a Soviet spy by Earl Browder who the Communist party leader in the United States. He saw how similar Morris ideology was too that of the Soviet Union, and thus recommended to meet with a colleague of his in Barcelona. His colleague was no other than Alexander Orlov, a soviet spy who operated several gorilla schools for the Soviet Union to train Soviet spies. It was here that Morris would meet and train under the tutelage of Orlov, but first in order to be accepted into the school Morris had to pass a test of loyalty conducted by Orlov. This test was to see the loyalty of the canditate, by asking a series of questions about what the possible candidate thought of the Soviet Union and the believes of the Soviet Union. It is later mentioned in the novel that the purpose of Orlov test was to determine the reason behind the candidate wanting to join. This was especially necessary because of the huge cost it took to train a single agent. Those that Orlov was specifically looking for were candidates that were looking to make some money as a spy, or those that were looking for a way to support the Soviet Union due to their aligned ideology. In Morris's case, he was very much looking for a way to contribute to the ideological cause of the Soviet Union. Orlov mentions that Morris's was the perfect candidate because of his ideological agreement with the Soviets, and because he was personally recommended by Browder. Although few spies were accepted into their academies, the Soviets still managed to constantly be effective in the field.

Training
Although Morris underwent the same recruitment technique that his fellow classmates had undergone, he was treated differently due to his involvement in the Spanish Civil War. This resulted in Morris not needing to train as hard as the other in the physical aspects and instead could spend more time in the covert tactics and intelligence gathering training. This difference in training lead Orlov to personally suggest that Morris train as well to become a radio operative. Morris's training occurred in Barcelona in the Soviet spy school code named "Construction". This school is believed to be the first Soviet Spy School outside of Moscow. The Construction was intended to kept a secret, so much so that the students weren't registered under their names, instead they were registered under code numbers so that they were unable to be recruited by the military of their home country. Once students were prepared and properly trained, they were sent back to their respective countries to lay dormant and gather intel whilst reporting their findings back to the Soviet Union. This was the case for Morris, who was trained to be a radio operative and returned to the United States to observe and report.

Return to the United States
Once the Cohens were done with their training, they were sent back to their home country, the United States. Upon his return Morris was given a new handler; Semyon Semyonov. In order to start their intel gathering they would recruit others in certain positions to report back to them. They tried to focus on people who worked or had a connection to the United States Government, such as contract workers who would occasionally do jobs for the Government. However the reason for his return was to infiltrate the Massachusetts Institute of technology or MIT for the NKVK. Even though Semyonov was only a year ahead of Cohen, he was placed to infiltrate MIT in order to meet the "future of the United States" and to gather intel on what new projects the US had in the near future. In 1939 the Soviet pavilion closed, which lead Morris only contact to the Soviet Union to be in Manhattan. The problem however was that the chief of station in Manhattan was no other than Gaik Badalovich Ovakimian who was being monitored closely by the FBI. Ovakimian would later be arrested by the FBI in 1941 for failing to register as a foreign agent.

Throughout his time as a Soviet agent the Cohens came across some of the Soviets best spies, this included Semyonov and Orlov. Throughout the years the Cohens worked under Semyonov as his assistant in many of his operations. The Cohens begin to gain more work when the Soviets turned to focus more on American radar net works. This is where the Cohens had trained specifically in. This switch lead the Cohens to gather much intel on what America was doing, especially in the departments of research. It is in June of 1940 when the Soviets get their biggest recruit. Specifically it is when Morris recruits someone that is working in a US defense plant, and would later go on to move to be a control officer at Station One. This would later give way to the Cohens biggest "grab" from American Intelligence, the full designs for the American nuclear bomb.

Escape
With another American couple the Rosenbergs was arrested for being Soviet Spies and suspected of being put to death, the noose around the Cohens began to tighten. So much so that it weren't for a loyal friend of theirs that had warned them to escape, they would have been arrested. As a result, the Cohens left the United States in 1950, first arriving to Poland and later moving to England in 1954. Whilst in England the Cohens formed and ran the Portland Spy Ring. The spy ring however lasted only a couple of years. Falling once the Cohens and other pivotal members got arrested in January 1961.