I learned of Jack Barsky from a podcast, and had to find out how in the world does this happen?! In 2015, Barsky was interviewed by 60 Minutes, telling his tale of betrayal to more than one country, and more than one family.
Barsky was born in 1949, behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin, and grew up as Albrecht Dittrich. Planning to become a chemistry professor, Dittrich was instead recruited by the KGB to infiltrate the U.S. After training in Moscow, Dittrich landed in Canada in 1978, and soon made his way to New York. Taking the name of a deceased child, Dittrich became Jack Barsky and began his sleeper spy career. It wasn’t until 1995 that the FBI became aware of Barsky, and it was another two years until they picked him up for questioning.
Throughout the book, I just never quite understood what value Barsky provided to the KGB. Barsky was working as a bike messenger with little opportunity to infiltrate any institutions or begin friendships with powerful and influential people. The intelligence he provided to the KGB was more along the lines of assessing the mood of the country (we should be thankful for his lack of opportunity). He did return to school to study computer programming, but it appeared his sphere of influence was limited. Still, it was interesting to learn the depth of his training, and infuriating to think of how time and money the U.S. spent to surveil him.
In the end, this is Barsky’s autobiography rather than a tale of espionage, but the journey is interesting.
candysplanet 