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'''Adolf Georgievich Tolkachev''' ({{lang-ru|Адольф Георгиевич Толкачёв}}; 1927 in [[Aqtöbe|Aktyubinsk]], [[Kazakhstan]] – September 24, 1986) was a [[Soviet Union]] [[electronics engineering|electronics engineer]] who provided key documents to the [[United States]] [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) between 1979 and 1985. Working at the Soviet [[radar]] design house [[Phazotron]] as one of the chief designers, Tolkachev gave the CIA complete information about such projects as the [[Vympel R-23|R-23]], R-24, [[Vympel R-33|R-33]], [[Vympel R-27|R-27]], and [[Molniya R-60|R-60]], [[S-300 (missile)|S-300]]; fighter-interceptor aircraft radars used on the [[MiG-29]], [[MiG-31]], and [[Su-27]]; and other [[avionics]]. Among the equipment compromised by Tolkachev was the passive [[phased array]] radar used by the [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-31|MiG-31 Foxhound]] fighter, which the U.S. considered the most advanced airborne radar. He was executed as a spy in 1986.

==Career==
Tolkachev claimed his distrust of the Soviet government arose from the persecution his wife's parents had suffered under [[Joseph Stalin]]. He told the CIA he was inspired by [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]] and [[Andrei Sakharov]].{{sfn|Fischer|2008|p=36}}

From January 1977 to February 1978, Tolkachev attempted to approach cars with U.S. diplomatic license plates in Moscow five times,<ref name="wapo20080419">{{cite news| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/19/AR2008041902071_pf.html | work=The Washington Post | title=Cold War Spy Tale Came to Life on the Streets of Moscow | first=Matt | last=Schudel | accessdate=2010-04-23}}</ref> coincidentally approaching the CIA Moscow bureau chief [[Gardner Hathaway]] at a gas station, but the CIA was wary of [[counterintelligence]] operations by the KGB. On his fifth attempt the CIA assigned a Russian-speaking officer named [[John I. Guilsher]]<ref name="wapo20080419" /> to make contact with him. Eventually Tolkachev established his [[bona fides]] with intelligence data that proved to be of "incalculable" value to US experts. The [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]] completely reversed direction on a $70 million electronics package for the [[F-15 Eagle]] as a result of Tolkachev's intelligence, although historian [[Benjamin Fischer]] says that this was "the projected overall cost, not a cost savings".{{sfn|Fischer|2008|p=53}}

Because Tolkachev resisted the use of traditional CIA methods including [[dead drop]]s and radios, preferring personal meetings,{{sfn|Royden|2003}} he was able to transfer a much larger volume of classified data, much of it collected using various matchbox-sized cameras. The need for these meetings necessitated several innovations in CIA [[tradecraft]] such as signals and concealment. Although he demanded money for his cooperation, he insisted that he only wanted payment as proof of the value of his effort and risk. He was eventually paid a salary "equivalent" to the U.S. President, [[President of the United States#Compensation|at the time $200,000]] annually, most of which was to be held in escrow until he defected.{{cn|date=May 2016}}

==Compromise and arrest==
At some point in 1985, Tolkachev was compromised. While attempting to meet with Tolkachev, a CIA officer was arrested and questioned at the [[Lubyanka (KGB)|Lubyanka]] KGB headquarters and prison, and incriminating materials, including spy equipment such as cameras, were seized from him. The source of the exposure is believed to have been [[Edward Lee Howard]], an ex-CIA officer who fled to [[Moscow]] to avoid [[treason]] charges.<ref name="wapo20080419" /> [[Aldrich Ames]] apparently also passed his name to the Soviets.{{sfn|Royden|2003}}

Tolkachev was arrested by the KGB while on his way to meet his CIA contact and was later executed. With much planning over the years, Tolkachev had carefully compartmentalized his spy work and his family, helping his family avoid punishment as well. His son Oleg Tolkachev is now a prominent architect.{{sfn|Royden|2003}}

The arrest of Tolkachev, commanded by KGB Lt. Colonel [[Vladimir Nikolaevich Zaitsev]], was carried out by the KGB's [[Alpha Group|Alpha]] ''[[spetsnaz]]'' group. Zaitsev also says that the KGB kept Tolkachev's arrest secret in order to feed the CIA disinformation over the course of 10 months.<ref>{{Cite web|title = The Downfall of Agent Sphere|url = http://espionagehistoryarchive.com/2015/08/14/tolkachev-cia-kgb-counterintelligence/|website = Espionage History Archive|accessdate = 2015-08-24|first = Mark|last = Hackard|authorlink=Mark Hackard}}</ref>

==Legacy==

A painting of Tolkachev by [[Kathy Krantz Fieramosca]] hangs in the CIA's [[George Bush Center for Intelligence|Langley headquarters]] to this day.<ref name="Hoffman">{{cite web|last1=Hoffman|first1=David|title=How the CIA ran a ‘billion dollar spy’ in Moscow|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/how-the-cia-ran-a-billion-dollar-spy-in-soviet-era-moscow/2015/07/02/3f9734f8-1050-11e5-9726-49d6fa26a8c6_story.html|website=The Washington Post|publisher=The Washington Post|accessdate=4 May 2016}}</ref>

==Skepticism==

Fischer, the former chief historian of the CIA, has presented a contrary view of the Tolkachev case. He argues that:
*Since Tolkachev "made no less than six or seven attempts to contact the [CIA] Moscow Station," including senior CIA officials, it is implausible that the KGB did not detect him.{{sfn|Fischer|2008|p=31}}
*Tolkachev claimed that he took documents home to photograph them during lunch, but traveling by means of public transit would have taken about an hour.{{sfn|Fischer|2008|pp=40-42}}
*Since Tolkachev claimed to be asking for documents that were outside his area of work or security clearance, then he would not be able to obtain them without arousing suspicion in the secure, KGB-guarded facility.{{sfn|Fischer|2008|pp=43-44}}

Fischer also questions the value of the intelligence furnished by Tolkachev, asserting that since CIA [[Human intelligence (intelligence gathering)|HUMINT]] only constituted "one small ingredient" of the Pentagon's decision-making process, Tolkachev cannot be credited with saving taxpayers billions of dollars.{{sfn|Fischer|2008|p=53}} He concludes that Tolkachev was a "dangle" agent run by the KGB to obtain CIA technical equipment such as spy cameras, project a false image of Soviet military and economic vitality, and absorb the CIA in a resource- and time-consuming operation.{{sfn|Fischer|2008|p=49}}

However, contradicting Fischer's assertions, the Soviet [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]] discussed Tolkachev on September 25, 1986, and top Soviet officials stated that he "was caught with two million rubles" and "handed over very important military-technical secrets to the enemy". The conversation transcript states that Tolkachev had been executed the previous day for his espionage on behalf of the U.S.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Blanton|first1=Tom|last2=Savranskaya|first2=Svetlana|title=Soviet Politburo Discussed Billion-Dollar Spy|url=http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB540-Soviet-Politburo-Discussed-CIA-Billion-Dollar-Spy-Adolf-Tolkachev/|website=National Security Archive|publisher=The George Washington University|accessdate=4 May 2016}}</ref> Historian Nicholas Dujmovic criticized Fischer's article as "speculative," saying that he makes "few factual statements".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dujmovic|first1=Nicholas|title=The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal|journal=Studies in Intelligence|date=March 2016|volume=60|issue=1|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-60-no-1/the-billion-dollar-spy.html}}</ref> Hoffman rebutted Fischer's theory, reasserting that Tolkachev furnished genuine technical information.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hoffman|first1=David|title=Tolkachev's Bona Fides|journal=International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence|date=Fall 2016|volume=29|issue=3|pages=639-640|doi=10.1080/08850607.2016.1148511|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08850607.2016.1148511}}</ref> Fischer responded that the CIA has not released the intelligence provided by Tolkachev; that the Politburo transcript is "suspicious" and possibly falsified; and that the KGB, which ran other "dangles" providing intelligence on Soviet weapons technologies, was also in control of Tolkachev.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Fischer|first1=Benjamin B.|title=Tolkachev Evidence Still Skimpy|journal=International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence|date=Winter 2016|volume=29|issue=4|pages=846–848|doi=10.1080/08850607.2016.1177413|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08850607.2016.1177413}}</ref>

==Citations==
{{reflist}}
==References==
*{{cite journal|last1=Fischer|first1=Benjamin|title=The Spy Who Came in for the Gold: A Skeptical View of the GTVANQUISH Case|journal=Journal of Intelligence History|date=2008|volume=8|issue=1|doi=10.1080/16161262.2008.10555148|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16161262.2008.10555148|ref=harv}} 
*{{cite book|last1=Hoffman|first1=David|title=The Billion Dollar Spy:  A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal|date=2015|publisher=Doubleday|location=New York|isbn=978-0385537605|ref=harv}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Royden|first1=Barry|title=Tolkachev, A Worthy Successor to Penkovsky|journal=Studies in Intelligence|date=2003|volume=47|issue=3|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol47no3/article02.html|ref=harv}}

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[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Soviet engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century engineers]]
[[Category:Soviet people executed for spying for the United States]]
[[Category:People from Aktobe]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani people executed by the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Executed Soviet people from Kazakhstan]]