Venona Special Studies doc

 
- 127 - 
Special Study 
 
ADDITIONAL COVERNAMES AND RELATED INFORMATION 
IN DIPLOMATIC TRAFFIC

---

 
- 128 - 
 
 
  TO       FROM    DATE     SUBJECT 
   Chief, 
   AS-90   AS-93   26 Sept '47   Special Study 
 
         Attached hereto are three copies for distribution of the 
   requested study on additional covernames and related information 
   in diplomatic traffic (nnnnnnnnnn 
 
        Hugh S. Erskine 
    1 Incl.                          HUGH S. ERSKINE 
      3 copies                       Lt. Col., Signal Corps 
                                     Asst. Chief, CSGAS-93 
 
 
 
 
 
    
                                         
 
 
 
 
 
                  
AS - 93 
 
                Do we have 
              anything additional 
              on this? 
 
                    Bz 
 
                        27 May 48 
 
 

---

 
- 129 - 
    ADDITIONAL COVERNAMES AND RELATED INFORMATION 
 
           IN DIPLOMATIC TRAFFIC (nnnlnnnnnnnn 
 
 
 
1.   Progress of covername research 
 
     Several new covernames have been recovered in the 
nnnnnnnncode since the original report on this subject 
was made (issued as ID Special Analysis Report #1); and 
these, together with some additional identifications, 
are made available in this report and should be added 
to Report #1. 
 
         a.  Additional information is available about 
ROBERT (?), DORA, and AL' or EL', section 10 of Report #1, 
and PILOT (??), section 11 of Report #1. 
 
             A two-part New York - Moscow message of  
1 October 1944 (internal serial number 786, external number 1388 
and 1389) has been exploited; the first part is still un- 
readable, but the second part yields the following 
information:  The originator (MAI)has given AL' detailed  
(instructions?).  AL' has promised to write a special  
(report ?), but for the time being he has communicated  
the following to MAI:  (Spotty text involving ROBERT 
and AL' and the getting and giving of "material.") 
PILOT(?) (takes?) the working up of the material to 
ROBERT's wife (he himself is not married), who is not 
only in contact (?) with her husband's work but actively  
assits him in working it up.  (The rest is not yet read- 
able, but the new name IZRA occurs in it.) 
 
             On 23 October , in answer to MOSCOW's 4881,  
New York reports that DORA is ROBERT's wife. 
 
             ROBERT and PILOT (?) are mentioned in con- 
junction in messages of 4 January 1945 and 17 January 1945. 
 
         b.  In section 11 of Report #1 (Relationships,  
etc.), the following additions should be made: 
 
             KAPITAN (Captain):  covername for Franklin 
Delano Roosevelt. 
 
             KAB-?- or KAV-?-:  covername for Winston  
Leonard Spencer Churchill. 
 
 

---

 
- 130 - 
             These identifications were made possible by 
a New York - Moscow message of 5 September 1944 which  
says:  "According to intelligence (?) from GOMER (HOMER), 
KAPITAN And KAB-?- (or KAV-?-) will meet about 9 September 
in Quebec for ... A detailed exposition (by) GOMER will 
follow."  The subsequent discovery of a passage in a  
message of 1 June 1944 alluding to DUEVID NAILS (DAVID 
NILES), "adviser of ‘KAPITAN'," established which was  
Roosevelt and which was Churchill.  The Niles referred  
to must be DAVID K. NILES, Administrative Assistant to  
the President. The form KAPITAN is based on a passage  
in a message of 28 July 1944 where this code refers  
to the captain of a tanker. 
 
             The code group with the value RUZVEL'T 
(Roosevelt) has also been located (message of 15 June 1944). 
 
         c.  In section 15 of Report #1, the following  
addition should be made: 
 
             GOMER (Homer):  This group occurs in a message 
of 5 September 1944 which reports on the coming meeting 
between Roosevelt and Churchill in Quebec.  He is mentioned  
as the source of this intelligence. 
 
         d.  In section 17 of Report #1 these revisions 
and additions should be made: 
 
             ZEMLIAK (Fellow Countryman):  coverword for  
male communist (U.S.?). 
 
             ZEMLIACHKA (Fellow Countrywoman):  coverword 
for female Communist (U.S.?). 
 
             GOROZHANIN (urbanite, plural GOROZHANE:   
coverword for American (a national of the United States). 
 
             The ZEMLIAK identification was made possible  
by a message of 15 June 1944 (the same message which con- 
tained RUZVEL'T), in which the votes received by the  
candidates of the ZEMLIAKI for president in 1932, 1936, 
and 1940 are given.  These turned out to be the votes 
received by Foster and Browder in those years. 
 
     2.  Examples of intelligence about agents and contacts 
 
     This last section of the report consists of two 
messages which illustrate the type of intelligence being  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                           2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

---