A COLD WARRIOR REPORTS
Modin, Yuri Ivanovich, with Jean-Charles Deniau and Aguieszka Ziarek.
Trans., Anthony Roberts. My Five Cambridge Friends: Burgess, Maclean,
Philby, Blunt, and Cairncross--By Their KGB Controller. New York: Farrar,
Straus & Giroux, 1994. ISBN 0-374-21698-3
Yuri Modin was the NKVD case officer
for the members of the Cambridge Spy Ring for the last three years of its
life (1948-1951) before two members were forced to seek asylum in the Soviet
Union to escape a counterintelligence hunt spearheaded by the almost equally
famous VENONA/BRIDE cryptanalysis case. This book is his memoir of the ring
and his role in it.
Modin first encountered the Soviet
secret police in much the same way as many of his generation did: his teenage
commitment to Communism led him to turn in a food hoarder during World War
II. Originally a student of the Leningrad Naval Academy, his command of
English led to him to a job translating documents obtained by Soviet agents
in the UK (Modin suggests that there were up to 30). He was soon tasked
with being the sole translator of the massive load of documents from the
Cambridge Ring and developed an extensive knowledge of its members. In 1947
Modin was sent to London to prescreen documents on the spot and was soon
volunteered as the case officer for the ring.
In a review of the biographies of the
members of the ring Modin gives some interesting insights into the members.
There are no major revelations in these sketches except to give credit to
the veterans Deutsch and Maly for recruiting the ring, and to support the
view that the Morris Dobb was a talent spotter rather than a recruiter,
and his opinion that the prime mover in the formation of the ring was Burgess.
Modin has a very high regard for Burgess, not only for his industry as an
agent, but also for his very keen intellect (a point even Burgess' detractors
have to concede). It seems that the four known to one another (Blunt, Burgess,
Philby, and Maclean) were recruited by one another in much the same way
as one rounds up a foursome for golf (and contrary to the rules of operational
security).
These four were committed to their cause from the
beginning and eager to serve it in any way and indeed their enthusiasm may
almost have been too much in their early days and needed careful guidance.
Cairncross was the odd one out. He did not belong to the same social class
as the others and was seen as highly intelligent by his contemporaries but
was not considered as among the great and the good. As a dedicated Socialist
from a Scots working class background he was the social opposite of his
countryman MacLean and probably would have been beyond the pale for the
other three if they had ever met. Although no less committed or any less
productive than the others, Cairncross did not benefit from the mutual support
that the unorthodox spy ring of Blunt, Burgess, Philby and MacLean had.
Modin describes his handling of the
five without any attempts to grab the limelight, although he does take credit
for improving the productivity of his agents by taking care to treat them
as they wanted to be treated. There appear to have been several clashes
between these most valuable agents and their earlier case officers. The
main body of the book is a mixture of narrow escapes (some almost farcical)
and an outline of the scale of the espionage conducted by the five that
seriously damaged British interests on several occasions. The descriptions
of the paths used to obtain some of the information (especially from MacLean,
and sometimes at very short notice) should be taken to heart by anyone concerned
with controlling the flow of confidential information.
Modin was also the last case officer
of the ring and has to describe the stress mounting on the members as Philby
was able to monitor progress in the VENONA case as it was about to unveil
MacLean. At this point he tells his version of Burgess' maniacal escapades
on the roads of Virginia and of the flight of MacLean (and explains why
Burgess also went to Moscow).
The overall tone of the book is that
of an old soldier who did his duty and who is proud of his service. It is
as if he is telling his story in front of the fire at the end of a pleasant
evening. It is relaxed and candid and shows none of the defensiveness of
Sudoplatov's Special Tasks and is very readable because of this.
Praise must go to the translator (Anthony Roberts) for his role. Modin's
comments and observations on some of the ramifications of the activities
of his Cambridge friends, such as the Hollis affair, do not dissemble and
even have an air of honest exasperation. The disclosures made are not radical
or surprising, but more often are clarifications. This book may not be the
very last word on the Cambridge ring, but it is a significant contribution
and a highly entertaining one that is strongly recommended.
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