See also Douglas J. MacEachin, US Intelligence and the Polish Crisis, 1980 - 1981 (Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, 2001).
Kuklinski died 10 February 2004 at the age of 73. Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb, "Spy Ryszard Kuklinski Dies; Pole Aided CIA in Cold War," Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2004, B6.
Materials presented in chronological order.
Martin, David C. "A
Polish Agent in Place." Newsweek, 20 Dec. 1982, 49.
This article reports the presence of a CIA penetration agent in the Polish Army, without naming Kuklinski. However, Martin has the agent remaining in place until just before the institution of martial law.
Woodward, Bob, and
Michael Dobbs. "CIA Had Secret Agent on Polish General Staff."
Washington Post, 4 Jun. 1986, A1.
Weiser, Benjamin.
1. "Polish Officer Was U.S.'s Window on Soviet War Plans." Washington Post, 27 Sep. 1992, A1ff.
2. "A Question of Loyalty." Washington Post Magazine, 18 Dec. 1992, W9 ff.
Polish Col. Ryszard Kuklinski escaped to the United States in 1981, "shortly after he had given the CIA advance warning of Jaruzelski's plans to crush Solidarity." He had spied for the West for almost 10 years, focusing primarily on the Soviet Union.
Excerpt carried in American Intelligence Journal 14, no. 1 (Autumn/Winter 1992-1993): 61-70.
Masterov, Valery. "Spy
Kuklinski: Traitor or Patriot?" Moscow News, 25 Oct. 1992, 7.
"[T]he Kuklinski case is becoming yet another factor tending to divide the already fragmented political scene" in Poland.
Rosenberg, Tina. "Poland's
Belated Thanks to a Patriot Spy." New York Times, 29 Sep. 1997,
A14 (N).
Following "much negotiation and a five-day interrogation of Colonel Kuklinski in Washington, Warsaw last week announced it had cleared his record. Colonel Kuklinski 'acted in conditions of higher necessity,' read the statement."
Spolar, Christine.
"A Cold War Spy, Warm at Last: Polish Colonel Who Fed Soviet Secrets
to CIA Is Absolved by His Homeland." Washington Post, 2 Oct.
1997, A17, A20.
Col. Ryszard Kuklinski, the Polish army officer who supplied the CIA Soviet military documents from 1972 until his defection in 1981, has been absolved of charges of treason in his homeland. The decision was made public on Polish television on 22 September 1997.
Nagorski, Andrew. "All
Is Forgiven, or Is It?" Newsweek, 27 Oct. 1997, 40.
Perlez, Jane. "A
Cold War Spy Doesn't Dare Go Home." New York Times, 16 Nov.
1997, section 4, 3.
Kramer, Mark. "Colonal
Kuklinski and the Polish Crisis of 1980-81." Cold War International
History Project Bulletin 11 (Winter 1998): 48-59.
Scislowska, Monika.
"Former CIA Spy to Visit Homeland for First Time in 17 Years."
Associated Press, 2 Mar. 1998. [http://flash.cleveland.com]
On 28 February 1998, Col. Ryszard Kuklinski was issued a new passport at the Polish Embassy in Washington, DC. He plans to return to Poland for a visit in late April. Kuklinski told reporters that he would like to return to his homeland "permanently" at a later date.
Grajewski,
Marcin. "Spy for U.S Gets Mixed Reception in Poland." Reuters, 27 Apr. 1998. [http://dailynews.yahoo.com]
Ryszard Kuklinski returned to his native Poland on 27 April 1998. After meeting with the Cold War spy, Polish Premier Jerzy Buzek told reporters: "Kuklinski was a witness of history. He took his decision at moments that were very difficult for Poland. I have a right to suppose that these decisions saved our country from bloodshed." Public opinion polls show that Poles remain split over how to view Kuklinski's actions in spying for the CIA.
Perlez, Jane. "Spy
Recounts Passing Data to CIA." New York Times, 30 Apr. 1998.
[http://www.nytimes.com]
Washington
Post. "For the Record." 27 Oct.
1998, A17. [http://www.washingtonpost. com]
"Poland is to pay around $366,000 to Col. Ryszard Kuklinski, one of the United States' top Cold War spies, to compensate him for property confiscated under Communist rule."
Seib, Gerald F. "Briefly,
A Spy Steps Forward." Wall Street Journal, 24 Nov. 1999, A20.
Fischer, Benjamin B.
"Entangled in History: The Vilification and Vindication of Colonel
Kuklinski." Studies in Intelligence 9 (Summer 2000): 19-33.
Intelligencer 11, no. 2 (Winter 2000): 39-50.
This is an excellent review of the Kuklinski case.
Lamb, Yvonne Shinhoster. "Spy Ryszard Kuklinski Dies; Pole Aided CIA in Cold War." Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2004, B6. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
"Col. Ryszard Kuklinski, a Polish Cold War spy who has been hailed as a hero and denounced as a traitor for leaking confidential plans relating to the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact alliance to the CIA, died Feb. 10 in Tampa after a stroke. He was 73.... Kuklinski fled to the United States with his family in 1981." DCI George J. Tenet said that "the information that Col. Kuklinski provided assisted the CIA in making critical national security decisions and helped keep the Cold War from escalating."
Weiser, Benjamin. A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save His Country. New York: PublicAffairs, 2004. New York: PublicAffairs, 2004. [pb]
The paperback edition includes a brief addition to the "Postscript" noting Kuklinski's death on 11 February 2004 and the return of his ashes to Poland.
Clark comment: This may be the best book on human intelligence ever published. The people -- on both sides of the case officer/spy tandem -- are real people. The author allows their humanness to come through in both their words and actions. The dilemmas faced by Kuklinski and his handlers are presented in such a way that even those who have never had to face such decisions can readily understand and even identify with the potential harm that could come from a wrong move. The use of tradecraft -- the excellent use of tradecraft -- by the CIA officers and Kuklinski is carefully blended into the fabric of the story and is not overstated. Tradecraft is given the appropriate appearance of being little more than a normal part of the life of those who have to live by what otherwise would be rather strange-seeming activities. As Tom Troy says in Studies 48.2, "A Secret Life is a joy to read. Col. Ryszard Kuklinski is a hero, and Benjamin Weiser has written a great book about him." See also, my review in Defense Intelligence Journal 16.2 (2007): 155-156.
Eisner, Washington Post, 25 Apr. 2004, comments that "this well-done biography ... reveals the passions and tensions faced by Polish leaders under the thumb of Moscow during the 1970s and '80s. Weiser has produced a fascinating portrayal of Kuklinski, who decided that the best way to serve Polish nationalism was to become a spy for the West." The author's "lively narrative describes Kuklinski's nine years working for U.S. intelligence, converting interviews and a mountain of documentation into a page-turner."
For Jajko, Intelligencer 14.1, this is "a lucid, tightly organized book" and "a magnificent tale." The author's "narrative flows smoothly, explaining clearly and concisely all the main events of Colonel Kuklinski's double life without descent into tedious detail."
Troy, Studies 48.2 (2004), says the author's "riveting account .. of Kuklinski's life as a spy is superb; it should be 'must reading' for anybody interested in intelligence matters, the Cold War, or simply a good read.... Weiser never introduces extraneous material, embellishes the story, or speculates about what people were thinking, saying, and doing.... Col. Ryszard Kuklinski is a hero, and Benjamin Weiser has written a great book about him."
To Fischer, IJI&C18.1 (Spring 2005), this book offers insights into CIA tradecraft in "denied areas." However, Weiser approaches Kuklinski's story "from a human-interest angle and with a strong desire to recount the life of a courageous man to whom his Polish countrymen and Americans owe a debt of gratitude."
Chapman, IJI&C 18.2 (Summer 2005), reminds us that this "book was the first to detail the secret tradecraft used to run an agent deep inside the Iron Curtain in the face of competent counterintelligence police." This review is well worth reading as an essay on the subject of its title: See Robert D. Chapman, "Patriot or Traitor?" International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 18, no. 2 (Summer 2005): 364-374.
For Hansen, JIH 5.2 (Winter 2005), Weiser's "is an important work done by a writer who ... has a fascinating way of telling an ex[c]iting story." Arnold, AIJ 24 (2006), finds the book "more engaging and much easier to read than many biographies that examine complicated and covert lives." In addition, Weiser "offers much to students of HUMINT tradecraft."
Szalacha, I&NS 22.2 (Apr. 2007), calls Weiser's work "an eminently readable volume that tells a controversial story in a relatively straightforward fashion." In what seems to be a rather strange interpretation, the reviewer thinks that A Secret Life "was written with an eye to glorifying the CIA as an institution, rather than to praise or vindicate Kuklinski."
Weiser's remarks to a CIRA luncheon on 6 October 2004 are well worth reading. See "Speech by Ben Weiser," CIRA Newsletter 26, no. 4 (Winter 2004): 3-14.
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