Letters to the Editor – 2/19/14
Ignoring threats
As editor of Victor Sheymov’s book Tiebreaker, which Bob Jones wrote about in his column “Russian Spy Comes In From The Cold,” I would like to add some facts that will interest your readers.
Sheymov was in charge of security for all KGB foreign communications, a career he described in his first book Tower of Secrets, published in 1993. He defected with his family for ideological reasons. He was extensively debriefed by the CIA and the NSA immediately upon his arrival in the U.S. in 1980.
His new book, Tiebreaker (one of his codenames), tells how he immediately learned English, got an
MBA and embarked on a career in investment banking. But all his deals mysteriously collapsed, so he took up an offer to work for the NSA – which he did for 20 years. He also worked during that time for the British MI6. But for all the extraordinary reasons described in Tiebreaker, never for the CIA.
The CIA had promised Sheymov and his family immediate citizenship, a million dollars, health benefits – but balked. The Sheymovs were continually harassed by the CIA. Sheymov even narrowly escaped being killed. Curious as to why so many Soviet defectors had such a bad time, he realized that only a mole or moles feared being unmasked by a defector who might recognize them. He identified the mole who was his main adversary. To his chagrin, one major mole he failed to identify was his own liaison with the FBI, Robert Hanssen, a man he thought he knew well.
Sheymov left the NSA in 2000 to invent a breakthrough cyber security technology based on a radically new concept of cyberspace, which he patented. He financed the development with the proceeds of a suit against the CIA, which was brought pro bono by ex-CIA director James Woolsey, who was prompted by his disgust with the CIA’s record against the Sheymovs. This new technology, which has been fully tested and has never been broken, could assure total privacy of communications, and could end major hacking of major infrastructure, financial, corporate and government systems. The big question is: Why isn’t this technology being openly discussed?
I briefed Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s staff and proposed that they call Sheymov to give public testimony in Congress, because she is a co-sponsor of the bipartisan Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner’s USA Freedom Act, one of many pending bills restricting NSA surveillance. Neither she nor her staff has acknowledged receipt.
Roger Jellinek
Kahalu’u
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