Bernon F. Mitchell
Bernon F. Mitchell (born March 11, 1929 in Eureka , California , † November 12, 2001 in Saint Petersburg ) was an American employee of the National Security Agency and a defector .
From 1951 to 1954, Mitchell gained experience as a cryptologist in the US Navy . He served in Japan with the Naval Security Group and spent another year in Japan with the NSA. He earned a bachelor's degree from Stanford University . In 1957 he went back to the NSA.
Mitchell fled to the Soviet Union in 1960 with William H. Martin . On September 6, 1960, an international press conference took place in Moscow , at which the two cryptologists reported on extensive American wiretapping. The United States' intelligence gathering practices were the primary source of their dissatisfaction . They were concerned about US policies of intentionally violating other nations' airspace and the practice of deceiving the public about it. They were also disappointed with the US practice of intercepting and decrypting secret communications from its own allies and drew attention to the fact that the US government was ready to go so far as to recruit agents from its own allies. Martin and Mitchell were the first NSA employees to switch sides. For this they are still regarded as classic traitors in America today . The term whistleblower did not exist back then.
Web links
- Johanna Lutteroth: NSA scandal 1960: secret striptease in Moscow , Spiegel Geschichte , August 16, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ↑ James Bamford, The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Security Organization. Penguin Books, 1982, 185
- ↑ Bernon F. Mitchell in the SWR2 feature Spy Friends from November 19, 2014
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mitchell, Bernon F. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American NSA defector |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 11, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Eureka (California) |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 12, 2001 |
| Place of death | St. Petersburg |