Kitty Harris (died 6 October 1966) was a Canadian-born Sovietsecret agent and "long-time special courier of the OGPU-NKVD foreign intelligence during the 1930s and 1940s."[1]
Although mentioned by name in Walter Krivitsky’s book I was Stalin’s agent, Harris was identified only in 2001 when her code name "Ada" or "Aida" was found in declassified files from the Venona project. This was a counterintelligence program initiated by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service (later the National Security Agency) that ran from February 1, 1943 until October 1, 1980.
Catherine (the earliest spelling is Katherine) Harris was born to a poor Polish Jewish family, probably in London, Ontario, sometime between 1893 and 1902.[2][3] Her father was a shoemaker from Białystok, in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Poland). The family migrated to Winnipeg, Canada in 1904-1905.[4] She began to work, first in a cigar factory, then in a clothing factory as a seamstress in 1912. She joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies") union and was a leader of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike. Between 1919 and 1923, Harris moved with her family to Chicago.[1][failed verification]
In 1931, Harris joined OGPU foreign intelligence under "Illegal" operative Abram Einhorn. She went to work in Berlin (a centre of Soviet espionage operations, particularly passport forgery) in 1932. In October 1935, she went to Moscow for training in radio operation, photography, and cryptography.[1]
In 1936, Harris went to Paris as an NKVD radio operator. The following year, she returned to Moscow for training in the use of new equipment and then went to London as keeper and courier of a safe house. Under rezidentGregory Grafpen, she liaised with Donald Maclean of the Cambridge Five. In 1938, she followed Maclean to Paris as liaison. Maclean married an American in 1939: his relationship with Harris ended. When France fell to the Nazis in 1940, she escaped to Moscow, where she worked in the NKGB foreign intelligence reserve.[1]
In December 1937, Harris had applied for and received Soviet citizenship. When she retired from active service, she received an apartment in Riga. There, problems with alcoholism and mental illness surfaced.[citation needed] Harris died in Gorky in 1966. She is buried there in the Marina Roshcha cemetery with a grave marker that lists her date of birth as 24 May 1902.[6]
Arthey, Vin.(2004). Like Father; Like Son: A Dynasty of Spies. Great Britain. Little, Brown & Company and St. Ermins Press. ISBN978-1-903608-07-4.
Damaskin, Igor with Elliott, Geoffrey.(2001). Kitty Harris: The Spy With Seventeen Names. St. Ermin's Press. London. ISBN1-9036-0806-6.
Haynes, John Earl and Klehr, Harvey.(1999). Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America. Yale University Press. New Haven. ISBN0-3000-7771-8.
Romerstein, Herbert and Breindel, Eric.(2001). The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors. Washington, DC. Regnery Publishing, Inc. ISBN978-0-8952-6225-7.
Schecter, Jerrold and Leona.(2002). Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History. Dulles, Virginia. Brassey's Inc. ISBN1-57488-327-5.
Whittell, Giles.(2010). BRIDGE OF SPIES: A True Story of the Cold War. New York. Broadway Books. ISBN978-0-7679-3107-6.