Some of the more noteworthy traitors that provided top-secret information to the Soviets included John Anthony Walker, a communications specialist for the U.S. Navy.  He sold a highly-classified radio cipher card to the Soviets for just a few thousand dollars. The decoding card allow the Soviets to decipher over one million classified U.S. documents causing Walker to be considered one of the most devastating modern spies in U.S. history.

In 1980, Ronald Pelton, an NSA (National Security Agency) communications analyst, used his photographic memory to pass top-secret information to the Soviets. After initially walking in the Soviet Embassy, he offered classified information to help pay off debt from his bankruptcy.  Over 3½ years, he received around $35,000 yet never once provided the Soviets with a single document.  One of the secrets he informed the Soviets about was the successful tapping of an underwater telecommunications cable which carried Soviet military communications.

In 1973, the U.S. offered the Soviets a new site for their new embassy, located on one of the highest hills in Washington, Mt. Alto (elevation 350 feet).  The location provided to the Soviets was the third highest point in DC and offered a line-of-site to the Capitol, the White House the State Department and even the Pentagon.  At the time, 1973, techniques of electronic surveillance were not widely developed. It was however, feared that over time, the site would have allowed the Russians to successfully intercept secret U.S. radio signals.

The current Embassy of Russia, which was not occupied until 1991 is located at 2650 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20007.

The old Russian Embassy
1125 16th Street, NW (between L and M Streets NW)
Washington DC, 20036

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Photo credits: photo 1 flickr, photo 2 flickr

Post from: The DC Traveler