While James Bond may dine on caviar and 1955 Dom Perignon, a KGB agent met his CIA handler for a casual French dinner one evening in 1985.

The agent, Vitaly Yurchenko, had defected to the U.S. five years earlier and was providing Soviet secrets to the CIA. During the course of their meal, he either changed his mind about working for the Americans or suspected that the CIA knew that he may have been working both sides of the street.

At one point during dinner, it seems he decided to re-defect back to the Soviet side. He made a hasty getaway through a bathroom window and walked back to the Soviet Embassy on 16th Street causing on the more famous double-double crosses in U.S./Soviet counter-espionage history.

Like the cold war, the resturant at 1335 Wisconsin Avenue Northwest ceased operations.

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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