Wednesday, October 20, 2010

DEFECTOR IN PLACE

An oxymoron but nonetheless a term that has entered the intelligence lexicon to describe a spy who opts to remain at his post, supplying secrets to his controllers, rather than physically leaving his or her country and accepting resettlement. The two CIA agents most frequently described as defectors in place are Oleg Penkovsky  and Adolf Tolkachev, both of whom turned down the opportunity to leave the Soviet Union and live in the United States under the sponsorship of the Central Intelligence Agency.