Bernie Reeves - of Metro Magazine & Raleigh Spy Conference - to track down American KGB agent

Bernie Reeves is a man determined to get to the bottom of things, and he is now on the track of an American KGB agent, who was recruited in London in 1978 by the KGB officer Viktor Oshchenko. This is an episode that was cut out of Christopher Andrew's recent "official" history of MI5, for the obvious reasons that this was an intelligence failure.

Bernie Reeves - the man behind Metro Magazine and the Raleigh Spy Conference

I am certain that Bernie Reeves will discover the truth, and reveal the details of who this KGB agent was at the next Raleigh Spy conference in March 2010.

Raleigh Spy Conference website

This is a copy of my recent correspondence with Bernie Reeves:

From: Mike Smith
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 4:14 AM
To: Bernie Reeves
Subject: An important public question for Christopher Andrew

Dear Bernie,

I have just noticed that Professor Christopher Andrew will be your guest at a Raleigh event on the 14th November, when he will be promoting his new book “Defend the Realm”. John Symonds would like to ask if you would consider putting a question to Professor Andrew on his behalf.

In the original Mitrokhin Archive publication there were five full pages devoted to John Symonds’s story (pages 559-563 inclusive), which were designed to create a media frenzy. However, in this latest book all reference to John Symonds has completely disappeared, despite large chunks of the new book being almost identical to what is in the Mitrokhin Archive.

John has his own theories about why his story has been “disappeared”: either MI5 are avoiding embarrassment, or Andrew fears a further libel case against him leading to yet another public apology (see attached). John suggests that this question is sprung to surprise Andrew (for public effect).

If you can help John get to the bottom of the reason for the deletion, then he will be prepared to offer himself for cross-examination by your audience at the next Raleigh Spy Conference if you so desire.

Kind regards,
Mike Smith

On Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 12:44 PM, Bernie Reeves wrote:

I will certainly look into the matter…I heard from Symonds after he was included in the keynote address by Nigel West.

Best
Bernie Reeves
Editor & Publisher
Raleigh Metro Magazine
Founder: Raleigh Spy Conference


From: Mike Smith
To: Bernie Reeves
Date: Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 6:43 PM
Subject: The mission to Portugal and the secret American recruited to the KGB

Dear Bernie,

I didn't hear any more regarding the question about John Symonds. I guess there was a good reason why Professor Andrew left John out of the History of MI5, despite Nigel West's claim that he was the "World's Greatest Spy"?

With your interest in intelligence matters through the Raleigh Spy Conference, I wondered whether you would be as puzzled as I am about an unidentified US citizen recruited by the KGB in London in 1978, who was being groomed to spy against the USA. For some reason, which I cannot understand, this American is not referred to at all in Professor Andrew's book, and I know about him only because he was a witness at my trial in 1993.

I wrote to Gary Powers Jnr and he published a piece I wrote about this American, who was referred to as "Mr E" at my trial. You can read it here at page 16 of the November 2006 issue of Cold War Times.

I have passed the American and British Secret Service documents (made available to my Defence lawyers) to Cryptome for publication here.

I would have thought that it is quite rare for a US citizen to be recruited by the KGB in London, but it seems nobody now wants to talk about it, or to refer to it in the MI5 history - for the obvious reason that MI5 failed to observe what was going on under their noses. However, this mysterious "Mr E" also raises an important point about how evidence is fabricated at an espionage trial, because he was called as a witness to prove that the KGB (especially KGB officer Viktor Oshchenko) had recruited people in London, and that he had been sent on a mission to Lisbon to deliver a letter to another KGB officer.

In 1977 I had been on a perfectly innocent holiday to France, Spain and Portugal with a friend of mine - we drove around in my car and stayed in camp sites and cheap hotels. Purely because I had kept a tourist map from Oporto, which had been marked with bus stops and a restaurant by a camp-site attendant, I was accused during my trial of being sent to Oporto on a similar KGB mission as "Mr E" had participated in. This was not only a completely fabricated story but had no connection to the evidence presented. In fact a Portuguese journalist, Frederico Duarte Carvalho, has taken an interest in my case and published details about the story in the magazine he works for.

The original article in Portuguese.

An English language version of the article.

All the main evidence at my trial is available in the External Links on my Wikipedia page.

This is where I want you to see how devious are the people who support Professor Andrew. This is what actually happened:

(1) As I said above, it was claimed at my trial in 1993 that I had been sent on a KGB mission to Oporto in 1977

(2) In 1995 the Security Commission published a report on my case (Cm2930). There was no reference in the report about me visiting Portugal, or being sent there by the KGB.

(3) In 1999 Christopher Andrew published the Mitrokhin Archive, and in the book it was claimed that I had been sent to Lisbon on a KGB mission in 1979. You will note that this is now a completely different place and time from the evidence used to convict me at my trial in 1993. I have published the pages about my case from Andrew's book on my blog.

(4) In 2009, in Christopher Andrew's latest book, he has now removed all reference to Portugal, no doubt because I have exposed that matter as false evidence. That Portuguese "evidence" was vital to the Prosecution to secure my conviction, but now it seems that the Oporto episode, like "Mr E", has been edited out of the "official" history of MI5. I have published the pages relating to me from Andrew's latest book here.

Whether you choose to believe my version of events or Andrew's, you must admit there is something very odd and unethical going on here. Perhaps the "Mr E" case would make a suitable topic for your next Raleigh Spy Conference?

Regards,
Mike Smith

From: Bernie Reeves
To: Mike Smith
Date: Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 4:03 PM
Subject: RE: The mission to Portugal and the secret American recruited to the KGB

I am behind the curve on this…Let me catch up.

Bernie Reeves
Editor & Publisher
Raleigh Metro Magazine
Founder: Raleigh Spy Conference


I am sure that Bernie Reeves is the right man for this task, and that the truth will be revealed in his Metro magazine.