The most famous intelligence officers in the world. Women in intelligence

IN different time World history women were engaged in espionage. It is worth remembering the 6 most famous female spies in history.

Mata Hari (1876-1917)

The real name of the most famous female spy is Margarita Gertrude Celle. She was born in 1876. She grew up in a wealthy family and received a good education. Margarita in at a young age unsuccessful got married, her husband cheated on her and drank a lot. She lived for seven years on the island of Java, and then, returning to Europe, worked as a rider in a circus. Later, Margarita Gertrude Celle began performing as a dancer under the pseudonym Mata Hari. She soon became famous in Paris. The woman was famous for her relaxedness; she posed and danced almost naked. Soon German intelligence recruited Mata. During the war, the spy began collaborating with the French. She was a courtesan and had relationships with many politicians and military men, and perhaps this played a fatal role in her life. The French military arrested the spy and sentenced her to death. On October 15, 1917, the most famous female spy, Mata Hari, was shot.

Christine Keeler (born 1942)

A young model from Britain, Christine Keeler, who works part-time as a call girl, has earned herself the nickname - the new Mata Hari. She danced half-naked in bars and met with the Minister of War Affairs, John Profumo, as well as with the naval attaché of the Soviet Union, Sergei Ivanov. Scotland Yard became interested in the girl. Soon the police established that Keeler was engaged in espionage. She passed on all the information about John Profumo to one of her lovers. In the sixties, this caused a huge scandal, which was called the Profumo Affair. The Minister of Military Affairs had to resign. Later, in order to support himself, John had to work as a dishwasher. Christine Keeler herself earned much money and scandalous reputation, her photographs often appeared in newspapers and magazines.

Nancy Wake (1912)

Nancy Wake was born and raised in an ordinary, not rich family in New Zealand. Absolutely unexpectedly she received a huge inheritance and moved to the USA, and later to Paris. Nancy worked as a correspondent and wrote articles against Nazism. During the invasion German troops to France, a woman and her husband enlisted in the Resistance and provided assistance to the allies, as well as Jewish refugees. She had many nicknames, one of the famous ones being “Witch”. In 1943, having fled to London, Nancy Wake completed a special program, after which she became an intelligence officer. The Gestapo promised 5 million to anyone who would tell her where she was. The intelligence officer was involved in recruiting new people into the Resistance, as well as supplying weapons. The Nazis captured her husband, he did not tell about the whereabouts of his missus, for which he was shot. Nancy Wake managed to escape. In the mid-eighties she wrote an autobiography.

Violetta Jabot (1921-1945)

At 23, Violetta Jabot, after the death of her husband, was left alone with her daughter. Soon the Frenchwoman became a British intelligence officer. She was sent to France to collect and transmit information about the enemy's strength. After a secret mission, Violetta returned to her daughter in London. The next mission with a trip to her homeland turned out to be a failure, the intelligence officer was caught. Jabot was sent to a concentration camp, tortured for months and executed. This girl did not live long life, but left her mark on the path to Victory. In 1946, Violetta Jabot was awarded the St. George Cross posthumously.

Ruth Werner (1907-2000)

Ruth Werner lived with her husband in Germany. In her youth she was interested in politics. The woman was recruited by the USSR intelligence services and she and her husband had to move to Shanghai to collect information in China. Werner collaborated with Richard Sorge, which her husband did not know about. In 1933, a woman took special courses at an intelligence school in Moscow. Ruth Werner was never arrested, although she spied not only in China, but also in the USA, England, Switzerland and Poland. The USSR learned about the atomic bomb created in the USA only thanks to information collected by a spy. In 1950 she moved to the GDR. According to documents, Werner had two husbands who were her intelligence colleagues; later they were actually her husbands.

Violetta Basha, weekly magazine "My Family"

"HONEY TRAP"

The elusive and charming James Bond ends every special operation in bed with a beauty. Creating myths is the right of cinematic illusions. You shouldn't judge the work of intelligence by the adventures of agent 007 in the popular spy series of the last century. But the use of sex in the intelligence service is not a myth. In the professional environment there is a term - “honey trap”. As intelligence history has shown, this technique is quite effective. However, there are also misfires...

"Honey Trap"

Strictly speaking, a “honey trap” is any use in the interests of intelligence services of the sexual attractiveness or even just the charm of a representative of the fair sex sent by counterintelligence to an intelligence agent of another state. In professional language, such an action has another name - “woman’s eyeliner.” Somewhat less often, another combination is possible - an intelligence officer and a counterintelligence officer of the “host state” sent to her (this name is accepted in professional language to designate the country against which intelligence work is being conducted).
A provocation of this kind was used against our famous intelligence officer Mikhail Vladimirovich Fedorov, who served with his wife Galina Ivanovna Fedorova in foreign intelligence for more than 40 years, half of which was in illegal conditions. This couple created a communications residency in Western Europe with the height of " cold war».
...So, the heroine of the exciting episode was called Zhuzha, she was about 25 years old and she once appeared at the chess club where Mikhail Vladimirovich visited
(who “according to legend” had the name Sep)…

A life-long performance, or the peculiarities of illegal intelligence...

...Before we return to the events of the chess club, it is necessary to get acquainted with the lifestyle of illegal intelligence officers. All countries have intelligence. Legal intelligence works under the cover of embassies, consulates, trade missions, and companies. Failure here threatens an international scandal and expulsion. Illegal intelligence officers work without cover. A mistake is mortally dangerous for them and threatens with capital punishment or life imprisonment. In a foreign country, an illegal intelligence officer is a citizen of that state and most often has genuine documents. Before the business trip, the so-called “legend” is carefully worked out ( new biography). An illegal immigrant in the host state starts a home, a family, and gets a job. Friends, neighbors, co-workers appear. New habits arise. They must comply with both the national traditions of the host state and the “legend” of the illegal immigrant. The main thing is that lifestyle, habits and much more should not attract unnecessary attention. An illegal immigrant can start a family who will never know what kind of person lives next to them. An illegal immigrant's children grow up without knowing who their father is or
mother, where is their real homeland. All this is called "deep subsidence". Illegal immigrants not only do not have the right to speak the language of their native country, but they are also obliged to think in the language of the host country. Behind long years The language of the Motherland is being forgotten. The Fedorovs forbade themselves to speak Russian, even in private, somewhere remote from human eyes, say, in a forest. The most accurate way to compare them is with artists. With one difference... They have no right to fail! Most of the illegal immigrants with whom I was able to talk agreed with this definition of life: the stage on which you play most of your life.
... Visiting a chess club in one of the cities of the host country was a good way for Sep to make more contacts and reach the right people...

Zhuzha

A woman met Sep at the chess club. She introduced herself as a nurse, a re-emigrant from Hungary. She was about 25 years old. Her name was Zhuzha. Once, when Sep was at the club, she called the club on the phone and asked to call Sep. When Sep picked up the phone, he heard that a stranger who had recently appeared at the club was asking him for an urgent meeting “on a personal matter.” She made an appointment at the Russian cafe “Natalie”. This alarmed the Soviet intelligence officer. He wanted to refuse, but the girl insisted. In the cafe, Zhuzha didn’t really explain anything, but asked Sep to take her to the hostel where she lived. Then came... an invitation to a cup of coffee. However, everything was played out quite delicately, without excessive intrusiveness or swagger, but persistently. Zsuzsa behaved correctly, but she needed advice - whether she should marry a man from Hungary, a country “behind the Iron Curtain”. She structured the conversation in such a way that Sep was forced to give... an assessment of this country.
Suddenly Sep thought he heard a click. Their conversation was recorded on tape!
Sep, of course, called Hungary “totalitarian” and spoke highly of Western democracy. It became clear to him that this was the work of counterintelligence. After the incident, Zhuzha disappeared after completing the task.

The modest charm of Russian beauties

In October 1941, Vasily Zarubin (agent “Cooper” or “Maxim”) was sent to Washington, who began active work as a resident under the cover of the position of secretary of the Zubilin embassy. Vasily's wife, the outstanding intelligence officer Lisa Zarubina, played a unique role in leaking information on the American project atomic bomb, becoming not only a close friend of Kitty Harrison, the wife of project leader Robert Oppenheimer. Lisa Zarubina and the wife of the sculptor Konenkov managed to conquer the inner circle of the elegant “Oppi”, who had no idea that the charming Russian women were Soviet agents, and Konenkov’s wife worked under Lisa. They managed to persuade him to hire specialists known for their anti-fascist beliefs. “Oppy” should not have known at all that Semenov’s agents were developing these people. Liza Zarubina, according to the recollection of the legendary intelligence officer Pavel Sudoplatov, was not only a woman of classical beauty, a refined nature and an outstanding personality. She knew how to attract people to her like a magnet.

Mp3 - soundtrack from the film "We Only Live Twice", basics. theme, James Bond - agent 007

In March 1862, the trial took place famous intelligence officer Rose O'Neill Greenhow. She was accused (deservedly) of passing on information during Civil War in the USA in favor of the Confederacy: it informed the southerners about the deployment of northern troops. But there was no evidence against Rose O'Neill. Before her arrest, she ate all the documents incriminating her. After the trial, she went to Richmond, where Southern President Davis Jefferson awarded her a $2,500 bonus.

Two years later, Rose O'Neill drowned. They said about her that she was an amazing spy, because she knew the plans of her enemies better than President Lincoln. What would the allies do if not for her? natural charm and modest female beauty?

Success is in many ways easier for the fair sex - and all thanks to their appearance. In this selection you will find the most beautiful spies in the world, who have also achieved a lot in their field.

1. (1942-2017). "Mata Hari of the 60s." The former British model also worked as a prostitute, but she brought more benefit to intelligence. While working in a topless cabaret, she had an affair with the British Minister of War John Profumo and the USSR naval attache Yevgeny Ivanov.

But Christine did not need lovers for personal purposes: she extracted secrets from the minister, then selling them to her other lover. During the ensuing scandal, Profumo himself resigned, soon after the Prime Minister, and then the Conservatives lost the elections.

After the scandal, Christine became even richer than before: the beautiful spy was incredibly popular with journalists and photographers.

2. Cohen Leontine Teresa (Kroger Helen)(1913-1993). She was a member of the US Communist Party and a labor activist. In New York, at an anti-fascist rally in 1939, she met Morris Cohen, who later became her husband. Cohen collaborated with Soviet foreign intelligence.

It was on his tip that she was recruited. At the same time, Leontina guessed about her husband’s connections with the USSR. Without hesitation, she agreed to help state security agencies in the fight against the Nazi threat.

During the war, she was a liaison agent for the foreign intelligence station in New York. Before last days Throughout her life, she continued to work in the illegal intelligence department. She was buried at the Novo-Kuntsevo cemetery.

3. Irina (Bibiiran) Alimova(1920-2011). A veterinarian by profession, Alimova became an actress because of her beautiful appearance. After the role of Umbar's lover in the film of the same name, the girl became famous. She continued to study acting.

With the beginning of the war, Bibiiran wanted to go to the front and fell into military censorship. After the war, she received an offer to work in local counterintelligence. In 1952, under the pseudonym Bir, she went to Japan to work illegally in the Soviet station, which was being revived after the death of Richard Sorge.

Its chief was our intelligence officer, Colonel Shamil Abdullazyanovich Khamzin (pseudonym - Khalef). They entered into a fictitious marriage, Alimova became Mrs. Khatycha Sadyk. But after a few years, their relationship moved from the category of legends to true romantic love.

4. Nadezhda Troyan(1921-2011). During the war, finding herself in the occupied territory of Belarus, Nadezhda Troyan joined the ranks of the anti-fascist underground. She was a messenger, scout and nurse in partisan detachments. Participated in operations to blow up bridges and attack enemy convoys.

Her most significant feat was the destruction, together with Elena Mazanik and Maria Osipova, of the fascist Gauleiter of Belarus, Wilhelm von Kube. The women placed a mine under his bed.

After the incident, Hitler declared women his personal enemies.

5. Anna Morozova(1921-1944). In the 1930s, the largest military airfield was built in Seshche, where Morozova grew up. Anna Morozova worked there as an accountant. When the airfield was captured by Hitler, she left with Soviet troops, and then returned - supposedly to her mother. She remained to work for the Nazis as a laundress.

Thanks to the data she transmitted, two German ammunition depots, 20 aircraft and 6 railway trains were blown up.

In 1944, the girl was seriously wounded, and in order to avoid being captured, she blew herself up with a grenade along with several Germans.

6. (1876-1917). From rich family. She lived for seven years in an unhappy marriage on the island of Java with a drinking and dissolute husband. Returning to Europe, she got divorced.

She was recruited by German intelligence before the war, and during it Mata Hari began collaborating with the French. She used the money she received to cover her gambling debts.

The girl had many connections with high-ranking French politicians who were afraid of a damaged reputation. Some historians believe that Mata Hari did not prove herself very strong as a spy.

In 1917, she was declassified by the French military and sentenced to death penalty. On October 15, the sentence was carried out. Perhaps this was not even done because of her work as a scout.

7. Violetta Jabot(1921-1945). At 23, she became a widow and joined the ranks of British intelligence. In 1944, she went to occupied France on a secret mission to transmit data on the strength and location of enemy forces to headquarters, as well as to carry out a number of sabotage actions.

After completing the assignments, she returned to London to her little daughter. After some time, she flew to France again, but now the mission ended in failure - her car was detained, she fired back for a long time, but the enemy turned out to be stronger.

She was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, famous for its brutal torture and medical experiments on prisoners. The tortured Jabot was executed in February 1945. She became the second woman in history to be posthumously awarded the St. George Cross. Later, the intelligence officer was awarded the Military Cross and the Medal “For Resistance.”

8. Amy Elizabeth Thorpe(1910-1963). Her intelligence career began when she married the second secretary of the US Embassy. The man was 20 years older than Amy, and she cheated on him left and right. The husband did not mind: he was an agent of British intelligence, and Amy’s lovers helped to obtain information.

But her husband died, and agent Cynthia went to Washington, where she continued her activities as an intelligence officer: through her bed she obtained information from French and Italian employees and officers.

Her most famous spy trick was opening the French ambassador's safe. Through skillful actions, she was able to do this and copy the naval code, which then helped the Allied troops to land in North Africa in 1942.

9. Nancy Wake (Grace Augusta Wake)(1912-2011). A girl born in New Zealand suddenly received a rich inheritance and moved to New York and then to Europe. In the 1930s she worked as a correspondent in Paris, criticizing Nazism.

Together with her husband, she joined the ranks of the Resistance when the Germans broke into France. During his activities White Mouse helped Jewish refugees and military personnel cross the country.

Afterwards she was involved in organizing arms supplies and recruiting new members of the Resistance. Soon Nancy learned that her husband was shot by the Nazis because he did not tell about Nancy’s whereabouts. The Gestapo promised 5 million francs for her head.

10. Anna Chapman (Kushchenko)(b. 1982). She moved to England in 2003, and since 2006 has headed her own real estate search company in the USA.

While married to artist Alex Chapman, she tried to obtain information about nuclear weapons USA, politics in the East, influential persons. On June 27, 2010, she was arrested by the FBI, and on July 8, she admitted to espionage activities.

Moreover, as it turned out, Chapman was in a relationship with a certain peer from the House of Lords and even saw some princes. Funds for her luxurious life came from a business sponsored by some unknown person. As a result, Anna was deported to Russia under the spy exchange program.

11. Josephine Baker (Frida Josephine MacDonald)(1906-1975). The daughter of a Jewish musician and a black washerwoman. Became popular during the Revue Negre tour in Paris in 1925. Baker walked around Paris with a panther on a leash, for which she was nicknamed Black Venus.

She married an Italian adventurer and became a countess. She worked at the Moulin Rouge, but also starred in erotic films. In 1937, she renounced her US citizenship in favor of France, and then a war began, in which Black Venus actively became involved, becoming a spy.

Baker trained to be a pilot and received the rank of lieutenant. Transferred money to members of the underground. After the end of the war, she continued to dance and sing, and also acted in television series. For her services to France, she was awarded the Legion of Honor and the Military Cross.

12. Olga Chekhova (Knipper)(1897-1980). The actress who never admitted her connection with intelligence. She starred in Hollywood with Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable and other stars.

She married Mikhail Chekhov in the 30s and kept his last name forever, although in her homeland in Germany the authorities forced her to return her maiden name.

Goebbels hated the actress because she rejected him. But at the same time, the Fuhrer himself sympathized with her. In April 1945, Olga was arrested by Soviet intelligence of the USSR, and the spy was taken to Moscow. After that, she visited West Berlin and then moved to Germany. This visit was shrouded in secrecy.

The media wrote that Chekhova was a Soviet spy who received the Order of Lenin for services to the USSR from the hands of Stalin himself. Persons close to the Soviet leadership claimed that Chekhova was preparing an assassination attempt on Hitler.

In the summer of 1953, according to available data, she completed her last task: connecting Beria with Konrad Adenauer.

13. Nadezhda Plevitskaya(1884-1949). An incredibly popular singer and actress of those years. Together with her husband Nikolai Skoblin, she was recruited by the OGPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

Nikolai Skoblin, by the way, was the youngest general of the White Army. He was then only 27 years old.

Plevitskaya’s most successful operation is considered to be the kidnapping of Evgeny Miller, the head of the Russian All-Military Union. The result was to be the appointment of Plevitskaya’s husband to the position of Miller.

14.Margarita Konenkova(1895-1980). The girl, nicknamed Lucas, spent half her life in the United States as a spy. The owner of a bright appearance and sharp mind, she managed to win over Albert Einstein.

What kind of connection Konenkova and Einstein had is not known for certain. But in their personal belongings they found messages from personal correspondence filled with tender words.

Women in intelligence

The words “chercher la femme” translated from French mean “look for a woman.” These words, which have survived centuries, were spoken when, for unknown reasons, a certain monarch was sent to another world, a palace coup unexpectedly occurred, or the heads of participants in an unsuccessful conspiracy flew under the executioner’s ax.

Often, representatives of the fairer sex were behind such events. People who used women for their purposes knew well that the secrets of the royal or royal court were often hidden in the skirt of a maid. They knew that in order to catch a man in the net of a conspiracy, it would be a good idea to use a beautiful woman. And not necessarily of noble origin. A lot of secrets fell into the hands of intelligence officers through prostitutes.

During the First World War, the German dog Fritz repeatedly crossed the front line, delivering spy reports in his collar. The dog showed amazing resourcefulness, evading the pursuit and traps of the French every time. Then counterintelligence remembered the famous phrase “look for a woman.” And they slipped Fritz a bitch named Rosie. She was so beautiful that the stern dog’s heart could not stand it. Forgetting about the service, Fritz began to indulge in dog-like affection with her. Then the French took him.

Women are often assistants to intelligence officers and counterintelligence officers. It is not for nothing that Chinese wisdom says: “A woman’s tongue is a ladder along which misfortune enters the house.” However, the woman is so firmly entrenched on the front of the secret war that she is unlikely to give up her place to a man. However, there are very conflicting opinions on them.

Thus, one author (Bernard Newman) writes: “I do not at all want to say that there were no female intelligence officers at all, although their activities were by no means particularly outstanding. Among them there was only one Mata Hari, and even she did not accomplish a hundredth part of everything that was attributed to her. However, it is not gender that makes female intelligence officers so invariably harmless, but, mainly, the nature of their upbringing.

The thing is. that popular writers too often do not pay attention to the fact that the intelligence officer still needs to know something about the subject of his intelligence. It makes absolutely no sense to send a woman to

an enemy country in order to fish out the details of a new howitzer, if, having encountered both a howitzer and a field gun on the road, it cannot distinguish one from the other. This kind of intelligence officer or intelligence officer is more a danger than an acquisition for the country that uses them.”

The most accurate assessment of women as intelligence officers was given by counterintelligence officer Orest Pino:

“Most women suffer from three deficiencies that hinder intelligence and counterintelligence work. Firstly, they do not have the necessary technical knowledge. For example, if you need to find out the structure of a secret engine created by an enemy, then a garage mechanic has a better chance of success than the most educated woman. Already from his previous work, a mechanic is familiar with some of the basics of technology, but a woman has to start from the basics. As for military secrets, only a few women know military ranks and the difference between divisions, units, formations, that is, everything that makes up a modern army. Such knowledge can be acquired, but it will take time. Secondly, in an unusual environment, women are more noticeable than men. A man dressed as a worker can walk near a military facility for several hours without arousing suspicion, and a woman, especially a young and beautiful one, will immediately attract attention. Dressed simply, a man can walk into a bar in a seaport and no one will notice him. A woman shouldn't do this. She is a woman, this alone limits her capabilities and reduces her value as an agent. Thirdly, and this is the most important thing, women do not know how to control their feelings like men. I know of two or three cases where a woman had to win the love of, say, a senior enemy officer. She coped with this task successfully, but then she herself fell in love with her victim and spoiled the whole thing. It is not difficult to guess what followed next. She went over to the enemy’s side and revealed all the secrets she knew. I know that male spies also sometimes became traitors, but for different reasons. It seems to me that the only thing female spies are capable of is obtaining intelligence information. This is usually done like this. A woman wins the love of some enemy officer or official, learns something, and then blackmails him, threatening to tell his boss or, even worse, his wife. The threat is in effect and the spy receives comprehensive information. That's why I asked women who wanted to become secret agents if they were willing to sacrifice their honor. A decent woman will not do this. A woman who is capable of spending the night with an unfamiliar man, often physically repulsive, must have the soul of a prostitute in order to obtain the necessary information. And prostitutes are known to be unreliable. In all my 30 years of practice, when I had to deal with talented intelligence officers and counterintelligence officers in Europe and America, I have never met a woman who would prove herself to be a good spy or a good “spy hunter.” According to Pinto, counterintelligence officers are advised to pay attention to a woman only if there is a suspicion that she is an enemy agent. One of the best ways her revelation is jealousy. You need to choose a handsome, smart man from among your employees as bait for this woman. The next step is to establish between them intimate relationships. Then introduce a counterintelligence officer into the game, supposedly because of whom the man will leave the woman suspected of being a spy. Then another employee should be sent to this suspect, who will play the role of a sympathizer. All women are talkative, and in the vast majority of cases, a woman suspected of being a spy will let it slip in a fit of anger. This gives counterintelligence the tip of a thread, by pulling which it is possible to unwind the entire tangle.

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The debate about the role of the female factor in intelligence has not subsided for many years. Most ordinary people, far from this type of activity, believe that intelligence is not a woman’s business, that this profession is purely male, requiring courage, self-control, and a willingness to take risks and sacrifice oneself in order to achieve the goal. In their opinion, if women are used in intelligence, it is only as a “honey trap,” that is, to seduce gullible simpletons who are carriers of important state or military secrets. Indeed, even today the special services of a number of states, primarily Israel and the United States, actively use this method to obtain classified information, but it has been adopted by counterintelligence rather than by the intelligence services of these countries.

The legendary Mata Hari or the French star is usually cited as a standard for such a female intelligence officer. military intelligence of the First World War, Martha Richard. It is known that the latter was the mistress of the German naval attaché in Spain, Major von Krohn, and managed not only to find out important secrets of German military intelligence, but also to paralyze the activities of the intelligence network he created in this country. Nevertheless, this “exotic” method of using women in intelligence is the exception rather than the rule.

OPINION OF PROFESSIONALS

What do the intelligence officers themselves think about this?

It is no secret that some professionals are skeptical about female intelligence officers. As the famous journalist Alexander Kondrashov wrote in one of his works, even such a legendary military intelligence officer as Richard Sorge spoke about the unsuitability of women for conducting serious intelligence activities. According to the journalist, Richard Sorge attracted female agents only for auxiliary purposes. At the same time, he allegedly stated: “Women are absolutely not suited for intelligence work. They have little understanding of high politics or military affairs. Even if you recruit them to spy on their own husbands, they will not have real representation what their husbands are talking about. They are too emotional, sentimental and unrealistic."

It should be borne in mind here that this statement is outstanding Soviet intelligence officer allowed himself during his trial. Today we know that during the trial, Sorge tried with all his might to get his comrades-in-arms and assistants, among whom there were women, out of harm’s way, to take all the blame upon himself, to present his like-minded people as innocent victims of his own game. Hence his desire to belittle the role of women in intelligence, to limit it to solving only auxiliary tasks, to show the inability of the fair sex to independent work. Sorge knew well the mentality of the Japanese, who consider women second-class creatures. Therefore, the point of view of the Soviet intelligence officer was clear to Japanese justice, and this saved the lives of his assistants.

Among foreign intelligence officers, the expression “intelligence officers are not born, they are made” is perceived as a truth that does not require proof. It’s just that at some point, intelligence, based on the tasks that have arisen or assigned, requires a specific person who enjoys special trust, has certain personal and business qualities, professional orientation and the necessary life experience in order to send him to work in a specific region globe.

Women come to intelligence in different ways. But their choice as operatives or agents, of course, is not accidental. The selection of women for illegal work is carried out especially carefully. After all, it is not enough for an illegal intelligence officer to have a good command of foreign languages ​​and the basics of intelligence art. He must be able to get used to the role, be a kind of artist, so that today, for example, he can pass himself off as an aristocrat, and tomorrow as a priest. Needless to say that most women master the art of transformation better than men?

Those intelligence officers who had the opportunity to work in illegal conditions abroad were always subject to increased demands also in terms of endurance and psychological endurance. After all, women illegal immigrants have to live for many years away from their homeland, and even organizing an ordinary vacation trip requires comprehensive and in-depth study in order to eliminate the possibility of failure. In addition, it is not always possible for a woman who is an illegal intelligence officer to communicate only with those people she likes. Often the situation is just the opposite, and you need to be able to control your feelings, which is not an easy task for a woman.

A remarkable Soviet intelligence officer, an illegal immigrant, who worked for more than 20 years in special conditions abroad, Galina Ivanovna Fedorova said in this regard: “Some people believe that intelligence is not the most suitable activity for a woman. In contrast stronger sex she is more sensitive, fragile, easily wounded, more closely tied to the family, home, and more predisposed to nostalgia. By nature itself she is destined to be a mother, so the absence of children or long-term separation from them is especially difficult for her. All this is true, but the same small weaknesses of a woman give her powerful leverage in the sphere of human relationships.”

DURING THE YEARS OF THE WAR

Pre-war period and Second World War, which brought unprecedented troubles to humanity, radically changed the approach to intelligence in general and to the role of the female factor in it in particular. Most people of good will in Europe, Asia and America were acutely aware of the danger that Nazism brought to all humanity. IN harsh years during the hard times of war, hundreds of honest people different countries voluntarily linked their fate with the activities of our country’s foreign intelligence service, carrying out its missions in various parts of the world. Women intelligence officers who operated in Europe on the eve of the war and on the territory of the Soviet Union, temporarily occupied by Nazi Germany, also wrote bright pages in the chronicle of the heroic achievements of Soviet foreign intelligence.

A Russian emigrant worked actively in Paris for Soviet intelligence on the eve of World War II. famous singer Nadezhda Plevitskaya, whose voice was admired by Leonid Sobinov, Fyodor Chaliapin and Alexander Vertinsky.

Together with her husband, General Nikolai Skoblin, she contributed to the localization of the anti-Soviet activities of the Russian All-Military Union (EMRO), which carried out terrorist acts against the Soviet Republic. Based on the information received from these Russian patriots, the OGPU arrested 17 EMRO agents abandoned in the USSR, and also established 11 terrorist safe houses in Moscow, Leningrad and Transcaucasia.

It should be emphasized that thanks to the efforts of Plevitskaya and Skoblin, among others, Soviet foreign intelligence in the pre-war period was able to disorganize the EMRO and thereby deprived Hitler of the opportunity to actively use more than 20 thousand members of this organization in the war against the USSR.

Years of hard times during the war indicate that women are capable of carrying out the most important reconnaissance missions just as well as men. Thus, on the eve of the war, the resident of Soviet illegal intelligence in Berlin, Fyodor Parparov, maintained operational contact with the source Martha, the wife of a prominent German diplomat. She regularly received information about negotiations between the German Foreign Ministry and British and French representatives. It followed from them that London and Paris were more concerned with the fight against communism than with organizing collective security in Europe and repelling fascist aggression.

Information was also received from Martha about a German intelligence agent in the General Staff of Czechoslovakia, who regularly supplied Berlin with top secret information about the state and combat readiness of the Czechoslovak armed forces. Thanks to this data, Soviet intelligence took measures to compromise him and arrest him by the Czech security authorities.

Simultaneously with Parparov, in the pre-war years, other Soviet intelligence officers worked in the very heart of Germany, in Berlin. Among them was Ilse Stöbe (Alta), a journalist in contact with the German diplomat Rudolf von Schelia (Aryan). Important messages were sent from him to Moscow warning of an impending German attack.

Back in February 1941, Alta announced the formation of three army groups under the command of Marshals Bock, Rundstedt and Leeb and the direction of their main attacks on Leningrad, Moscow and Kyiv.

Alta was a staunch anti-fascist and believed that only the USSR could crush fascism. At the beginning of 1943, Alta and her assistant Aryan were arrested by the Gestapo and executed along with the members of the Red Chapel.

Elizaveta Zarubina, Leontina Cohen, Elena Modrzhinskaya, Kitty Harris, Zoya Voskresenskaya-Rybkina worked for Soviet intelligence on the eve and during the war, carrying out its tasks sometimes at the risk of their lives. They were driven by a sense of duty and true patriotism, the desire to protect the world from Hitler's aggression.

The most important information during the war came not only from abroad. It also constantly came from numerous reconnaissance groups operating close to or far from the front line in temporarily occupied territory.

Readers are well aware of the name of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, whose majestic death became a symbol of courage. Seventeen-year-old Tanya, a reconnaissance fighter in a special forces group that was part of front-line intelligence, became the first of 86 women Heroes of the Soviet Union during the war period.

Women intelligence officers from the special forces detachment “Winners” under the command of Dmitry Medvedev, the operational reconnaissance and sabotage group of Vladimir Molodtsov, operating in Odessa, and many other combat units of the 4th Directorate of the NKVD, who obtained important information during the war years, also wrote unfading pages in the history of intelligence of our country. strategic information.

A modest girl from Rzhev, Pasha Savelyeva, managed to obtain and transport a sample to her squad chemical weapons, which the Nazi command intended to use against the Red Army. Captured by Hitler's punitive forces, she was subjected to monstrous torture in the Gestapo dungeons of the Ukrainian city of Lutsk. Even men can envy her courage and self-control: despite the brutal beatings, the girl did not betray her comrades in the squad. On the morning of January 12, 1944, Pasha Savelyeva was burned alive in the courtyard of the Lutsk prison. However, her death was not in vain: the information received by the intelligence officer was reported to Stalin. The Kremlin's allies in the anti-Hitler coalition seriously warned Berlin that if Germany used chemical weapons, retaliation would inevitably follow. Thus, thanks to the feat of the intelligence officer, a chemical attack by the Germans against our troops was prevented.

Scout of the “Winners” detachment Lydia Lisovskaya was Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov’s closest assistant. Working as a waitress in the casino of the economic headquarters of the occupation forces in Ukraine, she helped Kuznetsov make acquaintances with German officers and collect information about high-ranking fascist officials in Rivne.

Lisovskaya involved her cousin Maria Mikota, who, on instructions from the Center, became a Gestapo agent and informed the partisans about all punitive raids of the Germans. Through Mikota, Kuznetsov met SS officer von Ortel, who was part of the team of the famous German saboteur Otto Skorzeny. It was from Ortel that the Soviet intelligence officer first received information that the Germans were preparing a sabotage action during a meeting of the heads of the USSR, USA and Great Britain in Tehran.

In the fall of 1943, Lisovskaya, on orders from Kuznetsov, got a job as a housekeeper for the commander of the eastern armies special purpose Major General Ilgen. On November 15, 1943, with the direct participation of Lydia, an operation was carried out to kidnap General Ilgen and transport him to the detachment.

THE COLD WAR YEARS

War hard times, from which Soviet Union came out with honor, was replaced by long years of the Cold War. The United States of America, which had a monopoly on atomic weapons, did not hide their imperial plans and aspirations to destroy the Soviet Union and its entire population with the help of this lethal weapons. The Pentagon planned to start a nuclear war against our country in 1957. It took incredible efforts on the part of our entire people, who had barely recovered from the monstrous wounds of the Great Patriotic War, exerting all his strength to thwart the plans of the United States and NATO. But for acceptance right decisions The political leadership of the USSR needed reliable information about the real plans and intentions of the American military. Female intelligence officers also played an important role in obtaining secret documents from the Pentagon and NATO. Among them are Irina Alimova, Galina Fedorova, Elena Kosova, Anna Filonenko, Elena Cheburashkina and many others.

WHAT ABOUT “COLLEAGUES”?

The years of the Cold War have faded into oblivion, today's world is safer than 50 years ago, and important role in this belongs to foreign intelligence. The changed military-political situation on the planet has led to the fact that women are now less used in operational work directly “in the field”. The exceptions here, perhaps, are again the Israeli intelligence service Mossad and the American CIA. In the latter, women not only perform the functions of “field” operational workers, but even lead intelligence teams abroad.

The coming 21st century will undoubtedly be the century of the triumph of equality between men and women, even in such a specific sphere of human activity as intelligence and counterintelligence work. An example of this is the intelligence services of such a conservative country as England.

Thus, the book “Scouts and Spies” provides the following information about the “elegant agents” of the British intelligence services: “More than 40% of the intelligence officers MI6 and counterintelligence MI5 of Great Britain are women. In addition to Stella Rimington, who was until recently the head of MI5, four of the 12 counter-intelligence departments are also headed by women. In conversation with members British Parliament Stella Rimington stated that in difficult situations women often turn out to be more decisive and, when performing special tasks, are less susceptible to doubts and remorse for their actions compared to men.”

According to the British, the most promising is the use of women in efforts to recruit male agents, and an increase in female personnel among the operational staff as a whole will lead to an increase in the efficiency of operational activities.

The influx of women into the intelligence services is largely due to the recent increase in the number of male employees who want to leave the service and go into business. In this regard, the search and selection of candidates for work in the British intelligence services among female students of the country's leading universities has become more active.

Another sophisticated reader might probably say: “The USA and England are prosperous countries; they can afford the luxury of attracting women to work in the intelligence services, even in the role of “field players.” As for Israeli intelligence, it actively uses in its work the historical fact that women have always played and continue to play a major role in the life of the Jewish community in any country in the world. These countries are not our decree.” However, he will be wrong.

So, at the beginning of 2001, Lindiwe Sisulu became the Minister of Affairs of all intelligence services of the Republic of South Africa. She was 47 years old at the time, and she was not new to the intelligence services. In the late 1970s, when the African National Congress party was still underground, she underwent special training in the ANC military organization Spear of the People and specialized in intelligence and counterintelligence. In 1992, she headed the security department of the ANC. When a parliament united with the white minority was created in South Africa, she headed the committee on intelligence and counterintelligence. Since the mid-1990s, she worked as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. According to available information, the previously considered independent National Intelligence Agency also came under its control.

WHY DO INTELLIGENCE NEED THEM?

Why are women encouraged to serve in intelligence? Experts agree that a woman is more observant, her intuition is more developed, she likes to delve into details, and, as we know, “the devil himself lurks in them.” Women are more diligent, more patient, more methodical than men. And if we add their external data to these qualities, then any skeptic will be forced to admit that women rightfully occupy a worthy place in the ranks of the intelligence services of any country, being their adornment. Sometimes female intelligence officers are entrusted with carrying out operations related, in particular, to organizing meetings with agents in those areas where the appearance of men, based on local conditions, is extremely undesirable.

The combination of the best psychological qualities of both men and women conducting intelligence abroad, especially from illegal positions, is strong point any intelligence service in the world. It is not for nothing that such intelligence tandems as Leontina and Morris Cohen, Gohar and Gevork Vartanyan, Anna and Mikhail Filonenko, Galina and Mikhail Fedorov and many others - known and unknown to the general public - are inscribed in golden letters in the history of foreign intelligence of our country.

When asked what the main qualities, in her opinion, an intelligence officer should have, one of the foreign intelligence veterans, Zinaida Nikolaevna Batraeva, answered: “Excellent.” physical training, learning abilities foreign languages and the ability to communicate with people.”

And today even, unfortunately, quite rare publications in the media mass media, dedicated to the activities of female intelligence officers, convincingly indicate that in this specific sphere of human activity, representatives of the fair sex are in no way inferior to men, and in some ways they are superior to them. As the history of the world's intelligence services teaches, a woman copes well with her role, being a worthy and formidable opponent of a man when it comes to penetrating into other people's secrets.

COUNTERINTELLIGENCE ADVICE

And in conclusion, we present excerpts from lectures by one of the leading American counterintelligence officers of his time, Charles Russell, which he gave in the winter of 1924 in New York at a gathering of US Army intelligence officers. Almost 88 years have passed since then, but his advice is relevant for intelligence officers in any country to this day.

Advice to counterintelligence officers:

“Women intelligence officers are the most dangerous enemy, and they are the most difficult to expose. When meeting such women, you should not let likes or dislikes influence your decision. Such weakness can have fatal consequences for you.”

Advice to scouts:

“Avoid women. With the help of women, many good scouts were caught. Don't trust women when you're working in enemy territory. When dealing with women, never forget to play your part.

A Frenchman who had escaped from a German concentration camp stopped at a café near the Swiss border, waiting for night to fall. When the waitress handed him the menu, he thanked her, which surprised her. When she brought him beer and food, he thanked her again. While he was eating, the waitress called a German counterintelligence officer because, as she later said, such polite man couldn't be German. The Frenchman was arrested."

The basic rule of conduct for a scout:

“Beware of women! History knows many cases when women contributed to the capture of male intelligence officers. You should pay attention to a woman only if you suspect that she is an agent of the enemy’s intelligence or counterintelligence service, and then only if you are confident that you are in complete control of yourself.”