Word: bloch
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Bloch-gate (named after Felix S. Bloch, the number two diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Austria from 1981-87 who has been accused of spying...
...American investigators would be hard pressed to prove what was in the briefcase. "While the Soviets have the documents, we're stuck with suspicions," said one. Almost every major spy conviction depends heavily on the suspect's cooperation. The New York Times reported that Bloch told the FBI he was working for "many years" for the KGB and had received "a lot of money," but he refused to talk further about specific acts of espionage...
Most critical to the assessment of possible damage, it was not clear whether Bloch's alleged work for the Soviets began while he was in Vienna, from 1980 to 1987, or when he served in Berlin, from 1970 to 1975. As the second-ranking diplomat in the Vienna embassy, including a ten-month stint as charge, or acting ambassador, Bloch had access to U.S. diplomatic traffic on East European and Soviet issues as well as worldwide regional reports. He was aware of CIA activities, if not the names of actual agents, in one of the world's most active intelligence...
State Department colleagues speculate that if Bloch turned to the Soviets in < Vienna, it may have been out of frustration. A competent diplomat, but a dour, moody man, Bloch was deeply offended at having to serve under two inexperienced political appointees. He dismissed former Ambassador Helene von Damm as a "nut" and Lauder as a "total disaster." After returning to the U.S. in 1987, Bloch openly complained about not getting an ambassadorial post. If, however, he was recruited long ago in Berlin, the frustration theory might not hold...
...Unless Bloch confesses, the U.S. may never learn his motives or how much damage he may have done. And so far he has held his own remarkably well against the mass-media version of the third degree...