Michal Goleniewski was a Colonel in the Polish Ministry of Public Security and one of the most valuable spies to ever work for the US. He first contacted the US government via an anonymous letter in April 1958, referring to himself as only as “Heckenschuetze”, AKA Sniper. In this and in subsequent letters, he provided a stunning amount of priceless intelligence on Soviet and Polish plans, activities, and technology. He also provided identifying information on more than 1,500 spies operating against the US and Western European countries. No other spy or defector has ever come close to matching this treasure trove of information.
For nearly three years Sniper continued to provide information and asked nothing in return. Then, with counterespionage personnel slowly closing in on him, he managed to defect in West Berlin. Evacuated to the United States, his debriefings lasted for months and continued to provide amazing revelations which uncovered additional spies and provided insight into the Soviet bloc. Meanwhile, the Polish government convicted Goleniewski of treason in absentia, sentenced him to death, and used their agents in the United States to search for him and carry out the sentence.
But Goleniewski’s fortunes changed dramatically in the years that followed. From a position of the highest respect, he became a pariah who was abandoned by the CIA, which had offered him long-term employment, housing, and benefits. Goleniewski was undone by his own forceful and difficult personality, his burgeoning mental health problems, and the paranoia of counterintelligence chief James Angleton, who believed him to be a disinformation agent intentionally placed by the Soviets, despite all evidence to the contrary.
For episode 30 of the Spycraft 101 podcast, I interviewed Tim Tate, author of the book Agent Sniper: The Cold War Superagent and the Ruthless Head of the CIA. We discussed Goleniewski’s rise and fall, the lasting value of his information, and the repercussions of his eventual dismissal as a valuable agent.
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