William Perl - Venona

Venona

Certain material from the VENONA project, a joint British-American attempt to decode Soviet coded messages, strongly suggests that Perl was indeed a spy, although both the accuracy and utility of the VENONA descriptions remain under dispute. A June 16, 1944, cable to Moscow reports that Perl had given the KGB "material information about air units for new aircraft." The information was thought so valuable that Perl was given a bonus of $500. John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr have suggested that data provided by him aided the Soviets in the unique tail-fin design of the MiG-15 fighter used in the Korean War.

It is thought that William Perl's codenames in Soviet intelligence are "Gnome", "Yakov", and "Jacob". He is referenced in the following Venona project decryptions:

• 717 KGB New York to Moscow, 10 May 1944
• 732 KGB New York to Moscow, 20 May 1944
• 854 KGB New York to Moscow, 16 June 1944
• 1048 KGB New York to Moscow, 25 July 1944
• 1251 KGB New York to Moscow, 2 September 1944
• 1314 KGB New York to Moscow, 14 September 1944
• 1491 KGB New York to Moscow, 22 October 1944
• 1536 KGB New York to Moscow, 28 October 1944
• 1797 KGB New York to Moscow, 20 December 1944
• 954 KGB Moscow to New York, 20 September 1944
• 154 KGB Moscow to New York, 16 February 1945
• 224 Moscow to New York, 13 March 1945
• 305 KGB Moscow to New York, 1 April 1945