Venona - Soviet espionage against America in the 40s and 50s

Venona was the name of the US program that decrypted and read Soviet spies' messages on their activities in the United States.

The Soviet espionage activities in the 40's and 50's were quite pervasive. Among those mentioned in the cables are the Rosenbergs, Alger Hiss, and Klaus Fuchs. The Soviet's espionage against the atomic bomb project is prominent in these messages with many referrals to the Manhattan project.

It certainly leads one to believe that McCarthy should be faulted not for his HUAC activities, but for merely scratching the surface and not probing deeper into the Soviet's and US Communist party's activities than he did. It certainly seems that there was in fact wide-spread communist infiltration of the US Government and other American institutions.

To see some of the now declasified Venona documents click:

The NSA's Venona site

The PBS Link

For an excellent overview of Venona check out the CIA's own website on the subject