Hall, Theodore Alvin

(1926–2003)

   One of the most important Soviet penetrations of the American nuclear weapons program was through Ted Hall, who volunteered to work for the Soviet intelligence service while still an undergraduate at Harvard in 1944. While a researcher at Los Alamos, he passed critical weapons information to the Soviet service. Hall was introduced to Soviet intelligence by his friend Saville Sax. Because of the slight difference in their ages, Sax was codenamed “Star” (Old), while Hall was “Mlad” (Youth). Hall maintained contact with Soviet intelligence for several years. Although under suspicion, he was never formally charged with espionage, because the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) refused to reveal that their evidence against Hall came from deciphering Soviet intelligence telegrams. Hall was able to immigrate to England, where he taught until his death. After his death, his wife admitted that Hall had been a Soviet agent.

   Soviet accounts of nuclear espionage usually rank Hall as the second most important—after Klaus Fuchs—of their agents within the Manhattan Project. While Hall and his wife tried to portray their intelligence activity to historians as simply a wartime flirtation with Soviet intelligence, they did continue to help Moscow develop intelligence nets for at least three years after the war ended. Their decision to cease working for Moscow was not an act of conscience; it came out of fear of arrest by the FBI.

   See also Enormoz; Venona.