Semenov, Semen Markovich

(1911–1986)

   Semenov was sent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1937 after joining the NKVD to strengthen his cover as well as to learn engineering. He graduated in 1940 and then adopted a new cover in New York as an engineer assigned to the Amtorg Trading Company. Semenov was one of the most successful Soviet case officers in collecting scientific and technical intelligence. He is described by his colleagues and agents as a warm and sympathetic figure, known to his agents as “Sam.” He ran agents within the American nuclear program, codenamed Enormoz, for which he was decorated. After leaving New York, he served in Paris and in Moscow as a lieutenant colonel. He was fired in 1953 as part of the anti-Semitic purge of the foreign intelligence directorate. He was rehabilitated in the 1970s.