OS - JAMES SPEYER KRONTHAL<SANITIZED>

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06619119
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: February 6, 2020
• Case Number: F-2013-01784

Approved for Release: 2020/01/31 C06619119
SECRET
MEMORANDUM FOR:
VIA:
FROM:
Director of Central Intelligence
Deputy Director for Administration
Director of Security
SUBJECT: James Speyer KRONTHAL,
BACKGROUND:
1. Subject is a deceased Agency employee who committed
suicide in his Georgetown home on 31 March 1953. Subject was the
topic of a Newsweek article "The Soviet's First CIA Mole,"
published in the 15 May 1989 issue (attachment A). The article
makes reference to the book Widows, written by William Corson
and Joseph & Susan Trento, which
alleges that Subject had been co-opted by the Soviets due to his
homosexuality. (C)
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:
0 Coordinator of Information (COI)/OSS civilian employee
o
0
7 Apr 1942 - Oct 1942
OSS/Special Services Unit
Sep 1946
SSU/CIG/CIA Sep 1946 -
(SSU) Captain, US Army
May 1947
9 Dec 1942
0
CIA May 1947 - Apr 1952
0
CIA Apr 1952 - 31 Mar 1953
Training Officer/Operations
0
31 March 1953 -- Found dead at home, apparent suicide
(attachment B) (S)
WARNING NOTICE
INTELLIGENCE SOURCES
OR METHODS INVOLVED
-
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0 IN
SUBJECT: James Speyer KRONTHAL,
ALLEGATIONS IN "WIDOWS":
1. "Widows" alleges that Subject was a homosexual who was
sent to Germany by his employer--a NY financial house called
Speyer & Co.--to assist in selling artworks the Nazis confiscated
from the Jews. It is alleged that the Gestapo found out about
Subject's homosexuality, and that the Soviets found this record
through a post-war penetration of BND. (U)
2. According to Widows, the Soviets, aware of Subject's
proclivities, provided him with "Chinese boys" and filmed him
engaging in sex acts with them. Subject was then coerced into
providing the Soviets with "packets" of information. The Soviets,
who wanted an "agent in place" in the Agency's highest office,
eventually told Subject to press for assignment as head of
clandestine services. (U)
3. It is further alleged that on 31 March 1953, the night
Subject died, he dined at DCI Dulles' home. When Subject returned
home, he wrote suicide letters to Dulles, Helms, and his sister
and killed himself. Subject's body was discovered the next day by
two Officers from the CIA's Office of Security. Lt. Hartnett, the
investigating officer with DC's Homicide Squad, was "well-
connected with the Agency" and was "charged with cleaning up
messes" that the "CIA wanted hidden." (U)
4. Finally, Widows alleges that Subject's file is "buried
deep in the archives of the CIA." (U)
AVAILABLE FACTS
1. Subject's Security file was destroyed in the late 1970s
and his polygraph file was destroyed in October 1980. These files
were destroyed routinely, following established procedures for the
destruction of vintage personnel information. Based on
information available from soft files, the review of the
manuscript of "The New KGB" by Corson/Crowley and related security
files, certain facts relating to the KRONTHAL case have been
ascertained. (S)
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OLL.AMI
(b)(1)
(b)(3)
SUBJECT: James Speyer KRONTHAL,
2. Subject's PHS reveals that Speyer & Co. was his employer
from 1934-1938. He left to go back to Harvard when the company
was liquidated in 1938. (C)
3. A 31 March 1953 FBI memorandum (attachment C) notes
Subject's death and claims the Agency cleared him of allegations
of homosexuality. The memo also reports that Subject's name was on
Senator Joseph McCarthy's list of subversive Agency employees, a
fact of which Subject was aware. (C)
4. A 3 April 1953 FBI memorandum (attachment D) concerning an
interview with John W. Ford, Director of State Department
Security, notes that he conducted an investigation of homosexual
activities among CIA and State employees in 1951 and developed
evidence that Kronthal was a homosexual. This evidence included a
signed statement from who had
engaged in two homosexual acts with Subject. (S)
5. Ford further stated that Kronthal was by the
Agency in the early summer of 1951. Ford monitored the test and
recalls Kronthal's admission of at least one homosexual act. Ford
felt Kronthal was not cashiered because he was a close friend of
Allen Dulles and that the Agency felt the activity was in his
past. (S)
6. A 10 April 1953 FBI memorandum reports that DC coroner,
Dr. Magruder MacDonald, reported that Kronthal's body had been
tested for narcotics without result. Two blood samples from
Kronthal were turned over to the FBI Laboratory for analysis. The
Bureau Laboratory found no poisons in Subject's blood samples. (C)
7. An 8 December 1954 FBI memorandum (attachment
an interview with Agency employee George MUSULIN
Musulin stated that Subject left a suicide letter that the DC
Police found and was of the opinion that Sen. McCarthy had
obtained a copy. The Agency had kept the original note, but the
DC police had kept a copy. This memo also mentioned that Subject
learned his name was on Sen. McCarthy's list and killed himself,
rather than face the publicity. (S)
E) details
3
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
(b)(1)
(b)(3)
(b)(1)
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
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sEUXhT
SUBJECT: James Speyer KRONTHAL,
8. Records also indicate that Kronthal's housekeeper,
Lavinia Thomas, was at his house the morning of 31 March 1953.
The Agency called Kronthal's house when he failed to show up for
work and asked Thomas to wake him. She called him, but could not
rouse him. (C)
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
9. Gould CASSAL and who were actually with OPs (b)(3)
Training (Kronthal's office) and not from OS, went to KRONTHAL's
home, found him dead, and searched for Agency-related
information. (S)
10. In 1983 Robert Crowley submitted a manuscript for review
by the CIA's Prepublication Review Board, as required by his
Secrecy Agreement. The manuscript, coauthored by Corson,
contained a discussion of the "Kronthal affair." In a
2 February 1984 letter to OGC Crowley cites material in the public
domain concerning Kronthal's case and reveals this additional
information:
a. Corson had interviewed Subject's sister, (b)(6)
She stated that Subject's homosexuality was known to (b)(6)
her and family members from the time he was 13-14 years old.
Rodgers, who was ailing at the time, remains convinced Subject
was "murdered by agents of the CIA" and was an addressee of
one of three suicide notes left by the Subject.
b. Also interviewed was a first cousin
of Subject, who related information about Subject's close
association with John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles prior to
WWII. also notes Subject's homosexual preferences
since late childhood.
c. Note is made of DC Metro Police records at the National
Records Center in Suitland, Maryland, which contain Police
incident reports on Subject's suicide, including three suicide
letters, addressed to: Subject's sister, Allen Dulles (then
DCI), and Richard Helms (then Chief of Operations).
d. Corson interviewed Lt. Lawrence Hartnett, DC Metro Police
Homicide Squad, in December. Hartnett threatened the two
4
(b)(6)
(b)(6)
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SEUHLT
SUBJECT: James Sever KRONTHAL,
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
Agency officers Gould Cassal, (b)(3)
on the scene with arrest for ransacking the (b)(3)
Subject's house and possessions. Hartnett believes this
disturbance of the crime scene made any conclusion except
suicide unsupportable and still retains his investigation
notebook. Hartnett was never satisfied that Subject committed
suicide and believes the Subject might have been murdered. (S)
11. Former DCI Richard Helms has advised that there was no
thought whatsoever given to Subject being a spy for the Soviets.
(S)
OS ACTIONS:
1. Continue to interview current and former Agency officers
who may have information concerning this case, and attempt to
locate old reference file information from internal and external
sources. (C)
Attachments
James P. Lynch
5
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