ITHACAN ADMITS SHE GAVE DATA TO RED AGENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100400014-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 2, 2000
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: December 5, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2000/05/24: CIA-RD
Ed.! Qtha
00,30 page Page
SYRACUSE, NEVI YORK
POST-STANDARD
r
U. 100,052
S. 103,3`I1
DEC 5 I,. M
',(l thauf-ban Admits
;~ e have Data
To Red Age~t.
ime. around February, 1963,",* -She has not been. charged
Iiss Bienstock swore. with any' law violation.
Severs Connection ? A short, bookish brunette,
Since then, she said in her, Miss Bienstock was born in'
tatements to the justice De Prague, Czechoslovakia, of Rus-
artment "I have ceased any, lion-born parents. The family`
nd all activities and connec came to the United States, she-
ions with any Soviet organza i said, in 1938. She was natural-
ion whatsoever. ',' - , ized in 1915.
Miss Bienstock told her own! She said she is a graduatelf
tory in explicit 'detail in two~,of City College in New York.!
tatements filed with the Jus- Her -father, is dead, and her,
ice Department on Oct. 19. mother teaches in New York.
One statement was filed un- ,She has no brothers or sisters. ?
lei a law requiring registry-` According to her Justice De-
ion by persons acting as agentsipartment. statements, she tray'
f foreign governments or other to Denmark and France
oreign principals. in the summer of 1959; to thy,
The other was filed under a Soviet' Union and France late,
ttle-known 1956 law. requiring in the same year; to Itlcxico in`
egistrotion by persons trained I9ti1; and' to the Soviet Union
n espionage or sabotage or; and France in 1962, when she,
~nni ,inn m,r?r, nn. as ionmentl' .. `_-- --i i_ .......1, 1.,,.1
By EDWARD W. O'BRIEN
PYRGHT ri'cC pyright,J1964rCau
WASHING - ,year-o
has told the Justice Department that she was recruited
by Soviet intelligence-to furi,ish information about any
,American efforts to cause defections among Russian
stage performers'visiting the United States under. the
cultural exchange nrorrram At the ta.ne, the address was!
11e woman, Miss Natalie the location of .the headquarters
~Bicnstock, a Cornell Universityof the Soviet Union delegation
instructor, said in two sworryto the United Nations.
statements that she sent, to a Tho letters were sent between
!Soviet contact the names of April, 1962 and February, 1963,
agents of the Central Intelli-'Miss Bienstock said.
Bence Agency anc'~i" .iin~Yederal During the first part of this
BiiiT-r&?of-Investigation who had period, she, was employed as a
,some associrf1thi"-kith Russian Russian interpreter and, road~1
.entertainers in this country. company secretary by Hurok.!
She also said she turned in to Attractions Inc:, the large
her Soviet contact the name of concert management firm in
.a Russian ballerina who was;New York which handles a1
'regarded by Miss Bienstock asjmost all visiting Russian stage
"a possibly disloyal citizen ofi1groups in this country.
the Soviet Union." Since the fall of 1962, Missy
Miss Bienstock said in her', Bienstock has been an instruc-1
statements to the Justice De-tor in freshman Russian and ai
partment that an agent of an graduate student in Russian ljt-!.
"unknown" American agency'erature at Cornell University,'
"wanted to pass a letter of un-l.thaca.
known content" to the dancer, In . her next-to-last letter to
who was touring the United her Soviet contact, she said,
States as a member of the?she "probably", transmitted the.
Leningrad Kirov Ballet. name of an American student,
Secret Writing ;at Cornell who "associated with
two Soviet students" attending
two --?
According to Miss Bienstock's
`statements she transmitted the 'ornell as. exchange students.
"I -
information in secret writing in severed my connection
,
!a series of letterq, addressed to with Soviet intelligence .by sec=
fret writing.:from Ithaca some!
,Leo Sorokine at.680 Park Ave,,! -
New York, acid signed in code;
Both laws provide:; that 1' lie
?egistration statements are pub,
is records. , ( ,
Sees Statements
Miss Biensiock's statements
vere examined by this report-
' Soviet intelligence. . I
She, said she ? made all these
ttrips as a tourist.
... .,re .. p-??: -'fit :!v.
'r as public documents. Later,j
n a two-hour interview in Ith?
ca, she repeated the substance;
J the information and added!
iany details. 1 -1
In her Justice ,D,epartment
tatements, she (lid not offer
all explanation of why. she un;;
dertook the Soviet assignment
r why, as she said, she even-I
rally terminated it. ;
In the interview she indicated! {
he had been coerced, while
isiting Moscow as a,, tourist,l+
to agreeing to carry out the
fission. She said she realizes
ow she should have ''gone to
he ;FBI immediately on her re-
urn to New York.
The whole'thing was .?'a mis-
ake, a terrible mistake" on
or part, Miss Bienstock' ,;aid.
.Miss Bienstock said she.' filed
er; recent Justice Department
tatements after receiving a
otter from the departnient - di-
ecting lieu to *,dq ?0.
Approved For Release 2000/05/24: CIA-RDP75-00149,F,000100400014-5