DONALD MACLEAN, 69, INFAMOUS SOVIET SPY, CREMATED IN MOSCOW

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404050004-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 12, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404050004-6
ARTICLE APPF.AF:ED
ON F A G : . -
WASHTNGTON POST
l2 WAPCH 1983
STAT
Donald Maclean, 69,
Infamous Soviet Spy,
Cremated in MOSCOW
By Dusko Doder
Washington Post Foreign Service
MOSCOW, March 11-Donald Maclean, the British
diplomat who became a Soviet spy and supplied Moscow
with priceless intelligence information before defecting to
this country in 1951, was given a respectful funeral here
today and was hailed as a "faithful son and, citizen" of
the Soviet state.
Maclean, 69, died Sunday, reportedly of cancer, but
his death was announced in the government newspaper
Izvestia only today. Without making any direct reference
to his espionage activities, Izvestia described "Donald
Donaldovich Maclean" as a man "of high moral qualities
and a convinced communist" who "devoted all his con-
scious life to the high ideals of social progress and hu-
manism" and who performed outstanding services to the
Soviet state.
The tall, elegant former diplomat, whose father' Sir
Donald Maclean, was a Liberal cabinet minister, was at
the center of Britain's infamous spy scandal. He and fel-
low spy Guy Burgess fled to Moscow in 1951 just as Brit-
ish counterintelligence agents were about to interrogate
them.
The "third man" in the affair, which led to a major
shake-up of British intelligence, was Harold (Kim)
Philby who tipped off Maclean and Burgess about their
impending arrest. Philby defected in 1963 to Moscow,
where he still lives. Burgess died in 1964.
The "fourth man" in the affair was the former Sir An-
thony Blunt, who served as art adviser to Queen
Elizabeth II until 1979 when he was publicly identified
as a former Soviet spy and stripped of his knighthood.
The four men belonged to the British establishment and
became idealistic communists while attending Cambridge
University in the 1930s. They later volunteered their ser-
vices to Moscow.
A memorial service for Maclean was held this morning
at Moscow's Institute of World Economy and interna-
tional Relations, a government think-tank, where he
worked as a foreign policy analyst. A large portrait and
an obituary of Maclean were displayed prominently in-
? side the institute's entrance hall but outsiders were not
admitted to the ceremony.
The red-draped coffin was later taken to the city's prin-
cipal * crematorium on the snow-covered grounds of the
Donskoy Monastery where Maclean's colleagues carried it
on their shoulders in the traditional Russian ceremony.
They were followed by other mourners carrying his portrait
and a red cushion on which were displayed his three high
decorations-the Lenin Medal for Glorious Labor, the Red
Banner of Labor and the Fighting Red Banner.
One of the wreaths bore the inscription "From Com-
rades in Arms" and was presumably from the KGB, the
Soviet Secret Police. Inside the crematorium, as an or-
ganist played funeral music, about a hundred mourners
placed roses, tulips and other flowers on the coffin and
an orator hailed Maclean as a faithful Soviet citizen.
"The fatherland bids farewell to its faithful son, citizen
of the Soviet Union Maclean," the speaker said.
Maclean's American wife Melinda and their three chil-
dren were not present. All live in the West. Also missing
was Kim Phalby.
Following his graduation from Cambridge, Maclean
joined the Foreign Office and was first posted to Paris in
1938 as a third secretary in the British Embassy. In
Paris he met the woman who became his wife.
In 1944, he was sent to the British Embassy in Wash-
ington and remained there until 1948. For the last, year
of his tour in Washington he was Britain's representative
on a British-U.S.-Canadian policy committee dealing
with the highly sensitive matters of atomic cooperation.
It is believed that he supplied Moscow with priceless
information on the subject. While in Washington, he had
access to secret materials of the U.S. Atomic 'Energy
Commission.
In 1948, Maclean was promoted to a senior position at
the British Embassy in Egypt, where he began to drink
heavily. At. one point he was arrested in a drunken con-
dition itti Alexandria and held for two days in jail.
Following that, Maclean was given a six-month leave
and was transferred to.London where he became head of
the American Department in 1950. He was fully briefed
on all aspects of U.S.-British relations, including devel-
opments in the Korean conflict, which he was able to
pass on to Moscow.
The following year, suspicions about numerous leaks
narrowed down to Maclean as a possible Soviet agent.
Warned by Philby, who had joined British intelligence in
1940, Maclean and Burgess fled to Moscow.
Suspected of warning the defectors, Philby had to re-
sign, and became a newspaper correspondent in the Mid-
dle East.
Maclean, who took Soviet citizenship, worked for
many years a.. the institute and published extensively.
under a pen name. He had been ailing for some months
and was hospitalized in early January. .
Philby, in his book "My Secret War," provided some
insight into the kind of information the espionage ring
gave the Soviets. He said he had been briefed in great
detail by Allen Dulles, then director of the Central In-
telligence Agency, about a clandestine operation being
mounted against the Albanian government.
Philby said Dulles outlined to him all the contingencies' ,
involved, adding that the Americans had considered every.
aspect of the operation to ensure its success-except the'
fact that "within two hours" the entire plan would. be on
the desk df Philby's intelligence boss in Moscow.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404050004-6