The Main Enemy Milton Bearden (read full novel .txt) 📖

CIA, Rolph told Rogalla, would be very generous if he agreed to help. Rolph tried to make it clear that a high-ranking officer like himself would be treated well by the CIA. While lower-level Stasi officers had received only modest cash payments, Rogalla’s cooperation would qualify him for resettlement in the United States.

Rogalla asked a few questions, saying he wanted to make certain he understood what Rolph was offering. Finally, he told Rolph he needed time to think about the offer and asked the CIA officer to come back to his apartment in two days. Rolph was wary of coming back; he knew that Rogalla could be setting him up for an ambush arrest or even for a roughing up by the KGB. But he agreed, and two days later he was back in the East German intelligence officer’s living room. Rogalla asked Rolph to go over his offer once more. Once he had finished, Rogalla told him that he had decided not to accept the CIA offer. Rolph thanked him for his time and was preparing to leave when Rogalla asked him to stay.

“I have someone here that I would like you to meet,” he said.

“No, thank you, that’s okay,” Rolph said. “I should be on my way.”

“I have been patient with you,” Rogalla said. “Now I would like you to please be patient with me.” Then he turned to the curtain separating the apartment’s living room from its small kitchen. “Herr General,” he called. “Please come in.”

With dramatic flair, the curtain was then swept aside and out stepped a silver-haired and impeccably dressed General Werner Grossman, chief of the HVA and successor to the retired legend, Markus Wolf.

Grossman shook hands with Rolph, and as they sat down to talk, Rolph felt a sense of relief that he hadn’t been arrested or that a squad of Stasi goons hadn’t stepped from behind the curtain.

“We know what you and your officers are doing,” Grossman told Rolph. “We know that you are harassing our officers and our retirees, and you are embarrassing them in front of their families.”

So the cold pitches were starting to bother them, Rolph thought. Probably because they are working. His mind was racing.

“We know that your service is better than this,” Grossman lectured Rolph with Teutonic bluntness. “This kind of activity is unprofessional. You must stop this at once.” He looked sternly at Rolph. “If you do not stop this harassment, we will go to the police. And if you persist after that, we will take this to the press.”

Rolph looked at Grossman, dumbfounded. How sad, he thought. A year ago, this man could order men to their deaths. Now, the worst threat that the chief of the Hauptverwaltung Aufklarung could level against the CIA was that he would talk to a newspaper reporter.

“General Grossman, it was a pleasure to meet you, but I have to tell you I have a job to do. You can do what you feel you have to do.” With that, Rolph stood, shook hands with Grossman and Rogalla, and walked out.

Rolph’s cable arrived on my desk the following morning. I shared it with the DCI, who had long since forgotten his statement a few months earlier that my team in East Berlin could be replaced if that was what was needed to exploit the situation.

I cabled David Rolph, telling him that his meeting with Rogalla and Grossman was clearly a unique event in the annals of CIA history and in any case officer’s career. I then followed up with a private channel cable, ending it with a historical perspective:

1. IN ADDITION TO OUR OFFICIAL RESPONSES TO YOUR SUPERB REPORT ON YOUR MEETING WITH ROGALLA AND THE GENERAL, I WOULD ONLY ADD THAT YOUR ACCOUNT WAS TREMENDOUSLY MOVING AND ALMOST REMINISCENT OF THE MIXTURE OF HONOR AND FATALISM SHOWN BY ANOTHER GENERATION OF GERMANS AT STALINGRAD. YOUR GENERAL GROSSMAN COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN VON PAULUS. ABOUT ALL WE NEEDED WAS A FINAL MESSAGE FROM THE FUHRER SAYING SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF HIS LAST MESSAGE TO PAULUS. “HUENDE WOLLT IHR EWIG LEBEN?” *

2. THIS IS HISTORY AND YOU ARE PART OF IT.

East Berlin, Late May 1990

With German reunification just four months away, it was time, we decided, for the CIA to have a little chat with Markus Wolf, the one man who embodied East German intelligence. A mythic figure in the world of espionage, Markus Wolf had run the HVA for most of its existence until his retirement in 1986.

His circumstances and stature had taken a turn for the worse in the last six months, and in the current climate he seemed likely to face a tough investigation not only of his involvement in the suppression of the citizens of East Germany, but also of his contacts with international terrorist groups. Arrest and imprisonment were now very real threats for East Germany’s legendary spymaster, which meant that it was a good time for the CIA to make him an offer.

An American businessman with commercial interests in East Berlin had been in contact with one of his friends, and we’d asked the businessman to serve as the go-between. Wolf was asked if he would be willing to meet with the CIA, and he said yes, he would be willing to hear what we had to say. By now Wolf was familiar with the process. Earlier in May he’d received a similar offer from the West Germans—“Give us your top sources in West Germany and you’ll be free from prosecution and a considerably richer man,” they had told him, hoping to tempt him with the lure of material and personal security. Wolf had listened patiently and turned them down. Now it was time, he decided, to hear out the Americans and close the loop.

Gus Hathaway came out of retirement to make the approach. Hathaway and Rolph’s deputy met Wolf at his dacha in Prenden, outside of Berlin. Hathaway identified himself as the representative of the Director of the CIA, William Webster, and wasted no time