Random Famous American Double Agents (15 items)

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  (#13) Oleg Kalugin

  • 84

  Spy Profile: KGB officer who turned double agent for the United States.

  Kalugin was the longtime head of KGB operations in the US, but was demoted after being deemed a security risk. He became a relentless critic of the agency and its operations, and was finally stripped of his rank and clearance by Mikhail Gorbachev. After helping to get Boris Yeltsin installed as Prime Minister of Russia, Kalugin defected to the US. He claims he never outed any Soviet agents who weren't already known to the west, and wrote two books about his experiences.

  He has harshly criticized former underling Vladimir Putin, claimed Edward Snowden was willingly cooperating with Putin, and was sentenced to prison in absentia in Russia.
  
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  (#2) John Champe

  • Dec. at 46 (1752-1798)

  Spy Profile: Colonial soldier who pretended to defect to the British.

  A sergeant in the Colonial Army, Champe was selected for a secret and dangerous mission: kidnap and return the traitor Benedict Arnold. It was arranged for Champe to "defect" to the British line, where he was captured, met Arnold, and sussed out that the rogue general was acting alone when he switched sides.

  On the eve of carrying out his mission, Champe's unit was sent to New York, and he participated in the infamous Raid on Richmond that destroyed the entire city. Champe eventually escaped and returned to Colonial territory.
  
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  (#6) William Sebold

  Spy Profile: American recruited by the Nazis, who turned double agent for the United States.

  German by birth and a veteran of World War I, Sebold moved to the US in 1921, worked in aircraft manufacturing, and became a citizen in 1936. Three years later, while in Germany, he was "recruited" by the Gestapo to spy for the Nazis. Despite being given specialized training and equipment, Sebold immediately turned himself in and volunteered to help the FBI.

  With their help, Sebold infiltrated the largest Nazi spy ring in the US, based in New York. He befriended high-level agents and helped set up a radio transmitter that was actually run by the FBI. He sent hundreds of junk messages to Germany, receiving very real intelligence in return. Finally, in 1941, the FBI moved in and arrested 33 German agents. Sebold disappeared into witness protection, but became beset by paranoia that Nazis were out to get him. He died in 1970 in a California mental hospital.
  
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  (#4) James Armistead Lafayette

  Spy Profile: American slave who pretended to defect to the British during the Revolutionary War.

  Lafayette was a slave who volunteered to serve the Continental Army as a double agent, pretending to be a runaway who defected to the British. In this guise, he befriended Benedict Arnold, and later General Cornwallis. These fake friendships got him access to British troop deployment plans at Yorktown - which played a key role in the American victory there. 

  After the Revolutionary War ended, Lafayette remained a slave due to a technicality in Virginia's manumission laws. After four years, he finally had a petition approved that granted his freedom, and he became a wealthy farmer, who himself owned several slaves.
  
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  (#7) Dimitri Polyakov

  Spy Profile: Soviet who turned double agent for the United States.

  Dimitri Polyakov served in the Red Army during World War II before joining the Soviet Intelligence arm. On his second assignment in New York, he offered to serve as a double agent, allegedly because Soviet authorities denied him permission to take his seriously ill son to New York for treatment.

  Over the next 25 years, Polyakov grew in stature for both agencies, passing along priceless information to the US. He exposed the Sino-Soviet Split, leading to Nixon opening relations with China in 1972. He also provided technical data on Soviet-made antitank missiles and weapons that were sold to Iraq and used in the Gulf War. He was finally arrested in 1986, likely betrayed by American double agent Robert Hanssen. He was executed two years later.
  
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  (#1) Edward Bancroft

  • Dec. at 77 (1744-1821)

  Spy Profile: British citizen who turned double agent for the Colonies and played both sides.

  Bancroft was born in 1745 in Massachusetts, a British citizen by both birth and loyalty. He became a doctor and eventually found his way to London. It was there that he was recruited by none other than Benjamin Franklin to spy for the Committee of Secret Correspondence, which was the intelligence and foreign relations arm of the Second Continental Congress.

  While he sent documents back to the Colonies, Bancroft was alarmed at the idea of war between France and Britain over American independence. So Bancroft agreed to spy for Britain while keeping up the appearance of spying for the Colonies. He proved to be an ineffective spy, gathering little useful intelligence for either side. There's even some evidence Franklin knew Bancroft was a double agent and did nothing to stop him.
  

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