George Kisevalter was an American operations officer of the CIA, who handled Major Pyotr Popov, the first Soviet GRU officer run by the CIA.
13 Facts About George Kisevalter
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George Kisevalter had some involvement with Soviet intelligence Colonel Oleg Penkovsky, active in the 1960s, who had more direct relations with British MI-6.
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In 1915, George Kisevalter's father, accompanied by his family, was sent to the United States in order to purchase weapons for the Russian military.
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George Kisevalter spent much of World War II as an army officer stationed in Alaska, involved in supporting the Soviet war effort through the Lend-Lease program.
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George Kisevalter had a brief civilian agricultural career before joining the CIA.
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George Kisevalter was selected as Popov's handler, and spent the next five years in Vienna managing him.
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George Kisevalter continued to be involved in agent recruitment and handling, including the case of the controversial English-speaking KGB walk-in, Yuri Nosenko.
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Bagley interviewed him during the first meeting, and George Kisevalter flew in two days later to assist Bagley during the four remaining, secretly-tape-recorded meetings.
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Bagley and Kisevalter interviewed Nosenko when he recontacted them in Geneva in January 1964, saying he wanted to leave his wife and daughters behind in Moscow and physically defect to the US because he feared that the KGB was "on to" his treason.
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George Kisevalter then said during that meeting that he had been the case officer of Lee Harvey Oswald in the USSR.
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George Kisevalter received the CIA's highest award, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.
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In 1997, when the CIA celebrated its 50th anniversary, George Kisevalter was designated as one of its 50 Trailblazers.
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George Kisevalter died in October 1997, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.