Operation Stella Polaris

[Antti Hynonen]

Jim, I'll PM you what I know. I can give you a full translation of the Finnish Wikipedia on Hayhanen, on Ingrians etc.

[Jim Root]

For those of you that have been following this thread on Operation Stella Polaris, (Venona, Frank Rowlett, Meredith Gardner and John Hurt) I have some additional information.

I have just uncovered a box of information that was sealed from researchers for, I believe, twenty years (sealed around 1983 and left untouched since). This box contains several items written by Wilho Tikander and includes an unpublished document titled the "History of the O.S.S. Mission to Sweden" as well as another memoir.

Within this cache of material there are five additional names not previously mentioned in this thread:

Whitney Shepardson

Sherman Kent

Willard Matthias

Eric "Red" Erickson

and a "Mr. Seaton"

The first four names are interesting because they have CIA/OSS backrounds that run rather deeply. Of the four Whitney Shepardson peaks my interest because of his close relationship with John J. McCloy. I am at a loss to find any information about the fifth person, "Mr. Seaton."

The various dates on the materials seem to be clumped together in three periods. The first period deals with WWII OSS information that would and should encumpass Operation Stella Polaris. The second time period is the later half of 1959 (Shepardson and Erickson information). The final period starts, 04/28/1964.

Setting aside my excitement about gaining access to this material (should be in my possession shortly) has anyone seen or had reason to previously associate the above names in any way with the JFK assassination? If so in what context?

Jim Root

[Jim Root]

Update on Tikander/Stella Polaris information

I posted information under the title Whitney Shepardson earlier this week. I took the liberty to begin that particular thread because it was Shepardson who began collecting information form various former OSS agents that were involved in Operation Stella Polaris under the guise of writting a book in 1959.

The information provided to Shepardson by Tikander can now be located in the National Archives: Record Group 226, Entry 210 Box 344 (which, by the way, is not where I got it from). I have a copy of the original and can only prove that there were two other copies. If I had my guess it would be that it was Shepardson's copy that ended up in the National Archives with an Entry date, if you can imagine this, of May 1960.

In the Shepardson Thread I made reference to one particular quote:

"Unfortunately some of Ty's (Tikander's) successors in CIA have not given heed to some of the warnings he left behind in the "Memoranda for the Files." In sone such instance, Ty's (Tikander's) successors launched an operation which was successfully carried through, but was then "blown"--with rather unfortunate results. The "grapevine" says that this case is due for a "re-play" in the year, 1960."

Upon doing further research on the Tikander papers I found more information on his "Memoranda for the Files." It appears to have been written about 1945 but the CIA's inability to follow the directions that Tikander had left behind in 1945, it seems, by 1959 was creating a situation caused by the CIA where, "the fat could really be in the fire' because of OSS complicity in the Stella Polaris affair." He finishes this paragraph by saying, "and the end of this case is not in sight yet after more than a dozen years!"

This seems interesting but where it fits??????????

Jim Root

[James Richards]

The first four names are interesting because they have CIA/OSS backrounds that run rather deeply. Of the four Whitney Shepardson peaks my interest because of his close relationship with John J. McCloy. I am at a loss to find any information about the fifth person, "Mr. Seaton." (Jim Root)

Jim,

Could that be Fred Seaton?

James

[Jim Root]

James

Doesn't look like it. In June of 1959 Fred Seaton was Sec. of Interior attempting to balance his budget for Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was Asst. Sec. of Defense in the early 1950's but he seems more of a political appointment then someone who had been active in intelligence work.

Thanks for the try.

Jim Root

[Robert Howard]

Brought back to add some new tidbits to this thread.

Operation Stella Polaris was named after the cruise ship Stella Polaris which moved the Finnish crpto team at the end of WWII. The movement of this team of Finns was financed by the Japanese Government. Infomation about this movement was intercepted and translated by American intelligence (John B. Hurt connection, Raliegh Call???). The Finns had been successful in breaking Soviet Codes and would be usefull to American cryptologist who were beginning a program to intercept and understand the Soviet Codes (Venona). In charge of that program were Frank Rowlett and Meredith Gardner (these same two men would later be asked to investigate Lee Harvey Oswald's personal effects for potential intelligence connections). A plan was put into effect to capture this team of Finns with the apparent approval of Calvin Bryce Hoover (who lived in Raleigh/Durmham, North Carolina at the time of the assassination of JFK)and his associate Winston Scott (Mexico City at the time of Oswald's visit). This same ship, Stella Polaris, was also used to move Soviet POW's from Norway back to the Soviet Union at the end of the War. In charge of that POW movement and scheduling the movements of the Stella Polaris was none other than Edwin Walker.

Was Lee Harvey Oswald used in connection with the interception of Soviet Codes? Why are so many people that can be tied to LHO also tied to the "Top Secrete" program to intecept and break Soviet Codes as well as being linked to the assassination or the coverup thereof?

Jim Root

Jim, James, et al. A very interesting thread and a mystery. The USA had about 140 million people in 1945 and about 180 million in 1963, yet a surprisingly large number of people seem to clump [have more than a chance connectivity] between certain things that happened during and at end of War and events and persons involved or said to be involved in Dallas. This seems to have some connection to yet another - though its outline is fuzzy, yet. The following reference, if you've not yet found it seems to be by a person who has followed this matter: http://intellit.muskingum.edu/nsa_folder/n...ginti%26ns.html

That 'Oswald' [in quotes because of the possibility 'he' was a composite identity] went to the USSR, that there are many traces of something called [officially or unofficially

Project Oswald] long before Dallas; that he went to USSR via Finnland in a rather odd [and above his financial station] manner; that so many who later were suspected of involvment or knowledge of Dallas were so much earlier involved in this [seemingly routine] Russian code-breaking matter; that Oswald was

obviously used as a spy, dangle and/or counter-agent in the USSR [and spoke Russian - though he pretended not to while in USSR]; that Marina was another intelligence operative for someone......hmmm.....very interesting - and lovely ship! [sank about time you started this thread]. A mystery, but I sense something here, if the pieces can be fit together - at least what Project Oswald may have entailed or who run by. The Raleigh/Duram, N.C. connection is really of interest. As if Oswald was trying to reach out to a long-ago controller or contact.

I also happen to have an interest in Major Harrod G Miller as well as cryptological matters concerning US history, of course books are chock full of factoids which mention the Magic and Purple crypts, as Jim and I have exchanged posts on this before.

The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets by Bamford are examples of some good reading material.

Apparently before his death, Major Harrod G Miller had some type of association with Willow Laboratories, which later morphed into the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan. Although it is only an opinion, there was, at least for me, a Zen-like moment when I perused some of the special projects associated with Willow Labs circa 1962.

What is particularly compelling about Harrod G. Miller, is since he was "Army," at least in a general sense.....

Protocol, or generally speaking, a person of his stature, and Army background would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery or at the Soldiers Home National Cemetery, Washington D.C, unless it was a private burial.

Which ostensibly are the only two major cemeteries for Army personnel, curiously his name doesen't seem to pop up.

BTW, a rather interesting discovery was recently made, that the "two phone numbers" Oswald obtained regarding the calls to Raleigh, N.C. were obtained earlier on the day of November 23, 1963. Funny thing the information was in a Warren Commission document, where it's been for several years.......See WC Document 1444 page 19

Affadavit of J L Poppowell. My name is J L Poppowell,.......I was on duty the 22nd and 23rd day of November, 1963, working 2:30 p.m. till 10:00 PM. The 23rd day of November,

1963, at 3:00 p.m., I was assigned to guard the area in front of Lee Harvey Oswald’s cell to see that he didn’t hurt himself. About 4:00 p.m. Lt. [Thurber T. ] Lord called on the jail phone and instructed me to put Oswald on the phone. Oswald asked the operator for two telephone numbers - then asked me for a pencil and paper while in the telephone booth. I tore a small piece of plain paper about two by three inches from the telephone record sheet that hung outside the telephone booth; then handed this piece of paper and my pencil to him. Oswald wrote a number on this paper and returned my pencil. Then he asked if he could call later. Oswald did not get his call through at this time. I called Lt. Lord and informed him that Oswald didn’t get his party and wanted to call again latter. About 8:00 p.m. Lt. Lord came up to the jail and told me to let Oswald use the phone. I was instructed to step back away from the phone booth, so the phone call could be private. He used the phone about thirty minutes. I asked Oswald if he got his call through and he said yes. I then returned him to his cell.

I believe that certain chronologies about Oswald's activities on that day may not have been adequately researched.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Robert Howard

[William Kelly]

Brought back to add some new tidbits to this thread.

Operation Stella Polaris was named after the cruise ship Stella Polaris which moved the Finnish crpto team at the end of WWII. The movement of this team of Finns was financed by the Japanese Government. Infomation about this movement was intercepted and translated by American intelligence (John B. Hurt connection, Raliegh Call???). The Finns had been successful in breaking Soviet Codes and would be usefull to American cryptologist who were beginning a program to intercept and understand the Soviet Codes (Venona). In charge of that program were Frank Rowlett and Meredith Gardner (these same two men would later be asked to investigate Lee Harvey Oswald's personal effects for potential intelligence connections). A plan was put into effect to capture this team of Finns with the apparent approval of Calvin Bryce Hoover (who lived in Raleigh/Durmham, North Carolina at the time of the assassination of JFK)and his associate Winston Scott (Mexico City at the time of Oswald's visit). This same ship, Stella Polaris, was also used to move Soviet POW's from Norway back to the Soviet Union at the end of the War. In charge of that POW movement and scheduling the movements of the Stella Polaris was none other than Edwin Walker.

Was Lee Harvey Oswald used in connection with the interception of Soviet Codes? Why are so many people that can be tied to LHO also tied to the "Top Secrete" program to intecept and break Soviet Codes as well as being linked to the assassination or the coverup thereof?

Jim Root

Jim, James, et al. A very interesting thread and a mystery. The USA had about 140 million people in 1945 and about 180 million in 1963, yet a surprisingly large number of people seem to clump [have more than a chance connectivity] between certain things that happened during and at end of War and events and persons involved or said to be involved in Dallas. This seems to have some connection to yet another - though its outline is fuzzy, yet. The following reference, if you've not yet found it seems to be by a person who has followed this matter: http://intellit.muskingum.edu/nsa_folder/n...ginti%26ns.html

That 'Oswald' [in quotes because of the possibility 'he' was a composite identity] went to the USSR, that there are many traces of something called [officially or unofficially

Project Oswald] long before Dallas; that he went to USSR via Finnland in a rather odd [and above his financial station] manner; that so many who later were suspected of involvment or knowledge of Dallas were so much earlier involved in this [seemingly routine] Russian code-breaking matter; that Oswald was

obviously used as a spy, dangle and/or counter-agent in the USSR [and spoke Russian - though he pretended not to while in USSR]; that Marina was another intelligence operative for someone......hmmm.....very interesting - and lovely ship! [sank about time you started this thread]. A mystery, but I sense something here, if the pieces can be fit together - at least what Project Oswald may have entailed or who run by. The Raleigh/Duram, N.C. connection is really of interest. As if Oswald was trying to reach out to a long-ago controller or contact.

I also happen to have an interest in Major Harrod G Miller as well as cryptological matters concerning US history, of course books are chock full of factoids which mention the Magic and Purple crypts, as Jim and I have exchanged posts on this before.

The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets by Bamford are examples of some good reading material.

Apparently before his death, Major Harrod G Miller had some type of association with Willow Laboratories, which later morphed into the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan. Although it is only an opinion, there was, at least for me, a Zen-like moment when I perused some of the special projects associated with Willow Labs circa 1962.

What is particularly compelling about Harrod G. Miller, is since he was "Army," at least in a general sense.....

Protocol, or generally speaking, a person of his stature, and Army background would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery or at the Soldiers Home National Cemetery, Washington D.C, unless it was a private burial.

Which ostensibly are the only two major cemeteries for Army personnel, curiously his name doesen't seem to pop up.

BTW, a rather interesting discovery was recently made, that the "two phone numbers" Oswald obtained regarding the calls to Raleigh, N.C. were obtained earlier on the day of November 23, 1963. Funny thing the information was in a Warren Commission document, where it's been for several years.......See WC Document 1444 page 19

Affadavit of J L Poppowell. My name is J L Poppowell,.......I was on duty the 22nd and 23rd day of November, 1963, working 2:30 p.m. till 10:00 PM. The 23rd day of November,

1963, at 3:00 p.m., I was assigned to guard the area in front of Lee Harvey Oswald's cell to see that he didn't hurt himself. About 4:00 p.m. Lt. [Thurber T. ] Lord called on the jail phone and instructed me to put Oswald on the phone. Oswald asked the operator for two telephone numbers - then asked me for a pencil and paper while in the telephone booth. I tore a small piece of plain paper about two by three inches from the telephone record sheet that hung outside the telephone booth; then handed this piece of paper and my pencil to him. Oswald wrote a number on this paper and returned my pencil. Then he asked if he could call later. Oswald did not get his call through at this time. I called Lt. Lord and informed him that Oswald didn't get his party and wanted to call again latter. About 8:00 p.m. Lt. Lord came up to the jail and told me to let Oswald use the phone. I was instructed to step back away from the phone booth, so the phone call could be private. He used the phone about thirty minutes. I asked Oswald if he got his call through and he said yes. I then returned him to his cell.

I believe that certain chronologies about Oswald's activities on that day may not have been adequately researched.

Robert,

That's pretty incredible, that Oswald talked to someone on the phone for a half hour and we don't know who it is.

His conversation with Ruth Paine couldn't have lasted more than a few minutes, so he must have been talking to someone for 30 minutes.

And Lt. Lord DPD is also an interesting character.

Thanks,

BK

[Joel D. Gruhn]

Brought back to add some new tidbits to this thread.

Operation Stella Polaris was named after the cruise ship Stella Polaris which moved the Finnish crpto team at the end of WWII. The movement of this team of Finns was financed by the Japanese Government. Infomation about this movement was intercepted and translated by American intelligence (John B. Hurt connection, Raliegh Call???). The Finns had been successful in breaking Soviet Codes and would be usefull to American cryptologist who were beginning a program to intercept and understand the Soviet Codes (Venona). In charge of that program were Frank Rowlett and Meredith Gardner (these same two men would later be asked to investigate Lee Harvey Oswald's personal effects for potential intelligence connections). A plan was put into effect to capture this team of Finns with the apparent approval of Calvin Bryce Hoover (who lived in Raleigh/Durmham, North Carolina at the time of the assassination of JFK)and his associate Winston Scott (Mexico City at the time of Oswald's visit). This same ship, Stella Polaris, was also used to move Soviet POW's from Norway back to the Soviet Union at the end of the War. In charge of that POW movement and scheduling the movements of the Stella Polaris was none other than Edwin Walker.

Was Lee Harvey Oswald used in connection with the interception of Soviet Codes? Why are so many people that can be tied to LHO also tied to the "Top Secrete" program to intecept and break Soviet Codes as well as being linked to the assassination or the coverup thereof?

Jim Root

Without getting into the details of cryptanalysis, it is my understanding that having even a short piece of known plaintext incorporated into a coded message drastically reduces the computer time required to break the code in a brute force attack. This is called 'gardening". As described in the Wikipedia article on Gardening (cryptanalysis):

In cryptanalysis, gardening was a term used at Bletchley Park, England, during World War II for schemes to entice the Germans to include known plaintext, which the British called "cribs," in their encrypted messages. This term presumably came from RAF minelaying missions, or “gardening” sorties, so called because sectors of the coastal waters around Europe were given code-names based on fruits and vegetables.[1] The technique is claimed to have been most effective against messages produced by the German Navy's Enigma machines.

A well-known example involved mines. If the Germans had recently swept a particular area for mines, and Bletchley Park was in need of some cribs, they might (and apparently did on several occasions) direct that the area be mined again. This would hopefully evoke encrypted messages from the local command mentioning 'Minen' ('mines' in German) and/or the location, and perhaps messages also from the headquarters with minesweeping ships to assign to that location, mentioning the same. It worked often enough to try several times. In modern terms, this was a chosen plaintext attack, because plain text effectively chosen by the British was injected into the ciphertext.

Concievably there are many ways that a defector such as Oswald could be exploited to deliver a crib, either wittingly or unwittingly.

Joel Gruhn

[James Richards]

I also happen to have an interest in Major Harrod G Miller as well as cryptological matters concerning US history, of course books are chock full of factoids which mention the Magic and Purple crypts, as Jim and I have exchanged posts on this before.

The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets by Bamford are examples of some good reading material.

Apparently before his death, Major Harrod G Miller had some type of association with Willow Laboratories, which later morphed into the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan. Although it is only an opinion, there was, at least for me, a Zen-like moment when I perused some of the special projects associated with Willow Labs circa 1962.

What is particularly compelling about Harrod G. Miller, is since he was "Army," at least in a general sense.....

Protocol, or generally speaking, a person of his stature, and Army background would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery or at the Soldiers Home National Cemetery, Washington D.C, unless it was a private burial.

Which ostensibly are the only two major cemeteries for Army personnel, curiously his name doesen't seem to pop up. (Robert Howard)

There is the possibility that Harrod Miller was associated with Ed McLemore, a most curious character. He ran the Sportitorium in Dallas and allegedly knew Jack Ruby.

That aside, the image below (sorry about the poor quality) shows Harrod Miller on the far right. The man second from the left is Col. James P. O'Connell. I have not been able to confirm or not if he is the father of James Patrick O'Connell Jr. aka Big Jim O'Connell, former FBI and CIA man. O'Connell was also Robert Maheu's case officer between 1953 and 1962.

FWIW.

James

[Robert Howard]

I also happen to have an interest in Major Harrod G Miller as well as cryptological matters concerning US history, of course books are chock full of factoids which mention the Magic and Purple crypts, as Jim and I have exchanged posts on this before.

The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets by Bamford are examples of some good reading material.

Apparently before his death, Major Harrod G Miller had some type of association with Willow Laboratories, which later morphed into the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan. Although it is only an opinion, there was, at least for me, a Zen-like moment when I perused some of the special projects associated with Willow Labs circa 1962.

What is particularly compelling about Harrod G. Miller, is since he was "Army," at least in a general sense.....

Protocol, or generally speaking, a person of his stature, and Army background would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery or at the Soldiers Home National Cemetery, Washington D.C, unless it was a private burial.

Which ostensibly are the only two major cemeteries for Army personnel, curiously his name doesen't seem to pop up. (Robert Howard)

There is the possibility that Harrod Miller was associated with Ed McLemore, a most curious character. He ran the Sportitorium in Dallas and allegedly knew Jack Ruby.

That aside, the image below (sorry about the poor quality) shows Harrod Miller on the far right. The man second from the left is Col. James P. O'Connell. I have not been able to confirm or not if he is the father of James Patrick O'Connell Jr. aka Big Jim O'Connell, former FBI and CIA man. O'Connell was also Robert Maheu's case officer between 1953 and 1962.

FWIW.

James

Thanks for the photo and information James. Harrod Miller died in 1967, according to an old post, is that right?

[Robert Howard]

I also happen to have an interest in Major Harrod G Miller as well as cryptological matters concerning US history, of course books are chock full of factoids which mention the Magic and Purple crypts, as Jim and I have exchanged posts on this before.

The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets by Bamford are examples of some good reading material.

Apparently before his death, Major Harrod G Miller had some type of association with Willow Laboratories, which later morphed into the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan. Although it is only an opinion, there was, at least for me, a Zen-like moment when I perused some of the special projects associated with Willow Labs circa 1962.

What is particularly compelling about Harrod G. Miller, is since he was "Army," at least in a general sense.....

Protocol, or generally speaking, a person of his stature, and Army background would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery or at the Soldiers Home National Cemetery, Washington D.C, unless it was a private burial.

Which ostensibly are the only two major cemeteries for Army personnel, curiously his name doesen't seem to pop up. (Robert Howard)

There is the possibility that Harrod Miller was associated with Ed McLemore, a most curious character. He ran the Sportitorium in Dallas and allegedly knew Jack Ruby.

That aside, the image below (sorry about the poor quality) shows Harrod Miller on the far right. The man second from the left is Col. James P. O'Connell. I have not been able to confirm or not if he is the father of James Patrick O'Connell Jr. aka Big Jim O'Connell, former FBI and CIA man. O'Connell was also Robert Maheu's case officer between 1953 and 1962.

FWIW.

James

Thanks for the photo and information James. Harrod Miller died in 1967, according to an old post, is that right?

According to sources the STELLA POLARIS' codebook was recovered by the Finns who then sold it to OSS. this

material was unavailable to Meredith Gardner when he reconstructed the NVVD codebook. The Swedish collection,

combined with the archive recovered by TICOM-6 from Burgsheidungen enabled Samuel Chew to achieve his 1953

breakthrough.

The question implies that the VENONA texts from 1940-1949 were all in the

same cipher system, but they were not. Equally, different techniques were

applied by the British and American cryptographers in 1944, 1953 and

finally 1964.

This is documented in VENONA: The Greatest Secret of the Cold War

(HarperCollins, 1999) by your humble servant, assisted by Ceil Phillips and

the Finns.

http://cryptome.org/venona-ru.htm

Did you know that TICOM is one of the last, still remaining secrets of 20th Century cryptology?

[Robert Howard]

I also happen to have an interest in Major Harrod G Miller as well as cryptological matters concerning US history, of course books are chock full of factoids which mention the Magic and Purple crypts, as Jim and I have exchanged posts on this before.

The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets by Bamford are examples of some good reading material.

Apparently before his death, Major Harrod G Miller had some type of association with Willow Laboratories, which later morphed into the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan. Although it is only an opinion, there was, at least for me, a Zen-like moment when I perused some of the special projects associated with Willow Labs circa 1962.

What is particularly compelling about Harrod G. Miller, is since he was "Army," at least in a general sense.....

Protocol, or generally speaking, a person of his stature, and Army background would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery or at the Soldiers Home National Cemetery, Washington D.C, unless it was a private burial.

Which ostensibly are the only two major cemeteries for Army personnel, curiously his name doesen't seem to pop up. (Robert Howard)

There is the possibility that Harrod Miller was associated with Ed McLemore, a most curious character. He ran the Sportitorium in Dallas and allegedly knew Jack Ruby.

That aside, the image below (sorry about the poor quality) shows Harrod Miller on the far right. The man second from the left is Col. James P. O'Connell. I have not been able to confirm or not if he is the father of James Patrick O'Connell Jr. aka Big Jim O'Connell, former FBI and CIA man. O'Connell was also Robert Maheu's case officer between 1953 and 1962.

FWIW.

James

Thanks for the photo and information James. Harrod Miller died in 1967, according to an old post, is that right?

According to sources the STELLA POLARIS' codebook was recovered by the Finns who then sold it to OSS. this

material was unavailable to Meredith Gardner when he reconstructed the NVVD codebook. The Swedish collection,

combined with the archive recovered by TICOM-6 from Burgsheidungen enabled Samuel Chew to achieve his 1953

breakthrough.

The question implies that the VENONA texts from 1940-1949 were all in the

same cipher system, but they were not. Equally, different techniques were

applied by the British and American cryptographers in 1944, 1953 and

finally 1964.

This is documented in VENONA: The Greatest Secret of the Cold War

(HarperCollins, 1999) by your humble servant, assisted by Ceil Phillips and

the Finns.

http://cryptome.org/venona-ru.htm

Did you know that TICOM is one of the last, still remaining secrets of 20th Century cryptology?

More......

What was the Operation Stella Polaris?

Operation Stella Polaris is a secret but spectacular intelligence operation in 1944. The historical and political value of Stella Polaris for Finland and Sweden during the post-war is still unexplored. More social scientific research is needed in that area.

It could be said that Stella Polaris was an evacuation of all the Finnish intelligence officers and their families from the territory of Finland to Sweden in the utmost secrecy, 23-24 September 1944, immediately after Finland achieved armistice with the Soviet. Among the tough conditions was to clear the whole of Lapland of German troops, what later became the Lapland War. The villages and cities in Finnish Lapland were burned to the ground and every bridge was blown up by the Germans while retreated.

Finnish signal intelligence had cooperated closely with the Swedes but also with many others such as Poles, Estonians, Germans, Japanese and even the British. The Finnish officers were a vulnerable group and therefore it was considered important that all the secrets that Finnish spies had caught in the air about the Russians, Americans, French and others would be protected. Many people expected the Soviet to occupy Finland as had happened f ex the Baltic countries. Moreover, there was a plan for the sigint to continue to spy from the Swedish soil as part of an exile government support. The figures vary but at least 750 people and 500 pack boxes of equipment, techniques, codes and documents was carried over to Sweden during a stormy autumn night. The trip went basically from Närpes in Finland to Härnösand and Gävle in Sweden. Those who got on the four cargo vessels had the code word Stella Polaris. There was also a secret truck transport northover to Haparanda as part of the operation.

Subsequently Operation Stella Polaris later was called by the Swedes as "Stella Polaris Affair. All turns are not yet clear but my book has shown that at the highest political level the knowledge was significantly greater of this operation than anyone previously wanted to admit. Stella Polaris was for long considered as a single military operation agreed on as a gentleman agreement. However, it appears that even ministers of the two countries have been briefed in before the operation.

It is a known fact that a number of Finnish sigint officers were employed by the Swedish FRA and they and their families got quickly Swedish citizenship. And it is also known that some others went over to the French, U.S. and British intelligence services, while most of the persons in this operation went back to Finland via Haparanda when they found out that they could not work from the Swedish soil. But Stella Polaris is also known as a process about the burnt archives from 1946 until the 1960s.

The material that burned at least three times ...

Anyone who reads about Stella Polaris gets confused about how many times the archives seem to have been burned... The first data about the burned codes and archives is from 1946 when the Finns had photographed everything in over 900 meters microfilm and developed it in Finland. The Soviet government called on Sweden to return any hidden Finnish signal intelligence officer who worked then at FRA, and it became a case of high-level diplomacy. According to one source, as late as 2008, it was Molotov himself who demanded to get the Stella Polaris personnel and material from Sweden.

According to some other second-hand information there also was an attempt by Soviet to bargain using Raoul Wallenberg to get the officers from FRA. The other archives burnings were in the 60s when President Kekkonen asked to get the archive material. While Kekkonen raised his voice against Sweden, he has according to sources close to him actually been very aware of all the officers in Sweden and throughout the operation considered it as a necessity. Sigint officer Einar Hänninen received as late as 1957 a medal from Kekkonen sent home (as ordinary mail) to Bromma in Stockholm which shows that the stellists where known of presidentkansliet in Helsinki.

But as recently as the 90s, it has flourished information that there are parts of the Stella Polaris archive either in the Military Archives in Stockholm, or at the National Archive of Sweden and at FRA, and in various locations in Finland. But the actual place where you really can see Stella content is neither in Finland nor Sweden, but the Web. It was in the 90s in the U.S. when the NSA started publishing secret spy telegrams which had been part of the secret spy system VENONA during the Cold War! Much of the material was already sold in 1944 and 1945 in Stockholm, which was the past global spy capital, by Japanese, French, English and Americans who later spread the material everywhere. It contained spy reports, but also knowledge of coding and more.

American access

Operation Stella Polaris architect and one of the highest officer in the intelligence of Finland during the war, Reino Hallamaa, had already in the early 1930s been in close contact with the American spies during his visits to Tallinn and Riga. He said in a radio program on Swedish National Radio in 1970s how he and Mannerheim 1943 began predict whether the war would turn or not and that it was necessary to start discussing with the Americans before a possible defeat in 1944.

"I said to Mannerheim that now it is almost over. We read of course American encrypted messages all the time. Would it not make sense that we warn them that we read the telegrams and Marshal said that it is absolutely wise to warn them. When I traveled to Stockholm and showed the Americans some of their telegrams in plain language they did not believe their eyes.

The person who the Americans had pointed as the head of counter intelligence against the Russians was a Finnish person, Wilhelm Tikander. We had very good relations with him and we helped him a lot in the work against the Russians. Espionage is a costly business and superpower like the U.S. can use money as ammunition. Americans shot with money. They used tremendous amounts", Hallamaa told.

Daily the U.S. Allied ambassadors' also reported to the U.S. embassy which had the responsibility to put together a report on the whole of Europe and send it to Washington. Finns followed those and other encrypted communications to the U.S., including lines from Stockholm, Lisbon, Cairo and Ankara and could therefore keep Finland well informed. The Americans became unpleasantly surprised when the Finns revealed that they could read their communications all the time. But Finland could achieve a good will of Americans which could be a benefit in the negotiations of a separate peace treaty with Russians without the Germans knowing about it. There were also practical reasons for the Finns to reveal themselves to Americans. It was clear that even the Germans forced the U.S. messages and there was the risk that Finland's goal to reach peace with Russians would be revealed by mistake if Germans learned about it from the U.S. messages.

From Roosevelt´s desk Stella Polaris material has ended up on Stalin´s desk in Moscow. It is known because historians have found historical copies of messages there. Moreover, both Roosevelt and, for example, President Ryti of Finland were on the list of over 3000 information sources the Soviet Union had in the West during the Second World War. The significance of that information has not been analyzed yet in the depth. Perhaps the time is not right, yet.

Stella Polaris affair

Stella Polaris was an evacuation project of Finnish and Swedish sigint officers who planned and carried out it when the Second World War raged and nothing was safe or secure from one day to the next. Through their stories we can understand the logic of war and espionage little better, but also how the Swedish and Finnish history grow much closer together than we are accustomed to see. But Stella Polaris operation became after the war also "The Affair Stella Polaris" while different people due of various motives were trying to find out what had happened, while others tried to hide everything as fast as possible. In Finland the case was discussed in Parliament and the Finnish state police searched the stellists to be prosecuted for treason.

This ended, however, in the early 50's when the Finnish Chancellor of Justice and Parliament came to the conclusion that any war crimes of the stellists could not be proved and prosecuted in connection with the operation.

Sweden struggled with Soviet demands for the extradition of both Baltic refugees and the Finnish stellists which culminated in 1946 when General Ehrensvärd presented his well written but empty explanation of what had happened without identifying any members of the government or other authorities. Minister Östen Undén´s role and his seemingly genuine sympathy for Stalin-Soviet should become a subject of more historical research in the future if we want to understand the tragic and complex events that happened in Sweden after the Second World War.

The quiet Per Albin Hansson who actually "fixed" with the Marshal Mannerheim so that no weapon conflict on Swedish soil incurred carried a heavy responsibility as the Prime who cooperated with the Germans. But if you change the perspective and look instead at two small countries that are trying the best they can balance between the three - not two but three - powers; Britain, Germany and the Soviet (and later the fourth; the United States) who all were interested in swallowing the Nordic countries without chewing - that leads to a completely new picture of historical events. Stella Polaris can also be seen as a lens that shows us to our countries' shared history did not end two hundred years ago, when Sweden lost Finland to Russia, but there are many new opportunities to discover the Finnish-Swedish cooperation if you only want to look.

Finally Stella Polaris is the destiny of some Finnish people, who got to keep the secret more than 60 years, some to their final days. One of them is Aili Hänninen in Bromma, Sweden, the wife of late Einar Hänninen, sigint officer from Finland. Their son Pertti found out only four years ago about fathers life and about the secret his mom had kept. And he found out that he was one of the stellist - he was on the secret trip over the sea, as a baby of six weeks age!

Johanna Parikka Altenstedt

15th of January, 2009

http://www.stellapol...rame-01-gb.html

Robert: I cannot vouch for the factual accuracy of what is contained on the above website; for those with a desire to get a

"just the facts, maam," approach, I would recommend doing a Google book search under.

Codebreakers: Arne Beurling and the Swedish crypto program during World War II By Bengt Beckman

Arne Beurling was a leading international figure who achieved beautiful results in mathematical analysis. By the arrival of World War II, he was one of the most powerful and original mathematicians in the world and widely considered a genius. During his military service, he demonstrated a flair for code and was well known within Swedish cryptology circles. The natural choice of the Swedish intelligence service was to place Beurling at the center of the group charged with breaking the G-Schreiber code. His single-handed effort "broke the unbreakable". Using only teleprinter tapes and cipher text, he deciphered the code that the Germans believed impossible to crack--in two weeks!

The feat, in a word, was astonishing. Many wonder how he did it. But Beurling took his secret to the grave, retorting when asked, "A magician does not reveal his secrets."

The author, Bengt Beckman, for many years was the head of the cryptanalysis department of the Swedish signal intelligence agency. In writing this book, he made extensive use of its archives. He also interviewed many people who participated in the Swedish wartime intelligence effort. He describes in detail Beurling's attack on the G-Schreiber system as well as attacks on several other wartime crypto systems, noting high points from the history of Swedish cryptology.

http://www.ams.org/bookstore-getitem/item=swcry

http://www.cryptool.org/index.php/en/crypto-history-documentationmenu-54.html

As an aside, it is interesting to note that the old intersection of Hollywood and its version of intelligence operations has an interesting factoid, that erstwhile figures into all of this with an interesting caveat as well. Although there is at least one factual inaccuracy in the blurb, in circa 1964 a newspaper article conrtained the following......

OSS Men Authenticate Facts of World War II Spy Picture. In the news article, Wilho Tikander is described as the head of the OSS and and Walter Surrey as his "number 2 man." The film being referenced of course, is The Counterfeit Traitor starring William Holden. The article mentions that Eric Erickson, who "lives in Stockholm," fooled Heinrich Himmler in 1944, by making arrangements for a phony oil deal that allowed Erickson to travel at will throughout Germany pinpointing oil reserves and inspecting refineries, targets for later Allied bombing raids. Although born in Brooklyn he moved to Texas in the early 1920's and worked in the oil fields around Beaumont. Sounds vaguely remniscent of George DeMohrenschildt does it not? According to the article, Tikander and Surrey were in Houston, at the time the article was written.

Edited June 22, 2010 by Robert Howard

[Jim Root]

Robert

Great Read!!!!

In 1964 Wilho Tikander was a judge in Chicago, Ill and to my knowledge William Surrey was in Raleigh, North Carolina. I believe that in June, 1959 Surrey was having some health issues but did manage to meet with members of the old Stella Polaris crew. These meeting were orchestrated by Richard Helms, himself part of the Sweedish OSS unit that, during WWII was under the command of Wilho Tikander, and participated in the Stella Polaris affair.

Eric "Red" Erickson, as I recall, was, according to a Tikander document that I have in my posession, escourted by Himmler to tour ball berring plants rather than oil facilities but I guess he could have done both. After the war it was Tikander that went to great lengths to rehabilitate Erickson's reputation by letting it be known that he had been working throughout the war for the Allies.

Your information brings up the name George DeMohrenschildt but I continue to point out that it was his brother Demitri that was more closely associated with this group.

William Surrey was on Tikanders staff and in 1959 Tikander was having Surrey review some of what he was writting. I do have, somewhere, Tikanders list of assignments of various persons and the positions that they held (including both Helms and the secretary that Helms continuously employed throughout his CIA days).

Nice work,

Jim Root

[Robert Howard]

Robert

Great Read!!!!

In 1964 Wilho Tikander was a judge in Chicago, Ill and to my knowledge William Surrey was in Raleigh, North Carolina. I believe that in June, 1959 Surrey was having some health issues but did manage to meet with members of the old Stella Polaris crew. These meeting were orchestrated by Richard Helms, himself part of the Sweedish OSS unit that, during WWII was under the command of Wilho Tikander, and participated in the Stella Polaris affair.

Eric "Red" Erickson, as I recall, was, according to a Tikander document that I have in my posession, escourted by Himmler to tour ball berring plants rather than oil facilities but I guess he could have done both. After the war it was Tikander that went to great lengths to rehabilitate Erickson's reputation by letting it be known that he had been working throughout the war for the Allies.

Your information brings up the name George DeMohrenschildt but I continue to point out that it was his brother Demitri that was more closely associated with this group.

William Surrey was on Tikanders staff and in 1959 Tikander was having Surrey review some of what he was writting. I do have, somewhere, Tikanders list of assignments of various persons and the positions that they held (including both Helms and the secretary that Helms continuously employed throughout his CIA days).

Nice work,

Jim Root

Thanks for the compliment, it was when I was researching ONI for some time, that I started getting exposed to the cryptological aspects of 20th century history, in large part due to the fact that SIGINT, ONI and Yardley's Black Chamber intertwine.

For some strange reason, I believe there is a possibilty the TICOM files, may have a Kennedy connection in one way or another, seems like everything else does, lol.

Factoid's abound in the SIGINT world; one of the Bundy's worked at Hut 6 at Bletchley Park. And circa late 50's early 60's, William Friedman went on some top secret trips to Europe where he met with NSA Officials.....It is a very intersting world, and can still provide some clues in the JFK Assassination, at least in my view. You should read my recent post on the Eugene Dinkin thread to see what I am talkin about.....ie Tumbleweed

Edited June 24, 2010 by Robert Howard

[Robert Howard]

Robert

Great Read!!!!

In 1964 Wilho Tikander was a judge in Chicago, Ill and to my knowledge William Surrey was in Raleigh, North Carolina. I believe that in June, 1959 Surrey was having some health issues but did manage to meet with members of the old Stella Polaris crew. These meeting were orchestrated by Richard Helms, himself part of the Sweedish OSS unit that, during WWII was under the command of Wilho Tikander, and participated in the Stella Polaris affair.

Eric "Red" Erickson, as I recall, was, according to a Tikander document that I have in my posession, escourted by Himmler to tour ball berring plants rather than oil facilities but I guess he could have done both. After the war it was Tikander that went to great lengths to rehabilitate Erickson's reputation by letting it be known that he had been working throughout the war for the Allies.

Your information brings up the name George DeMohrenschildt but I continue to point out that it was his brother Demitri that was more closely associated with this group.

William Surrey was on Tikanders staff and in 1959 Tikander was having Surrey review some of what he was writting. I do have, somewhere, Tikanders list of assignments of various persons and the positions that they held (including both Helms and the secretary that Helms continuously employed throughout his CIA days).

Nice work,

Jim Root

Thanks for the compliment, it was when I was researching ONI for some time, that I started getting exposed to the cryptological aspects of 29th century history, in large part due to the fact that SIGINT, ONI and Yardley's Black Chamber sort of intertwine, for some strange reason, I believe there is a possibilty the TICOM files, may have a Kennedy connection in one way or another, seems like everything else does, lol.

Factoid's abound in the SIGINT world; one of the Bundy's worked at Hut 6 at Bletchley Park. And William Friedman went on some top secret trips to Europe where he met with NSA Officials.....I tis a very intersting world, and can still provide some clues in the JFK Assassination, at least in my view. You should read my redent post on the Eugene Dinkin thread to see what I am talking about.....ie someone named Bowers who met with Dinkin, from what I can tell.

Dimitri DeMohrenschildt, is no stranger to me, he was a Dartmouth alumni who wrote for the Russian Review, and had connections to William F. Buckley and the whole 1950's military and foreign policy analysis circle...There are those who believe he was all over the JFK assassination, I certainly wouldn't be surprised.

Edited June 24, 2010 by Robert Howard