Tour of famous betrayals in Washington

David Major, top, takes a busload of people on Washington's spy tour

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Most people think of the U.S. capital as the home of the White House, the Lincoln memorial and other patriotic spots marking places in history. But a new bus tour touts Washington as the "world capital of espionage."

"Any place you look in this city you will see the ghost of intelligence collection," said former FBI counterintelligence officer David Major.

Major knows what he is talking about: He spent his career in the FBI and the White House chasing foreign spies.

The other tour guide is an expert as well. Oleg Kalugin is a retired major-general in the Soviet KGB.

"The United States is no longer enemy No. 1, as you know, it's priority No. 1," said Kalugin. "And this is the only difference: semantics."

The tour features the old Soviet embassy, where three of the most damaging American spies in history walked through the doors on their way to commit treason:

 •  Aldrich Ames of the CIA
 •  U.S. Navy Warrant Officer John Walker
 •  Ronald Pelton of the National Security Agency

VIDEO CNN's David Ensor reports on a bus tour that showcases history of espionage in Washington Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   ALSO FBI to start polygraph tests following spy probe Glossary: Terms of the trade Rationalizing treason: An interview with Aldrich Ames The U.S. intelligence community Recent U.S. spy cases Famous spies in history Philby: The most successful Soviet double agent Cold War espionage

There is also the house where Pelton once lived, just blocks from the Soviet Embassy.

The tour of famous betrayals includes the blue U.S. postal box that Ames marked with a white chalk line when he had secrets for the Soviets and wanted a meeting.

And since spies also need to eat, the tour includes Chadwick's -- the restaurant where Ames gave the Soviets a list of Russians spying for the United States -- leading to at least 10 executions of people on that list.

"I can think of no place in Washington in which more damage had taken place than there," said Major.

Back to a house made famous in the 1950s -- the home of State Department official Alger Hiss. Was he really a Soviet spy?

"One day he wrote to me -- I was in Moscow at the time -- asking me to state publicly that he was not a KGB agent," said Kalugin. "I did state publicly that he was not a KGB agent, because he was a (Soviet military intelligence) agent."

But the Russians aren't the only spies in Washington.

In one apartment building on the tour, Cuban spy Jennifer Miles, undercover as a South African diplomat, used to receive gentleman callers.

"Her mission in the diplomatic staff of the South African government was to meet people from the U.S. State Department and get involved in classified pillow talk," said Major.

The Israeli Embassy is also on the tour because that is where U.S. Navy intelligence analyst and Israeli spy Jonathon Pollard ran to, thinking he'd be safe.

The guard there told Pollard he had to leave. Pollard refused, saying the FBI was after him. But the guard forced him out of the Israeli compound and Pollard was arrested, Major recalled.

The Russians knew where to go and how to escape. The French bistro Au Pied de Cochon is where a U.S. security man took Vitaly Yurchenko, the Soviet defector, for dinner.

A plaque in one booth of the restaurant memorializes Yurchenko's "last supper in the USA" on November 2, 1985.

"So he gets up and goes to the bathroom, but in fact he goes out the side door. And the security officer sits and waits and waits and he never comes back," Major recounts of the embarrassment for the United States.

Yurchenko hot-footed to the new Soviet Embassy and undefected -- or redefected. Or was he ever a real defector?

"He was a genuine defector. Yurchenko was a real traitor," Kalugin insists.

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Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • FBI Press Room - Press Release - 2000 - Veteran FBI Agent Arrested and Charged with Espionage
Central Intelligence Agency
US Department of State
U.S. Department of Justice
Embassy of the Russian Federation
Russian FSB (former KGB, in Russian)

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