Michael Goleniewski

Michael Goleniewski a.k.a. 'SNIPER', 'LAVINIA', (16 August 1922 - 12 July 1993), was a Polish officer in the People's Republic of Poland's Ministry of Public Security, the deputy head of military counterintelligence GZI WP, later head of the technical and scientific section of the Polish intelligence, and a spy for the Soviet government during the 1950s. In 1959, he became a triple-agent, giving Polish and Soviet secrets to the Central Intelligence Agency, which directly caused the exposure of George Blake and Harry Houghton. Goleniewski defected to the United States in 1961. He later claimed to be Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia.

Goleniewski was born in 1922 in Nieswiez, then in Poland, now Belarus. He enlisted in the Polish Army in 1945 and was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Polish Army in 1955. He studied law at the University of Poznan and received a master's degree in political science from the University of Warsaw in 1956. He said he was head of the Technical and Scientific Department of the Polish Secret Service from 1957 to 1960. At the same time, he was spying on Polish intelligence operations for the Soviet Union.

In early 1959, Goleniewski became a triple-agent, anonymously providing the Central Intelligence Agency with Polish and Soviet secrets, by letter. The CIA gave him the code-name 'SNIPER', MI5 gave him 'LAVINIA'. In April 1959, the CIA informed MI5 that SNIPER (his real name was still unknown) had said the Służba Bezpieczeństwa had a British informant inside the Royal Navy. This person was later found to be Harry Houghton. The CIA also told MI5 that Goleniewski had received top secret documents originating from a Soviet mole inside MI6. The mole himself (who later turned out to be George Blake) heard the news that the CIA had a top-level informant in Poland, and sent word back to the KGB, who passed it to the UB. Goleniewski heard the news from the KGB, and immediately escaped. He also provided information that led to the arrests of American diplomat Irvin C. Scarbeck, Swedish Air Force officer Stig Wennerström, and KGB penetrations of the BND, Heinz Felfe and Hans Clemens.

...
Wikipedia