Date

Apr 15, 1957

Description

While U.S. and British intelligence were well aware that captured German scientists were playing multiple roles in the Soviet nuclear program, they did not have the details until they could interview the scientists when they began to return during the 1950s (Operation DRAGON). Some of the interview-based reports have already been declassified and published in a National Security Archive posting. This report, along with the next two documents, add to the knowledge base of the work on the German scientists, although they have to be checked against other sources.[20]

According to the report, German scientists at the Agudzeri Institute successfully developed a mass spectrometer which is essential to measure the results of uranium isotope separation activities. Another success was Heinz Barwich’s contribution to the gaseous diffusion program, including theoretical work on cascade theory, for which he was awarded a Stalin Prize. By contrast, Nobel Prize winner Gustav Hertz’s effort to develop an industrial-scale method to separate uranium isotopes was a failure.

At the end of this document, like the two that follow, are excised pages that probably list the German scientists and technicians who had been interviewed.

Source

Mandatory declassification review request to CIA

Document published in following posting(s):

Detection of the First Soviet Nuclear Test, September 1949

Sep 9, 2019

Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Scientific Intelligence, “Contributions of German Scientists to the Atomic Energy Program – Agudzeri,” Research Supplement to Scientific Intelligence Report CIA/SI 2-57, CIA/SI 2-SE III-57, 15 April 1957, Secret, Excised Copy