Saturday, December 16, 2006

The name is Rosbaud, Paul Rosbaud

World War II's greatest allied spy died in 1963, yet nearly 62 years after the end of the war, while acknowledging we may have lost that war without Paul Rosbaud, British and American intelligence services still refuse to release details of his contributions, citing interests of national security.

Rosbaud's family is currently suing Britain's MI6 for release of files chronicling his wartime exploits.

A brief summary about what is publicly known of his career is available here. Ever faithful to his sense of honor, he destroyed his personal papers shortly before his death.

In the US the upper limit on classification of secret information is 25 years. Release of information regarding intelligence sources and methods may be delayed longer, but that is discretionary, and by no means prohibited.

Makes one curious about what could possibly still be sensitive about events that occurred more than half a century ago involving those long dead. Rosbaud was also deeply involved in spiriting Jewish refugees out of the Third Reich throughout the war.


Del.icio.us Digg Stumble Upon Toolbar propeller Furl

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rosbaud, as in the name of James Foster Kane's childhood sled?

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Sam Thornton said...

Hi Christopher.

That was one of the things that caught my eye, too.

Home Generator Citrus Heights said...

Nice share