The Covername ''TENOR'', ''BAS'', and ''CHETA'' in ---Traffic

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THE COBEBMAMES "TENOR", "BAS", AND "CHETa'" (?)

IHa^MmBaaaTRAJTIC

DEREVNIA
1, General, a. The. eomnm RaBsewsmta. Measages from New Tork

to Moscow encrypted by the BTsterflHMt occasionally "*e reference
to a place known as DEREVNIA. Tola word (derived from DEREVO 'tree;
wood1 and oognata with Knglieh TREE) wtu 'the country* (as opposed
to town, Latin EDS), 'a country estate', or 'a village (without a
church) ' . In translations hereafter, to distinguish Country in the
sense of Latin RUS (whence RURAL) from Country in the sense of Latin
TERRA, RECIO (Russian STRAJtA*, the covername for the United States),
the word Countryside will be used for the former; hence. Countryside
will refer to Mexico and Countrj to the U.SU.

It is known that DEREVNIA Is Mexico because of a series of
messages (not reported on) involving HENRI (Henry). Thus, on 26 May
1944 we read "HENRI during his mtay in DEREVHIA,, •■ Then on H June there
is a painstaking arrangement for a rendezvous between HENRI and.
"our aan" (not New Tork's man, who is HENRI, but presumably some
MGB man or other) at the entrance of the aovie house TEREBA, AVENIDA
<x&Af-&e*ix — *JUAH DE LETRAN; this was evidently the aovie house of that name
(Cine ■Teresa") owned by Exhibidores Metropolitanoe, S.A., at
sAvenida San Joan da Letran 109 In Mexico, Federal District. Finally,
on 10 August 19U» we read, "HEMRI has returned to Tyre JBew YorkJ
from DEREVNIA" and "HENRI (?in?) DEREVHIA and —IT— their organ
'LA V0Z'." ("La Vos" is a Communist newspaper of Mexico, Fed. Dist.)
On HENRI see further seotion A.

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The adjective DEREVENSKOT ooeurring in the message being reported
on (literally 'country ..,, rural; Tillage ...') must therefore amount
to ■latxlou1. It will here bo translated Rural.

b. The frrarpff CHETJ £?}.. In order to extrioate the text of
the translation aa much as possible from a tangle of parentheses and
question marks, it may be well to dispose of the nana CHETa* in the
preliminaries. CHETA means 'pair* or 'couple*. It is not oertaln
that the name involved is CHETa\ but it is certain that it begins with
CHE followed by a consonant no earlier in the Russian alphabet than S,
and ends in A.

c. The real names. John Seating (Russian! DZHON KITING) is
presumably John F. Keating, a lawyer of Manhattan Borough.

David Hiles (Russian: D-EsTD RAILS, with the ■hardn E) is
identified as an adviser of ■KAPITAH" (Captain), who ia known on other
evidence to be Franklin D. Roosevelt. » Accordingly, he Is David K.
Kiln, Administrative Assistant to the President.

The question arises, why Boosevelt ia mentioned by cover-name and
Hiles not. A survey of the traffic ae a whole suggests that a covername

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like KAPITAN serves a different purpose froa covernames assigned to
agents. The latter are presumably designed to protect the person of
the agent directly; the KAPITAN type and names like DEREVHIA merely
obscure the sense and thereby afford indirect protection to the agents
and sources, or baffle foreign intelligence organs concerning Just
That intelligence la being transmitted.

This protection often wears a little thin. Thus, the State

a* BrtSJ1; ^*Tf*I*ffT*J **«* '2« ^tW Covernaaa. U
mm Elated information in Diplomatic Traffic JwawmYs-Mn1' IS Santa mhar 1%

" 18 September 19A7.

.. -'J

Department is coverod by the name BANK, tod quite likely the Secretary
of State had a covername* too, but Robert Daniel Vurphy has do
covername. Hence we read In a message of 19 [l8j October 1944*
n MURPHY in telegrams to the BANK of 26 and 27 August — 2F-- Rumanian
king Michael concerning the presence in Rumania of troops of the
Island [Great Britain] and the Country ly.S.A.J ffor moral support.. •'"

etc*

2. The first message. Hew Tork-Hoscow message 786 of 1 June 1944*

To vfKTOR (Victor],

In reply to your telegram no. 2066,

There* are three ( ?poaeibilities of getting?) (?e transit
visa?) for CHETAi

1, The nerval way— when *Te*DR* will do £or "make^j everything
himself. It will take « 3F— will —in—.

2, Through the lawyer JOSH KEATING— somewhat quicker will cost
300-400 dollars. Both manners are lengthy because they will be
connected with checking-up [or "verification^.

3, Through "KAPITAN'a" adviser DAVID MILES— will take 3-4
days —IF— 500 dollars. Around KITES there is a group of his

S Lends that arrange any business for a tribe. Through them
NOR gets — £F— and has already paid them up to 6000 dollars.
Whether NILES himself takes the bribe la not precisely known.
T. (has) discussed with thorn (?payment?& — 13F—

in/to the Countryside [pER&NIA . Mexico]. —9?— Rural £= Mexican^
visa an! a ticket to the Countryside, T. declares that success
in the last- mentioned way is 100-percent and there is no ohecklng-up,
I recommend the third method.

Before we begin to act for CHETA it is indispensable to get
a Rural visa and to communicate (?immediately?) for — 1U— T. the
amount of the deposit [or 'bond*! paid in in the Countryside.
Immediately upon receipt of the Sural visa and sanction to — 2U~
T. will buy a through ticket from — 9P— (?protection ofjO the
covername Henry JGEHRIHj —10— Rural visa. T. —IF— meet CHETA
in *-3F— later in the Countryside — 20f—

*L**V?1 [ Ko indentations iMicated in original. Paragraphed by translator

tr^R*V for clarity.

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3. Xb£ aecond Maw». Hew York-Moscow ..esaage 1509 (in part)
[internal no. 85lj of 23 October 19U- (The oatanaible message 1509
is really a string of three ehort onea. The second one reads as

follows t)

(?Hot received?) by us — 7F— (^arrangements?) of BAS
concerning CHETA's arrival —3?— I *■ carrying to the point
that I have gotten in touch -2U— plant (henceforth "SI")
— 1*— Ephraln [TEFREHJ, who personally (?presented?) —IP-
SI.

851

Mat

23 October

This message is in a very unsatisfactory shape, but it does show that

almost five aonths after the previous Message there was still talk

of CHEtI's arrival (PRIT&D, hence arrival by conveyance, presiusably

from abroad) . Of coarse, this night be a different arrival, perhaps

even back frost Mexico.

T&OR ia not mentioned, but a certain BAS (weaning 'bass'fr ia.
It will be observed that T&CR and BAS are closely related in meaning,
and it is not impossible that BAS is a new name for T&OB, THoUgh on
the other hand, this relation, if significant, nay simply mean that
T&OR and BAS have similar positions in the ring. The code group
identified as ■BAS1' does also occur In a message of 26 Hay 19U that
also mentions HEHRI (see section. K below) , but it is not certain
that It belongs there (error in decryption?) or, if it does, what it
means there.

The covernaae SI ray be a spelling for the English na*e of the
Latin letter C. It doe* not occur eleewhere.

y%

The word ttauliM "plant," ZAVOD, is possibly a sovernas* for

some organisation or agency.

The cover name TEFR£M doee not occur elsewhere.

4. The names G^MRIH and h£krI. In the first message (section 2)
occurs the phrase "the eovernaae oiNRIH". The only other occurence
of G&HIH la in the message on changes in covernanea (798 of 5 October
19U# previously reported on), where TIM is changed to G&RIH. Since
the message here being reported on is dated 1 June 19U, It is problematic
whether the save naming is involved in each instance.

It should be pointed out, however, that there is a aovernane
H&RI. G&RIH ia the fom usually ffsem bestowed on Hussians when
they are named "Henry" j S&EI (and also G&RI) are forms representing
a foreign name. How, H&RI went to Mexico and later returned to Hew
Tork (see aecUon la). The range of dates for the occurrence of the
oovername K&JRI is from 26 May to 10 august 19U>.

H^RRI will be made the subject of a separate report.

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