Counterespionage film Legal Resident – Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)

Transcript

Narrator: In this shot of a crowded Australian city street at five o’clock in the afternoon, any one of these hurrying workers going home could be a Soviet illegal resident.

Emil Goldfus living quietly as an artist in New York was one. His true identity: Colonel Rudolf Abel of the KGB [Soviet Union intelligence service].

Gordon Lonsdale holding an office job in London was another. His true identity: Konon Molody of the Russian intelligence service.

For five years the Soviet embassy in Canberra stood vacant until the Soviet Union decided to re-establish diplomatic relations in 1959, and of course their legal residency as well.

Mr Skripov, as mentioned earlier, was one of the first arrivals. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, or ASIO, left Mr Skripov alone for over a year while he explored his new environment. He visited all the standard tourist attractions, including Taronga Park Zoo, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Coogee and other Sydney beaches.

At the end of the year he knew all about Canberra and Sydney and he was quite convinced ASIO had forgotten him. But they hadn’t.

They were there at Taronga Park Zoo to photograph his first clandestine meeting with ‘Sylvia’ – the Australian woman who helped to unmask him.

[MUSIC INTERLUDE]

Actress: I am 'Sylvia'. When I first met Ivan Fedorovich Skripov in March of 1961 I didn’t know that he had been in Australia almost two years. I didn’t know what he was really doing. In fact, I never knew his name was Ivan Skripov until he was declared ‘persona non grata’. I simply knew him as John. There was a good deal I did not know and over the months the officials of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation – known as ASIO – who monitored my contact with Skripov from the day I met him, had to explain it to me. The beginning was simple enough because I did know what a diplomat was and something about what diplomats do. Our meetings for the first year or so were uneventful and ASIO couldn’t quite decide what Mr Skripov wanted. He gave me ₤425, which I handed to ASIO, and presents for Christmas. We had almost given up hope when Mr Skripov finally showed his true colours by giving me some red capsules and a small bottle of fluid to bring up secret writings test. His instructions were most meticulous.

He told me I would receive a friendly letter through the post from time to time signed by 'Theresa'. On the reverse side of the letter there would be important instructions for me printed in secret ink. To bring up the secret message I’d need, as well as the capsules and the fluid, a kettle of boiling water, a rubber glove, some cotton wool, a tumbler and a teaspoon.

I had first to put three teaspoons of the liquid into a glass, then dissolve one capsule in it. The liquid is colourless, suspiciously like vodka as a matter of fact. I was told, before applying it, to steam the letter but I think Mr Skripov must have got his instructions from Moscow mixed up because it works just as well if you don’t steam the letter first. The glove is necessary when handling this liquid because if it gets on your skin it will turn it purple. The letter is swabbed, then steamed again.

[MUSIC INTERLUDE]

Actress: Watch now as the secret writing appears in the top left-hand corner. Actually, his first letter was only a test so I could practise bringing up the secret writing.

In March 1962 Mr Skripov asked me to go to a water meter near Sydney Harbour Bridge. Here is a part of the secret recording made as he gave me instructions:

Ivan Skripov: You go out along the brick wall.

Actress: I know that, yes. I know that wall.

Skripov: Yes. So Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Pavilion and so the lookout will be then on the left-hand side, you see, that’s [inaudible] Sydney Harbour Bridge if you [remember?] where we met. So you go around…there’s the grass there…green, yes, there’s a lawn, see and a palm tree and so on, then …

[END]

About this record

This clip, from a training film titled Legal Resident and produced by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), is about Australian counterespionage and intelligence gathering and uses the case of Soviet diplomat and spy Ivan Skripov as an example. The clip reviews elements of the Skripov case and his planned espionage activities, including: Skripov’s involvement with Australian intelligence officer Kay Marshall, or ‘Sylvia’; the invisible ink used to correspond with her; and ASIO surveillance recordings.

Educational value

This clip highlights the role of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in counterespionage operations, intelligence gathering and security in Australia during the Cold War. It shows espionage techniques used by Ivan Fedorovich Skripov, a Soviet diplomat, during the Cold War. The Royal Commission on Espionage (1954–55) found that the Soviets had used their embassy ‘for many years’ as a centre for controlling espionage in Australia.
The monitoring and expulsion of Soviet diplomat Ivan Skripov referred to in this clip took place during a period of diplomatic delicacy between Australia and the Soviet Union following the high-profile 1954 defection of Soviet Intelligence Officers Vladimir and Evdokia Petrov. As a result, the Soviet Union cut diplomatic relations with Australia until 1959. Skripov was one of the first Soviet diplomats to enter the country when the Soviet Embassy in Canberra was reopened.
ASIO was established by Prime Minister Ben Chifley in 1949 after a United States and British code-breaking operation revealed that sensitive government information was being passed to the Soviet Union from a source in Australia. Initially part of the Commonwealth Defence Forces, ASIO was established as a statutory body under the ASIO Act 1956 and is responsible to the Commonwealth Parliament through its minister, the Attorney-General.
Skripov, First Secretary of the Soviet embassy in Canberra, had groomed Kay Marshall, the woman depicted in this clip, for espionage activities from 1961 to 1963, not knowing that she was an ASIO agent. After a series of preliminary meetings and training runs Skripov asked Marshall to deliver a device for sending coded messages to a contact in Adelaide, who failed to arrive. The Australian Government, hoping to prevent the device from being used elsewhere in Australia, declared Skripov ‘persona non grata’ and expelled him from Australia in 1963.
Under the Archives Act 1983 this clip, which contains material about Australia’s security, became available for public access 30 years after it was recorded. ASIO, unlike most other Commonwealth agencies, is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act 1982 due to the sensitive nature of its ongoing operations. Records become available only after 30 years have elapsed.
Produced by Australian feature film production company Cinesound, Legal Resident uses some of the techniques of cinema as entertainment. Dramatic music, the silhouetting of the ASIO counterintelligence officer, a dramatised re-enactment, excerpts of ASIO surveillance material and persuasive narration all contribute to establishing Ivan Skripov within a framework of suspicion and intrigue.

Acknowledgments

Related themes

Theme

Evdokia Petrov being escorted to a waiting plane by diplomatic couriers

Cold War

The Cold War was a period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1991. In Australia it was marked by political stand-offs, the space race, spy rings and defections.