{"id":13204,"date":"2015-05-23T07:45:47","date_gmt":"2015-05-23T11:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=13204"},"modified":"2015-05-24T06:47:07","modified_gmt":"2015-05-24T10:47:07","slug":"jack-barsky-kgb-spy-who-relied-on-numbers-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/05\/jack-barsky-kgb-spy-who-relied-on-numbers-stations\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Barsky: KGB spy who relied on numbers stations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/JckBarsky.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13215\" src=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/JckBarsky.jpg\" alt=\"JckBarsky\" width=\"650\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/JckBarsky.jpg 650w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/JckBarsky-300x161.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Many thanks to <em>SWLing Post<\/em> reader, Anthony, for forwarding this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/former-kgb-spy-jack-barsky-steve-kroft-60-minutes\/\" target=\"_blank\">CBS\/60 Minutes<\/a> video:\u00a0an interview with former KGB spy, Jack Barsky. During the interview, Barsky mentions that he received encrypted KGB &#8220;radiograms&#8221; via a numbers station he believed to be in Cuba. He admitted that the messages could take an hour to copy, then an additional three hours to decode. This is a fascinating story&#8211;well worth watching.<\/p>\n<p>Here is the intro <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/former-kgb-spy-jack-barsky-steve-kroft-60-minutes\/\" target=\"_blank\">via 60 Minutes<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Tonight, we&#8217;re going to tell you a story you&#8217;ve probably never heard before because only a few people outside the FBI know anything about it. It&#8217;s a spy story unlike any other and if you think your life is complicated, wait till you hear about Jack Barsky&#8217;s, who led three of them simultaneously. One as a husband and father, two as a computer programmer and administrator at some top American corporations and three as a KGB agent spying on America during the last decade of the Cold War.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI did finally apprehend him in Pennsylvania but it was long after the Soviet Union had crumbled. What makes Jack Barsky&#8217;s story even more remarkable is he&#8217;s never spent a night in jail, the Russians declared him dead a long time ago, he&#8217;s living a quiet life in upstate New York and has worked in important and sensitive jobs. He&#8217;s now free to tell his story&#8230;as honestly as a former spy ever can.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/former-kgb-spy-jack-barsky-steve-kroft-60-minutes\/\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to view the video via CBS online<\/a>, or you can simply watch via the the embedded players below:<\/p>\n<h3>Part 1<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uV39GSN_Ovw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Part 2<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/70-2OAa7TGU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Anthony, for forwarding this CBS\/60 Minutes video:\u00a0an interview with former KGB spy, Jack Barsky. During the interview, Barsky mentions that he received encrypted KGB &#8220;radiograms&#8221; via a numbers station he believed to be in Cuba. He admitted that the messages could take an hour to copy, then an additional [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,3,172,43,304],"tags":[3838,3837,1698,3836,3835,4088,445,3291],"class_list":["post-13204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","category-news","category-numbers-stations","category-shortwave-radio","category-videos","tag-60-minutes","tag-cbs","tag-cuban-spy-numbers","tag-jack-barsky","tag-kgb","tag-numbers-stations","tag-spy-numbers","tag-video"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-3qY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9685,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/numbers-station-presentation-by-peter-staal\/","url_meta":{"origin":13204,"position":0},"title":"Numbers station presentation by Peter Staal","author":"Thomas","date":"May 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to Jonathan Marks who discovered the following video--a lecture by Peter Staal at\u00a0TU Delft--on the topic of numbers stations: Note that they attempt to sort out a technical problem in the first three minutes of the lecture. Check out Jonathan's post on Critical Distance for his comments and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5627,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/even-numbers-stations-make-mistakes\/","url_meta":{"origin":13204,"position":1},"title":"Even numbers stations make mistakes","author":"Thomas","date":"March 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"On February 5th, 2013, the Cuban numbers station widely known as HM01 struggled to maintain its composure following an awkward studio error. In this particular case, I started recording a few seconds prior to the carrier, at which point you'll hear a couple of minutes of \"dead air\" (silence). The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"WFL_015","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/CubanFlag-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20113,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/north-korean-numbers-station-in-the-press\/","url_meta":{"origin":13204,"position":2},"title":"North Korean numbers station in the press","author":"Thomas","date":"July 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been offline and off-grid this week and have accumulated quite the backlog of email. One news item that caught the attention of a large number of readers (thanks to all for the tips--!) was North Korean spy numbers.\u00a0I'm very curious if any readers have logged and recorded this station--if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30813,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/bbc-video-the-spy-radio-that-anyone-can-hear\/","url_meta":{"origin":13204,"position":3},"title":"BBC video: &#8220;The &#8216;spy radio&#8217; that anyone can hear&#8221;","author":"Thomas","date":"February 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who writes: Nothing that an SWLing Post reader doesn\u2019t already know--more for general consumption: http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/av\/world-42819704\/numbers-stations-the-spy-radio-that-anyone-can-hear For decades, people around the globe have been able to listen in to mysterious spy broadcasts from all over the world with just a radio. Gordon Corera\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30374,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/going-by-the-numbers\/","url_meta":{"origin":13204,"position":4},"title":"Going By the Numbers","author":"Robert Gulley","date":"January 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"For those who follow numbers stations or, like me, enjoy seeing articles about numbers stations, below are a few paragraphs from a recent article in Radio World by author James Careless: \u201c6-7-9-2-6. 5-6-9-9-0.\u201d Tune across the shortwave bands (above AM\/MW), and chances are you will come across a \u201cnumbers station.\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/numbers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/numbers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/numbers.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/numbers.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15374,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/hackaday-secret-radio-stations-by-the-numbers\/","url_meta":{"origin":13204,"position":5},"title":"Hackaday: &#8220;Secret Radio Stations by the Numbers&#8221;","author":"Thomas","date":"October 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Hackaday via Andrea Borgnino) One thing has stayed with the James Bond movie franchise through the decades: Mr. Bond always has the most wonderful of gadgets. Be it handheld, car-based, or otherwise, there\u2019s always something to thrill that is mostly believable. The biggest problem with all of those gadgets\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}