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Cryptonym: HONETOL

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Definition:
CIA investigation of moles from 1964-1970. Sometimes referred to as "The Great Molehunt". Fourteen officers closely investigated by CI chief James Angleton and his colleagues. No findings of espionage, but their careers were ruined.
Status:
Documented
Discussion:
Leads from Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitysn pointing to a penetration of the CIA or other US institutions. This led to two kinds of files - the leads themselves as Golitsyn provided and described them, and files on subjects, i.e. persons suspected of being the subject of a lead. There were very few actual leads - and many suspects.
Sources:

Peter Kross, The JFK Files (Adventures Unlimited, 2019)

p. 447: "Known as the HONETOL cases, and later sometimes referred to in the popular press as the Great Molehunt..."

JEREMY.WPD

Re 1964-1970: Very useful finding aid, probably for ARRB attorney Jeremy Gunn - updated by someone as of 5/1/2017: CIA investigation of moles from 1964-1970. Fourteen officers closely investigated by CI chief James Angleton and his colleagues. No findings of espionage, but their careers were ruined.

104-10301-10011: EXTRACTS FROM CI HISTORY

CI History: HONETOL is described as leads from Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitysn pointing to a penetration of the CIA or other US institutions. This led to two kinds of files - the leads themselves as Golitsyn provided and described them, and files on subjects, i.e. persons suspected of being the subject of a lead. There were very few actual leads - and many suspects. p. 13: Known as the HONETOL cases, and later sometimes referred to in the popular literature as the Great Molehunt, this activity had produced extensive files on Golitsyn, who resisted returning these documents when Angleton's successor George Kalaris sent people to retrieve them. The term "HONETOL," used as an acronym, allegedly derives from a combination of parts of the last name of FBI Director John Edgar Hoover and the first name of Soviet KGB defector and Angleton guru Anatoliy Golitsyn.

104-10301-10011: EXTRACTS FROM CI HISTORY

1977: (Following their discovery)...the "HONETOL" files appalled the new CI staff in their numbers and, as they were read, their scope and the hollowness of the reeds upon which they had been built. HONETOL had not yet become notorious to the outside world, but inside it was perceived as a problem of major proportions.

Contributors:
Bill Simpich

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