Jack Dunlap

Jack Edward Dunlap (November 14, 1927 – July 23, 1963) was a United States Army sergeant stationed at the National Security Agency, and a spy for the Soviet Union in the early 1960s.

Dunlap enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1952 and served with distinction in the Korean War. He was gradually promoted to sergeant and was assigned to the NSA in 1958. He was given top secret messages to carry to NSA officials before they had been encrypted. Moreover, Dunlap was given a top-secret security clearance to view these "plaintext" messages before handing them over to the NSA, and therefore was able to read and make copies of them.

NSA spying activities

Learning of Dunlap's sensitive position, a KGB agent approached him in 1958, bluntly offering him to be "paid handsomely" for the contents of the pouches he was carrying. Before delivering the documents, Dunlap slipped them under his shirt, drove to a meeting point in Washington, D.C., had his contact make copies or photograph them, then returned them to the pouch and made his delivery. It was later estimated that Dunlap was receiving from the Soviets between $40,000 and $50,000 a year. When neighbors asked about his new riches, Dunlap said that he had inherited a plantation in Louisiana. NSA security paid no attention to Dunlap's new lifestyle. In 1963, he was about to be transferred to another post, which would cut off his access to documents. To continue making money from the Soviets, Dunlap believed that he could stay on at NSA by simply not re-enlisting when his tour of duty expired.