Jack E. Dunlap – Sergeant, United States Army

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Jack E. Dunlap, was an United States Army Sergeant stationed at the National Security Agency, who later became a spy for the Soviet Union in the early 1960’s.

In order to continue his access to classified information, Sgt. Dunlap applied for civilian employment at NSA. At the time, background investigations were more strict for civilan employees than members of the military. When the NSA began Sgt. Dunlap’s background investigation, indications of Dunlap’s “high lifestyle” began to emerge. Dunlap’s security clearance was revoked on May 23, 1963, and NSA transferred Dunlap to a menial job.

Dunlap committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning on July 23, 1963. After the suicide, Dunlap’s wife discovered packages of secret materials — only then did the scope of the breach become evident.

Sergeant Jack E. Dunlap was a NSA courier who allegedly sold secrets to the Soviet Union for three years; he killed himself while under investigation in 1963. Scott Shane, “Some at NSA Betrayed Country,” from Scott Shane and Tom Bowman, “No Such Agency,” Baltimore Sun, reprint of six-part series, 3-15 December 1995.

Jack E. Dunlap, an employee of the NSA 1958, was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning – an apparent suicide (see photo below).

He also was a Soviet penetration agent, who had concealed in the attic his house a treasure trove of sealed packets of classified NSA documents bearing on its most secret deciphering and interception operation.

There were many reasons why it would have been inconvenient to arrest and Jack Dunlap. For one thing, he was a liaison with “Staff D” in the CIA, and could expose areas of CIA-NSA cooperation in domestic interceptions that might be deemed illegal. For another, he had been the personal driver, and aide, to Major General Garrison Coverdale the chief of staff of the NSA. General Coverdale, and after Coverdale left in August 1959, Dunlap to the new NSA Chief of Staff, General Watlington. As such, he had top-secret clearance and a “no inspection” status, which meant he could drive off the base with documents hidden in the car and then return without anyone knowing that the material had been removed from the base. Moreover, Dunlap had other high-level connections in the NSA. According to the Carroll Report, which investigated the Dunlap breach, he had helped a ring of officers at NSA pilfer some government property. Dunlap was under interrogation just before he died. His apparent suicide ended the investigation.

Some of it is hearsay, some heresy from un-named sources.

Jack Dunlap was a Boy Scout in New Orleans in his youth. Enlisted and became an Airborne Ranger in the Infantry. Served in the Korean War and received the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB).

The circumstances of his joining the ASA is not known, but is assigned to Det 4 in 57/58 with an unknown MOS. It might have been as a MP. During the 57-58 period there were no known MP’s assigned to Sinop. The security for the base was performed by the Turk conscript unit billeted outside the post. It is believed that the name of the blond-haired Hungarian was Alex Klopstock.

Jack Dunlap frequented the beach area at Samsun and enjoyed the Russian females there. After gaining access to operations Dunlap was especially interested in the telemetry signals, etc and on several occasions was seen going into the restricted COMCEN area, but because he was a Senior NCO, no one challenged him and it will NEVER be known if he secreted or photographed anything therein.

Also, many thought it unusual that Jack Dunlap went TDY to Hq’s USASAEUR with the CO at Det 4 in 1958 because he was not knowlegable of the mission as was Sergeant Van Pelt. Sergeant Dunlap shot a wild boar and all the Sinop dogs (except Gimp) with his .45. Perhaps we will find the name of the Major who commanded Det 4 in 1958.

Jack Dunlap was transferred to Vint Hill Farms from Fort Meade after he took a polygraph at NSA. He probably knew that he had flunked and was now in a dilemma. He was seen driving a white Cadillac at VHFS and would be gone for days before his death in Maryland. At least one person swears that the autopsy of Jack Dunlap would show that he was ‘beaten to a pulp’ and that a ‘snake in the woodpile’ was responsible for placing the hose in his car which caused his death.

Jack E. Dunlap he described as a drunken Army sergeant who was recruited strictly for money. Once a chauffeur-courier for the National Security Agency, Dunlap provided NSA documents to the GRU. For his work Dunlap received lavish payments that permitted him a lifestyle of powerboats, fast cars and an expensive mistress.

Dunlap committed suicide when it appeared federal officers were about to arrest him.

Espionage, since it is based on human vulnerability, can penetrate even the most heavily guarded repositories of national secrets.

Soviet intelligence demonstrated this in the 1950’s when it recruited no fewer than five different American sources in the ultra-secret National Security Agency (NSA), the unit that supplies the codes and ciphers used by the American government.

One of these KGB spies, Jack E. Dunlap, the chauffeur for the NSA’s Chief of Staff, organized a number of staff officers into a larceny scheme, which allowed him access to the highest level cryptography, the “keys to the kingdom,” as one military investigator put it. He delivered this material to his Soviet case officer in the Chief of Staff’s limousine (the only car which could leave headquarters without being searched). This human spying made it possible for the Soviet Union to decipher the American data that had been gathered by its technical collection, and also to ascertain many of the targets of American technical collection.

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DUNLAP, JACK E

  • SFC US ARMY
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 11/14/1927
  • DATE OF DEATH: 07/23/1963
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 43  SITE 976
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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