This is Martha Peterson, a CIA officer under diplomatic cover in Moscow in the late 1970s. She was arrested while placing a dead drop concealed in a fake hollow rock.

This is her at Lubyanka being interrogated by the KGB as part of a publicity stunt. Before her is the dead drop device.

Aleksandr Ogorodnik, code name TRIGON, was supposed to service the dead drop. He was a Russian diplomat recruited in Colombia via his Colombian mistress. He killed himself with a CIA supplied cyanide pill hidden in a pen. This was a month before Martha Peterson’s arrest in 1977.

Here is her arrest by the KGB. They’re searching her for a covert radio receiver that was used to detect the traffic from radios carried by surveillance teams.

Allegedly she fought so fiercely during the arrest that one KGB agent was hospitalised. lol

American ambassador was summoned to Lubyanka where the KBG was declaring Martha Peterson persona non grata.

He wore a watch with a concealed microphone. But in his rush to get to the meeting he forgot to take off his actual watch. You can see him wearing both watches here.

A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two is never sure.

There are many resources for learning more about TIGON and Martha Peterson. I recommend her book, The Widow Spy.

NPR has a decent writeup.

'The Moscow Rules' By Tony And Jonna Mendez: How The CIA Evaded KGB Security : NPR

When CIA officers walk out of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, they're shadowed by Russian security. A new book examines how they have operated with this round-the-clock surveillance.

Here’s the CIA recounting the story of Martha Peterson and TRIGON.

CIA @CIA

In anticipation of Marti Peterson’s participation on our #ReelvsRealCIA panel tomorrow (bit.ly/2IWoJok), here is the Cold War story about her & Aleksandr Ogorodnik, Codename: TRIGON

1.usa.gov/28Jp87E