Felix Bloch (born 1933) was a senior American diplomat living in Washington, D.C., and the second most important in the U.S. embassy in Vienna. He was accused of espionage for the Soviet Union. These accusations cost Bloch his prestigious position that he held for 32 years, and he currently works as a bus driver in North Carolina, as he has been stripped of claim to any pension.
Espionage Accusation
On April 27, 1989, a conversation of Bloch was intercepted by the National Security Agency. Bloch and a man identified as "Gikman"—later assumed to be a spy for the Russian KGB—had made plans to meet in Paris. U.S. State Department officials were strictly forbidden to meet with any Soviet officials, and word immediately spread to the FBI and CIA about Bloch's involvement. French counterintelligence immediately staged wide surveillance on Bloch. Bloch met Reino Gikman on May 14, and afterwards had dinner. It was immediately noticed that Bloch had carried out another bag than what he initially been wearing. Gikman had then taken the exchanged baggage.
Bloch eventually returned to Washington, D.C., where three teams of FBI officials had been watching him in 24 hour shifts. Nothing had been found on him: the contents of both bags have not been disclosed to this day.
Bloch returned to Moscow on June 11, unexpectedly. Eleven days later he had received a message from Gikman disguising himself as "Pierre Bart" which had disclosed that agents had both of them under investigation. Once Bloch was informed, FBI officials made it clear that such an investigation had taken place. Evidence such as photographs of him and Gilkman in the Paris restaurant had been shown to him, but he "shrugged them off." He also claimed that he and Gikman had been stamp collectors—thus, theoretically explaining the bag switch. The story was taken as dubious: KGB officials and U.S. diplomats would be unlikely to collect stamps together. FBI officials then tried a different approach by stating that several of his documents were found from the conspicuous bags in Paris. Bloch, however, immediately denied the charge.
Aftermath
Bloch's guilt has never been proven, although investigations had followed for six months. Media and FBI officials had virtually paraded him wherever he went until the investigation was closed in December, 1989. Brief criticism followed when simulated video footage of Bloch exchanging briefcases was broadcast on the ABC evening newscast without identifying the footage as staged rather than real. Bloch has been stripped of virtually all honors since his accusations. He was also stripped of his pension in 1993, and has recently taken work in a grocery store and currently drives buses for Chapel Hill Transit in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.[citation needed] He had also been arrested in 1994 for shoplifting.[citation needed]
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