Norman J. Rees

Norman John Rees, (ca. 1906 – 1 February 1976) was an Italian-American oil engineer who worked as a spy for both Soviet Intelligence and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[1] Rees committed suicide after a newspaper article was published that revealed his spying activities.

Early life and career

Rees was born Nuncio Ruisi in Sicily ca. 1906.[2][3] He worked as an engineer for the M.W. Kellogg Company and then the Socony Mobil Oil Company where he specialized in metallurgy, piping and pressurized tanks for oil.[1] In 1956, he received credit for the co-patent of a gas lift.[4]

Spying

According to Rees, he became a "communist sympathizer" during World War II and began supplying oil industry trade secrets to the USSR in 1942.[5] In 1950, he gave the Soviets a newly developed design for a catalytic cracking converter for which he earned a Soviet medal.[5] In addition, he said he supplied Soviet agents with designs for a petroleum plant, natural gas processes and pressurized holding tanks.[1] A newspaper report said he earned $30,000 over the years for providing information.[1] After the FBI approached him about his activities, Rees worked as a double agent for the FBI from 1971 to 1975.[1]

Exposure and death

In 1976, during a three-month-long investigation, the Dallas Times Herald newspaper twice flew Rees to Dallas for interviews.[1] After the investigative journalist Kenneth_P._Johnson told Rees that the newspaper planned to print a story that would expose his activity as a double agent, Rees asked Johnson not to run the story or else Rees would commit suicide.[6] [7] Ten hours after the story was published, Rees died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.[8][9] In the aftermath, newspapers debated whether the threat of suicide should supersede the right of the journalist to publish the story.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Special to New York Times (March 2, 1976). "Spy Said He'd Kill Himself if Exposed, Then Did So". New York Times. Dallas, Texas. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "Observer-Reporter - Google News Archive Search". News.google.com. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  3. ↑ "An expose and a spy's death: Was publication justified? (March 7, 1976)". Archives.chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  4. ↑ "Gas lift". Google.com. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  5. 1 2 "Observer-Reporter - Google News Archive Search". News.google.com. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  6. ↑ "Espionage Against the US by American Citizens" (PDF). Perserec. July 2002. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
  7. ↑ "The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  8. ↑ "An expose and a spy's death: Was publication justified? (March 7, 1976)". Archives.chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  9. ↑ "The Morning Record - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  10. ↑ "Teresa Allen - Work :: The Tough Choice". www.calpoly.edu. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
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