22. Russian Incompetence and Sloppiness Doomed Their Star Spy
The Russians might have entrapped Alfred Redl and used elicit photos to blackmail him into treason. Once he got started as a double agent, however, Redl took to it with a will. To cover his tracks, he unmasked minor Russian agents who were fed him by his tsarist spymasters. He also framed innocent Austro-Hungarian officers with falsified evidence. Through such means, he enhanced his reputation within the Austro-Hungarian establishment as a brilliant head of counterintelligence. Over the next eleven years, Redl sold the Russians Austro-Hungarian mobilization plans, army orders, ciphers, codes, maps, reports on road and rail conditions, and other secrets. His career finally came to an end because of incompetence and sloppiness by his Russian handlers.
In 1912, Redl’s mentor, von Giesl, was promoted to head an army corps and took Redl with him as his chief of staff. Postal censors employed by Redl’s successor in counterintelligence intercepted envelopes stuffed with cash and nothing else. However, they had postal registration receipts that were traced back to addresses abroad that were known to be used by Russian and French intelligence. A sting operation was set up, the envelopes were delivered under surveillance, and Redl eventually showed up to claim them. Arrested, he confessed to treason and requested that he be left alone with a revolver. His request was granted, and after he penned brief letters to his brother and to von Giesl, Redl committed suicide.