6. A Triple Agent in the United States
The Abwehr was quite pleased with their spy Dusko Popov. Although some of his German handlers grew suspicious, their suspicions did not make their way up the chain of command. Among other things, an assignment to German military intelligence in Portugal was a cushy gig compared to less attractive ones, such as an assignment to the Eastern Front. Also, many in the Abwehr, from its chief Wilhelm Canaris on down to lower officials such as Johnny Jebsen, disliked the Nazis and did what they could to undermine them.
In 1941, the Abwehr furnished Popov with a small fortune and sent him to the United States to gather intelligence on American defensive measures. The information sought included an extensive list of questions about the defenses of Pearl Harbor, in which Germany’s Japanese allies were keenly interested. The British worked with the Feds to handle Popov while in the US, but FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and his G-men lacked the vision and finesse of their British counterparts. Rather than use Popov as a double agent to suss out German intentions and feed them false information, Hoover simply wanted to use him to catch German spies.