David Greenglass

Definition

David Greenglass was a World War II veteran and machinist at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project who gave atomic secrets to the Soviet Union and later testified against his own sister Ethel Rosenberg and her husband Julius in a famous espionage case.

Analogy

Imagine David Greenglass as an actor who not only leaks the script of a blockbuster movie (atomic secrets) to a rival studio (Soviet Union), but also points fingers at his co-stars (Ethel & Julius Rosenberg) when caught.

Related terms

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg: American couple executed for conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war. Their charges were related to passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.

Manhattan Project: The U.S. research project that developed first nuclear bombs during World War II.

Espionage Act of 1917: U.S. federal law passed shortly after entry into World War I, making it illegal to interfere with military operations or support U.S enemies during wartime. It was used in prosecutions during Cold War era spy cases like that of Rosenbergs.