Early CIA Cold War Foreign Intelligence Operations in Lithuania, Part Three ©

On April 18-19, 1951, for the second infiltration, a CIA doubleton team of Julijonas Būtėnas  (“Steve”) and Jonas Kukauskas-Kukis (“Jack”) were dropped into the Kaunas area of Lithuania. Juozas Luksa was informed on March 1, 1951, by a wireless message from CIA that Kukauskas and Butenas were going to be dispatched: "Be prepared receive Steve and Jack in period 14-27 March." On a blind broadcast to Luksa on March 12, 1951: "March operation delayed until May. Await instructions." Even if Luksa was not informed of the exact time of arrival of Kukauskas and Butenas, he did know the approximate time of arrival. 

Their mission was:

• Establishment of contact with the underground resistance forces in Lithuania.

• Reorganization of the underground resistance forces along more practical lines.

• Establishment of reliable wireless transmission and secret writing communication between Lithuania and the American Zone of Germany.

• Procurement of positive and operational intelligence. 

Būtėnas was the “jumpmaster” for the first parachuting of the three agents in October 1950 (see Parts One and Two). He had been a journalist in Lithuania. In 1939 he was admitted to the Lithuanian Union of Journalists. He became the head of the VLIK information office and taught Lithuanian refugees English. After WWII, he was in a displaced persons camp in Würzburg, Germany, home of VLIK.

Būtėnas was recruited for intelligence work in September 1949 through officials of VLIK. He had been living in an International Refugee Organization (IRO) camp in Pfullingen, Germany. He was initially recruited to act as a translator and agent instructor. From 1949, Būtėnas lived in a safe house in Munich with Luksa. Later, from about May 1950, he lived with all the agents trained for CIA dispatches, including Jonas Kakauskas-Kukis. It was not until August 28, 1950, that he was assigned to a team for dispatch. 

After they landed in Lithuania, Būtėnas first separated from Kukauskas-Kukis and contacted the underground headquarters in the Tauras Region. As one story goes, Būtėnas and Petras Jurkšaitis (Beržas-"Birch"), the commander of a partisan unit, and Kukauskas were in a partisan forest bunker when they were surrounded by Lithuanian security forces (MGB) on May 22, 1951. Būtėnas and Jurkšaitis were killed in the fighting. Kukauskas surrendered. Another story is that the two were killed in a farmhouse in the village of Altoniskiai, by Lithuanian security forces. The farmer was supposedly drunk and gossiped with his neighbors, who informed the security forces. Yet another version of  death is that Būtėnas bit into the cyanide pill and killed himself. 

 

However, in April 1956, the Lithuanian language newspaper "Teviskes Ziburiai" (The Lights of Homeland), published in Toronto, Canada, reported that Butenas was alive and in a forced labor camp after being caught by security forces, put on trial, and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. 

 

In any event, he was buried in an unmarked grave. There is a memorial cross with a parachute in Kazlų Rūda, Lithuania. On May 19, 1999, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus posthumously awarded Būtėnas the Order of the Vytis Cross, 3rd degree. 

Jonas Kukauskas 

In February 1938, Kukauskas a student in Vilnius, attempted to cross the Polish border into Lithuania to deliver information to the Lithuanian Intelligence Service. He was apprehended by the Polish counter-intelligence, interrogated, and brought to trial. He was released because his act was determined to have been that of an “irresponsible boy” rather than an agent of  an intelligence service.

In 1944 Kukauskas crossed Poland and arrived in Berlin. He later studied and the university in Frankfurt. In October 1946, he was recruited by the Operations Chief of Vlik for a mission organized by French intelligence. At Pfullingen, Germany, he was trained in communications until May 1947. 

In May 1948,  he was taken to Paris, where he was given intelligence training, including jump techniques by the French. There had been no contact with French representatives except for their instructors. In April 1950, after the French dispatch failed to materialize, Kukauskas was dismissed by the French case officer and were escorted by a French representative to Strasbourg. He was met by a representative of VLIK, who sent him on to Munich. Jonas Kukauskas was then recruited by CIA’s Office of Special Operations (OSO) and trained outside Munich.

Radio Game “Neman”

Afterr being captured by the Lithuanian security force, Kukauskas agreed to cooperate with them in a radio game “Neman” with CIA. A special ten-man department was created to direct this operation.

Kukauskas sent his first message on June 15, 1951. He reported that he and Būtėnas were separated and Būtėnas was killed without giving details. He continued sending messages with general information until November 29, 1951, when he stopped. He sent a message to CIA again in April 1952 with the excuse that his silence was due to a faulty generator.

Kukauskas contacted Luksa and got him to agree to a meeting in Pabartupis village forest near Kaunas. The meeting never occurred as Luksa was killed or committed suicide during an ambush by Lithuanian security forces. 

The Project Renewal request for Fiscal Year 1953-1954, included this comment:

The following represents an approximate analysis of reports received on Lithuania since May 1952 … 57 messages received from one Fl agent inside Lithuania giving an accurate picture of the present resistance situation in that country. 

Moreover, 

Since March 1953 three s/w letters received from our agent in Lithuania have established that he was probably-not under Soviet control as of December 1952. In the three letters received, he reported large round-ups of partisans resulting from treachery on the part of certain partisan leaders. In these encounters, his wit equipment was lost and most of his partisan unit destroyed. 

He was last known to have been in hiding; but in contact with an established mail-drop. Money was sent to assist this agent. Based on the letters received, there is some certainty in the assumption that this agent is not under Soviet control and that previous information on contacts in Lithuania sent by him may be used in future operations. 

In March 1953, Kukauskas sent a message: “Strong local security measures in December 1952 resulted in the destruction of a large segment of the Lithuanian resistance movement. The CIA agent himself was wounded in a skirmish with security troops and forced to go into hiding with friends.” 

In July 1953, CIA’s Chief of the Soviet Russia Division wrote:

In our last mission to Lithuania in April 1951 we dispatched two agents. One of the two agents was killed by MGB forces a. few weeks after arrival. The other agent succeeded in contacting the partisan forces, developing limited contact with legal living citizens, and maintaining continuous contact with CIA via W/T and S/W for the past 2 years. 

Kukauskas stopped sending W/T messages in 1953, but continued sending secret writing letters.  CIA believed that Kakauskas was under KGB control, but they continued the operational game:

The channels are used to obtain reactions to international events, to elicit information on its modus operandi, and to acquire intelligence information in instances when we believe that it would be unprofitable for the RIS to practice deception. 

CIA decided to exfiltrate Kakauskas, even though he was assumed to be under KGB control:

[B]ecause of the unusual length of time during which he allegedly managed to "live black" with little support, and also because of information obtained during debriefings …. However, correspondence with him is being maintained, and he is being played "straight" with the hope of eventual exfiltration. He has always indicated a desire to return to the West. . 

Agents were recruited and trained, but the exfiltration attempt was never made. Kukaukas’s last known contact with CIA was in the Spring 1956.