58 years later, records unsealed in Rosenberg spy case

intangible child · 07-23-2008, 02:40 AM

NEW YORK (CNN) -- After 58 years, historians and journalists will have a chance to examine the secret grand jury testimony of witnesses in the espionage case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

The couple was investigated in 1950, tried in 1951 for conspiracy to commit espionage and convicted and sentenced to death in 1953.

Cold War scholars are hoping the grand jury transcripts will shed light on some nagging questions about the case -- primarily, just how strong the case was against Ethel Rosenberg.

The National Security Archive, the American Historical Association, the Georgetown University Law Center and others have petitioned to have the transcripts of 46 witnesses released to the public.

In an unusual move, federal authorities have said that because of the historic significance of the case, they do not oppose releasing the transcripts of testimony from witnesses who have died or who do not object to their release.

Of the 46 grand jury witnesses, 36 are either deceased or do not object to releasing the transcripts. Three others are thought to have died; four have not been located.

In a partial ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied a request to release the testimony of three other witnesses, including one of the most controversial -- David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg's brother and a pivotal witness who testified against the couple.

Greenglass' attorney sent Hellerstein two letters asking that his testimony not be released. He offered to provide information to support that request, but stipulated that that information be sealed.

"The circumstances that led to the testimony of Mr. Greenglass before the grand jury in 1950 were complex and emotionally wrought," his attorney wrote in one letter to the judge.

"Mr. Greenglass and his family were thrust into an ... unwanted spotlight which has dogged their lives ever since," the other letter said.

In the 1940s, Greenglass was an Army sergeant working at the Manhattan Project, the atomic bomb project, in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He eventually confessed to being a spy recruited by Julius Rosenberg and agreed to testify against the couple at trial. Greenglass' wife, Ruth, had also been under investigation and was threatened with indictment.

Ruth Greenglass, who died earlier this year at age 84, told investigators she had seen Ethel Rosenberg type up her brother's notes.
58 years later, records unsealed in Rosenberg spy case - CNN.com