{"id":484288,"date":"2022-08-13T17:06:58","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T14:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/this-double-agent-cia-and-kgb-spy-was-also-a-famous-swinger\/"},"modified":"2022-08-13T17:06:58","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T14:06:58","slug":"this-double-agent-cia-and-kgb-spy-was-also-a-famous-swinger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/this-double-agent-cia-and-kgb-spy-was-also-a-famous-swinger\/","title":{"rendered":"#This double agent CIA and KGB spy was also a famous swinger"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3bbe1b43dfb\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3bbe1b43dfb\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/this-double-agent-cia-and-kgb-spy-was-also-a-famous-swinger\/#%E2%80%9CThis_double_agent_CIA_and_KGB_spy_was_also_a_famous_swinger%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;This double agent CIA and KGB spy was also a famous swinger&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CThis_double_agent_CIA_and_KGB_spy_was_also_a_famous_swinger%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;This double agent CIA and KGB spy was also a famous swinger&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Long before Austin Powers was a randy spy, there was Karel Koecher.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Koecher was a Czechoslovakian \u00e9migr\u00e9 who lived in New York City from the 1960s to the  \u201980s. Although he spied for several competing agencies \u2014 the American CIA, the Soviet Union\u2019s KGB, and Czechoslovakia\u2019s StB \u2014 Koecher was most memorable as an eager participant in the East Coast\u2019s early sex-club scene.\u00a0And he was anything but under the radar. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cKoecher was a bit strange. Usually people keep their clothes on at least some of the time, but he was always walking around naked,\u201d recalls a fellow orgy guest in \u201cThe Liar: How a Double Agent in the CIA Became the Cold War\u2019s Last Honest Man\u201d (Public Affairs, August 23<sup>rd<\/sup>) by Benjamin Cunningham. \u201cAnd he always had an erection.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While Koecher was an enthusiastic swinger, he was a reluctant spy. Born in 1934 near Prague, he was unh<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>y with Czechoslovakia\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social<\/a>ist turn after World War II, and so fought against its Communist Party. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-white-house.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Karel in front of White House, just a few months after arriving in the States.\" class=\"wp-image-23404320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-white-house.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-white-house.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-white-house.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Koecher in front of White House, just a few months after arriving in the United States.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Karel Koecher<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Koecher was rebellious \u2014 he called himself an \u201cextreme individualist\u201d \u2014 and had numerous clashes with the Czech state police throughout the 1950s, many related to his libido. He was given a one-year suspended jail term for bitterly calling local police \u201cpeeping Toms\u201d after they caught him canoodling with a girlfriend. After the StB later trumped up charges that Koecher \u201cviolated the moral code . . . of underage girls\u201d he received two more years of probation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The police harassment didn\u2019t stop. Although an excellent student and speaker of four languages (English, French, Russian and Czech), Koecher was initially kept from attending university, forbidden from accepting a fellowship in Cameroon (so he couldn\u2019t defect), and in joining the Communist Party (which he did solely in the hopes of finding better jobs). <\/p>\n<p>Eventually, Cunningham writes, Koecher realized \u201cHe could not beat them, so \u2026. had little choice but to join them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-hana-eastern-bloc.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Karel and Hana celebrate with StB colleagues after returning to the Eastern Bloc.\" class=\"wp-image-23404326\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-hana-eastern-bloc.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-hana-eastern-bloc.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-hana-eastern-bloc.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Karel and Hana celebrate with StB colleagues after returning to the Eastern Bloc.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">The State Security Archives of the Czech Republic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With help from a friend inside the agency, Koecher joined the StB in 1963. The agency\u2019s assessment wasn\u2019t glowing, calling Karel \u201cover-confident, hypersensitive, hostile towards people, money-driven \u2026\u00a0\u00a0with an antisocial almost psychopathic personality.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When the StB warned Karel to tell no one about his new job, he immediately confessed it to his new wife, Hana. (He did the same thing when a later lover wanted him to leave Hana for her \u2014 \u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d Koecher shrugged, \u201cI\u2019m a spy.\u201d)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Still, between his language skills and connections in the West honed from years working as a Prague tour guide, the StB had no better candidate to send to the US. After two years of doing little in Czechoslovakia, the StB sent Karel to New York to \u201cpenetrate the CIA.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/studio-54.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Manhattan's reknowned disco and nightclub Studio 54 is located at 254 West 54th Street.  \" class=\"wp-image-23404340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/studio-54.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/studio-54.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/studio-54.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Manhattan\u2019s famous disco and nightclub Studio 54 was one of Koecher\u2019s favorite hangouts.  <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Michael Norcia\/Sygma via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Asked how, the StB said, \u201cThat\u2019s up to you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With his connection to Professor Charles Kline from an earlier Prague tour, Koecher attended Columbia University and earned a PhD in 1971. Columbia\u2019s job-placement service then suggested Karel apply for a job . . .at the CIA. Soon Koecher was translating Russian documents for America\u2019s foremost spy agency, all while still working for the StB and their superiors at the KGB.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When the CIA targeted Soviets in the US to recruit, Koecher \u201cmore or less sabotaged their efforts by telling the Soviets who the targets were.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/hana-manhattan-diamond-district.jpg?w=682\" alt=\"Hana in front of entryway of office in Manhattan\u2019s Diamond District.\" class=\"wp-image-23404348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/hana-manhattan-diamond-district.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1023 1023w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/hana-manhattan-diamond-district.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=682 682w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/hana-manhattan-diamond-district.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=341 341w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/hana-manhattan-diamond-district.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\"\/><figcaption>Hana \u2014 whom others described as \u201cstrikingly beautiful\u201d \u2014 in Manhattan\u2019s Diamond District.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">The State Security Archives of the Czech Republic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But Koecher was never all that enthusiastic about the job. \u201cThe StB urged him to inform on coworkers . . . but he never really got around to it,\u201d Cunningham writes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The problem was that Karel was a perfect representative of the 1970s \u201cMe\u201d decade.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is about loyalty to yourself.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. I don\u2019t give a f\u2013k about belonging,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Koecher\u2019s primary interest was instead New York\u2019s sex scene. With Hana \u2014 whom others described as \u201cstrikingly beautiful\u201d and \u201cincredibly orgasmic\u201d \u2014 the Koechers regularly attended nightclubs like Studio 54, in addition to swingers clubs like New York\u2019s notorious Plato\u2019s Retreat, Capitol Couples Club in Washington, DC, and an upstate nudist colony called Stockholm. Plus,\u00a0\u201cAt least once or twice a week, Koecher and Hana had one or two couples over for dinner, or went to their homes, to swap spouses for sex,\u201d Cunningham shares. America\u2019s libertine life was eagerly  welcomed by the couple who had grown up behind the Iron Curtain.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-caribbean-island.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Karel at the airport on the Caribbean island of St. Croix in 1975.\" class=\"wp-image-23404410\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-caribbean-island.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-caribbean-island.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karel-caribbean-island.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Karel at the airport on the Caribbean island of St. Croix in 1975.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Karel Koecher<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Koecher always believed the StB didn\u2019t pay him enough, so he regularly ignored meetings with them and occasionally told them to \u201cf\u2013k off.\u201d He had no complaints about his Soviet stipend, but to protect his own role a KGB <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> who was also a CIA mole raised doubts about Karel\u2019s loyalties. That got Koecher decommissioned by both Communist agencies. By the mid-70s, his career was kaput.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe double agent was an agent no more,\u201d Cunningham writes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The KGB did recommission Koecher during the Reagan administration, to use his connections in New York society to pursue \u201cinformed gossip\u201d from people working in U.S. government.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"679\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/the-liar.jpg?w=679\" alt=\"The Liar: The CIA Double Agent who Became the Last Honest Man of the Cold War by Benjamin Cunningham\" class=\"wp-image-23404377\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/the-liar.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1018 1018w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/the-liar.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=679 679w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/the-liar.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=339 339w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/the-liar.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 679px) 100vw, 679px\"\/><figcaption>The Liar: The CIA Double Agent who Became the Last Honest Man of the Cold War by Benjamin Cunningham.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI would socialize for socialism,\u201d Koecher said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>By then, the FBI was on Koecher\u2019s trail \u2014 his wild spending of KGB cash raised their suspicions \u2014 and in 1984 the net was closing. The night before they were arrested as spies, Karel and Hana Koecher brought a friendly couple back to their apartment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn their last night of freedom in the U.S., FBI wiretaps confirm that Karel and Hana went down swinging,\u201d Cunningham writes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As a spy, Koecher faced the death penalty, but after being detained for 2 years \u2014 when prosecutor Rudy Giuliani failed to make a case stick \u2014 US and Soviet authorities swapped the Koechers for Jewish dissident Anatoly Shcharansky on the Glienicke Bridge, a k a the \u201cBridge of Spies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Banned from ever returning to the US, the swinging spy\u2019s days of American decadence were done.\u00a0\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/08\/13\/this-double-agent-cia-and-kgb-spy-was-also-a-famous-swinger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;This double agent CIA and KGB spy was also a famous swinger&#8221; Long before Austin Powers was a randy spy, there was Karel Koecher.\u00a0 Koecher was a Czechoslovakian \u00e9migr\u00e9 who lived in New York City from the 1960s to the \u201980s. Although he spied for several competing agencies \u2014 the American CIA, the Soviet Union\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":484289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/karl-hana-wagner-collegeX.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[132278,74856,77080,81063],"class_list":["post-484288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-8-13-22","tag-cia","tag-spy","tag-swingers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}