He was one of the Chief Designers at Phazotron Design Bureau, the Soviet entity that developed military radars and avionics systems. His name was Adolf Georgievich Tolkachev.
The Russian approached the CIA twice more, but it was only on 5th March 1978 that the CIA, through case officer John Guilsher, finally contacted him. Luckily, in February 1978 the Pentagon asked for intelligence on Soviet aircraft electronics and weapons control systems, the kind of information the Russian had shared with the CIA.
Since an American official had recently been declared persona non grata, and two CIA officers had been sent home a few months earlier after their cases were compromised, headquarters declined. This was passed on to headquarters and permission was sought to approach the Russian. But this time the Russian had included two typewritten sheets containing details about the electronic systems for a Soviet aircraft. Delivered to the Station Chief, it contained similar instructions for a meeting. In December of 1977, the Russian handed a letter to a US embassy official who was shopping at a local market and pleaded for it to be handed to the appropriate people. The Chief was impressed with his tenacity, but higher ups demurred and no contact was made. A few days later he made contact again, this time explaining that he was an engineer, wasn’t well versed in secret matters (as an explanation for the possibility that he was going about this in the wrong way), and again requested to be contacted. The Russian approached the Station Chief once again in February, but his note did not draw out a response. Given all this, the CIA decided against pursuing the opportunity. The diplomatic situation was also not particularly favourable to such risk-taking: Cyrus Vance - the Secretary of State-designate - was scheduled to visit the USSR, and the Americans were wary of creating waves. The CIA were concerned that this was one of the KGB’s dangles aimed at detecting and drawing out CIA personnel from among the Embassy staff so that they could be expelled.
It also contained detailed instructions for a meeting including time and place for two possibilities, along with a signal to indicate which one was preferred. The paper contained a request for a meeting to discuss confidential matters. When the Station Chief replied in the affirmative, the Russian left a folded piece of paper on the car seat and left. He was approached by a middle-aged Russian who asked if he was American. One bleak evening in January 1977 the CIA Station Chief in Moscow had left the embassy and driven to a nearby gas station.
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