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{{Short description|American government official (born 1935)}}
{{for|the Swiss physicist|Felix Bloch}}
{{Infobox person
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1935|7|19|
| birth_place = [[Vienna]],
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'''Felix Bloch''' (
Hanssen, a [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) agent who was
==FBI investigation==
In May 1989, Bloch had a dinner meeting in [[Paris]] with a man he says he knew as "Pierre Bart," a fellow [[stamp collector]]. Bloch at this time was stationed in [[Washington, D.C.]], but was one of the top European specialists in the State Department. The meeting occurred during an official visit by Bloch to [[France]]. "Bart" was a Soviet agent who lived in Paris and had previously lived in [[Vienna]] under the name Reino Gikman. Unbeknownst to Bloch, the entire meeting was closely watched by [[Direction de la surveillance du territoire|French counterintelligence]] agents. Surveillance showed that Bloch had taken a shoulder bag of unknown contents to the meeting, which Bloch left with "Bart" at the end of the dinner. Bloch would later state that the bag contained stamps which he left for Bart.<ref name=nyt1>{{cite news
Bloch would later have a meeting with Gikman in Brussels, but the American authorities did not ask Belgian authorities to observe the meeting, in part because of fears the [[Belgian State Security Service|Belgian intelligence service]] was penetrated by the Soviets. The CIA observed parts of the meeting but could not determine if Bloch passed any documents to Gikman.<ref name=nyt1/><!-- Bot generated title --> Shortly afterward, the surveillance project came to an end: Bloch received a phone call from Gikman, taped by the FBI, alluding to an "illness" on Gikman's part and the expressed hope that Bloch did not receive the same thing. As this call came three weeks after their last meeting, it appeared highly unlikely the true subject of the call was a communicable ailment such as cold or flu.<ref name=nyt1/> It would later emerge that the veracity of "Gikman's" claimed birth date and other identity details could not be verified. Gikman and Bloch were known to have lived in Vienna at about the same time, and American officials would come to suspect Gikman had been Bloch's handler. However there is no proof the two men met at that time.<ref name=nyt1/>
A 1989 story in ''[[The New York Times]]''
The Gikman phone call regarding the "illness" led U.S. officials to believe their investigation had been exposed. They therefore decided to confront Bloch. Agents demanded that he confess to spying, but he steadfastly held to his explanation about stamp collecting. The lack of any conclusive evidence against Bloch led to an extraordinary media firestorm. Bloch was suspended from his job. For the next six months, Bloch was followed everywhere by a horde of FBI agents and news reporters, who quickly learned of the extraordinary news that a high-ranking diplomat was suspected of spying. Bloch, an avid walker, once led the following horde on a 22-mile trek. In an absurd incident, Bloch was once sitting in a park when children began to taunt him as a "spy" and a man identifying himself as a Vietnam veteran hit Bloch in the head; at which point an FBI agent persuaded the man to leave. Another incident featured a staged "reenactment" of a fictionalized meeting between Bloch and a Soviet agent by a network news crew; the network's anchor later apologized on air for the incident.<ref name=nyt1/> In November 1989 the FBI withdrew its surveillance and the media circus began to subside.
==Termination of employment==
In February 1990, the State Department moved to terminate Bloch's employment.<ref name=nyt1/> Press reports at the time suggested that the State Department possessed recorded conversations between Bloch and his wife in which Bloch acknowledged he had received money from the Soviet Union for several years.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE3DF163EF933A0575AC0A96F948260 US Weighs Dismissing Bloch But Has Evidence Problem, ''The New York Times'', 30 September 1989]</ref> It is not known whether these tapes were used in the termination proceedings, which were closed to the public. Bloch's employment was terminated and he was dismissed from the State Department without benefit of a pension.
==Aftermath==
Bloch was not charged criminally, and moved to North Carolina. Despite his substantial assets, Bloch chose menial work as a supermarket cashier, beginning in 1992.<ref>[http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A15586 Spy Like Us?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160120165539/http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A15586 |date=2016-01-20 }} Indy, 7 March 2001</ref> He took a second job driving buses for Chapel Hill Transit. He appears to have lived an uneventful life there but was arrested twice for shoplifting, first in 1993 and again in 1994. Despite being caught by bagger Shannon Norman and the store manager, the 1993 charge was dismissed. Bloch pleaded guilty to shoplifting in 1994, receiving a 30-day suspended sentence. In a 2001 interview, Bloch's bus-driving supervisor described him as a good employee who worked hard.<ref>
==Connection to Robert Hanssen case==
Of all the unanswered questions in the Bloch affair, one of the largest was how the investigation had been blown to the Soviets. Over a decade later, US authorities discovered that [[Robert Hanssen]]
==References==
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