미국 비밀 기록관리와 베노나 프로젝트(Venona Project)

The Historical Implications of the Venona Project for the Secret Records Management of the United States

베노나 프로젝트(Venona Project)는 미국 정보기관이 제2차 세계대전 중 구소련 KGB와 미국의 구소련 정보원들 사이에 오가는 전보를 가로채 암호를 해독한 프로젝트를 일컫는다. 당시 미 행정부 수반이자 최고 사령관이었던 트루만 대통령조차 베노나 프로젝트의 실체에 대해 전혀 인지하지 못할 정도로 미국 정보기관 내부에서만 극비리에 진행됐다. 정보기관의 베노나 문서에 대한 독점과 폐쇄적인 관리 방식은, 미국 사회 전반에 광범위한 부작용을 낳았다. 이 글은 베노나 프로젝트의 주요 내용과 역사적 전개 과정, 그리고 그 특징을 분석한다. 특히 베노나 프로젝트를 미국이 건국 이래 전통적으로 계승해 온 비밀 기록관리 체계를 위반한 대단히 예외적인 사건으로 평가한다. 정보기관의 ‘충성’에 대한 강조와 비밀 유지의 폐쇄성이 작동하면서, 이례적인 비밀 기록관리 체제를 안착시킨 것으로 파악한다. 결론에서는 베노나 프로젝트가 일회성을 가진 역사적 사건이 아니라, 이후로도 지속적으로 재등장하는 ‘미국식’ 비밀 기록관리의 현재적 유산임을 강조한다.

The Venona Project refers to the historical incident in which US intelligence agencies intercepted and decrypted telegrams sent between the KGB of the former Soviet Union and former Soviet agents living in the United States during World War II, and classified the decrypted documents as top secret and kept them confidential only within the intelligence agencies. Even President Truman, who was the head of the US administration and the highest commander at the time, was completely unaware of the true nature of the Venona project, as it was conducted in strict secrecy within the US intelligence agencies. The intelligence agencies’ monopoly on Venona documents and the closed management of secret documents caused fundamental issues related to the management of secret records throughout American society, in addition to the superficial controversy surrounding the punishment of Soviet spies in the United States. In other words, the closed record-keeping of the US intelligence agencies led to political polarization due to the lack of information on Soviet spies that could be used in the public sphere and to misperceptions, which led to President Truman and most Americans at the time having no knowledge of the Venona Project at all. This article aims to promote a critical historical understanding of the Venona Project by analyzing the main contents, historical development, and characteristics of the project, which was created before and after World War II. In particular, this study evaluates the Venona Project as a highly exceptional event that went against the traditional view of the US government sharing secret records. In other words, the emphasis on “loyalty”, which is the organizational culture within intelligence agencies, and the secrecy of the closed nature of the organization have created an unusual attitude toward secret record management. In conclusion, the Venona Project emphasizes that the “American-style” secret record management culture of intelligence agencies that has re-emerged since then is not a one-time historical event, but rather its legacy.