Rejd [Raid]

A cover name appearing in NKGB foreign intelligence cables from 1944-1945 which were partially decrypted in the course of the American Venona operation and released in 1995-1996. At the time of their release, “Raid” was identified by Venona translators as Victor Perlo, a U.S. government official during the New Deal years and World War II and later an American Marxist economist.

The Russian word “Rejd” has several meanings: 1) (maritime) a safe off-shore anchorage; 2) (military) a hit-and-run raid by mobile military forces attacking an enemy from the rear; and 3) (police) a swoop or spot check. Venona translators spelled this cryptonym as “Rajder” or “Raider.” However, to be more precise, the Russian noun “rejder” derives from the military meaning of the Russian word “rejd” and denotes not just a person who participates in a raid but also a battleship engaged in autonomous operations against enemy transport and commercial vessels. Most probably, in mistranslating the Russian pseudonym “Rejd,” the Venona translators assumed they were dealing with a cover name that referred to a soldier on a raid, rather than to either a spot check or a battleship.