The "OVATION" Files

When KGB Colonel and British secret agent Oleg Gordievsky was exfiltrated from the USSR and defected to the UK in 1985, he was given the cryptonym OVATION. OVATION reports were sent to Ottawa by a Canadian intelligence liaison officer in London between 1985-88. The documents in this collection show that Ottawa was typically notified of incoming reports by cables from the Canadian High Commission in the UK, and the reports themselves were attached to corresponding numbered letters.

The letters and reports were usually trasmitted to the Department of External Affairs' Foreign Intelligence Bureau (IND), particularly its Political Intelligence (INP) and Intelligence Services (INS) Divisions. The Privy Council Office's (PCO) Intelligence and Security Co-ordinator typically received OVATION reports, and some were shared with the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). The documents indicate that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) also received OVATION material through its own liaison channels.