Israeli Intelligence and the leakage of Khrushchev's “Secret Speech”

Khrushchev's “Secret Speech” of 1956 not only marked a major radical change in the USSR, but when it was published outside the USSR it brought upheaval all over the world. According to conventional knowledge the text of the speech was obtained by the Mossad (the Israeli foreign-intelligence organization) and transmitted to the CIA. A critical examination of the published evidence and accounts contradicts this version and suggests a number of points: the Secret Speech was not secret; Israel was not the single and perhaps not the first source for the text to reach the West; the speech was intended by Khrushchev and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to be disseminated to all communist parties around the world; and it was covertly brought to the knowledge of Western intelligence organizations and the world press by Soviet political and intelligence agencies.