Daniel Zaret

Daniel Abraham Zaret (April 11, 1891 – October 13, 1984) was a Russian-born, naturalized American citizen and spy.

Espionage
Zaret supplied information during World War II about shells, bombs, and torpedoes to Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU) while working as a safety inspector for the U.S. Army's Explosives Division. He was a United States Army World War I veteran and later served as aide-de-camp to the commander of XV International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, returning to the United States in November 1938.

Zaret registered for the World War II draft on April 27, 1942. At that time, he was living in rural Cecil County, Maryland and was employed by Triumph Explosives in Elkton, Maryland. Up to August 1943, Zaret was employed by various explosives factories, including a job as assistant director at a factory in Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 1943. He later took a position as production safety inspector in the Explosives Division of the War Department in Chicago.

Venona
Zaret is referenced in the following Venona project decrypt:


 * Venona 1325 GRU New York to Moscow, 11 August 1943.

Background
Zaret was born Daniel Abraham Zaretsky on April 11, 1891 in Simferopol, Crimea, Russia to Abraham Zaretsky. He immigrated to the United States via Liverpool, England in April 1906. Zaret claimed to have lived in Arkansas, Illinois, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York between 1906 and 1921. He became a naturalized citizen on November 12, 1917.

During World War I, Zaret served in the United States Army, November 18, 1917 to January 27, 1919; he was living in Wilmington, Delaware when he registered for the draft. In 1921, Zaret was living in Brooklyn, New York and was employed as a jewelry merchant.

Zaret died October 13, 1984 in Saint Petersburg, Florida.