FUTURE PROJECT:

MOCASE: Barry and Boris

MOCASE: Barry and Boris is a planned book about a Cold War espionage operation and the relationship between Boris Morros, a Hollywood music director and producer who became an FBI double agent, and Barry Goodenow, the FBI agent who handled him. Their work together from 1947 to 1957 offers a window into the demands of sustaining a deception over years, when credibility, secrecy, and personal relationships could determine an operation’s success.

John Tsukayama first heard the story from Barry himself in the early 1980s while the two were conducting surveillance. The account intrigued him, beginning an interest that would endure for decades. Barry’s son later entrusted John with his father’s papers and memoir of the case, providing a personal account of the operation and a foundation for further inquiry.

After completing his PhD in 2014, John began researching FBI records and examining accounts of Morros in books and reports drawing on Soviet-era intelligence archives. The project brings these sources into conversation with Barry’s papers, comparing perspectives, reconstructing events, and examining where accounts agree or diverge. John’s investigative experience informs his attention to chronology, corroboration, and the distinction between documented events and retrospective interpretations.

The book will explore how Barry and Boris established trust, managed risk, and maintained an operational relationship under the pressures of counterintelligence. Combining a story heard firsthand with documentary research from American and Soviet sources, MOCASE: Barry and Boris aims to contribute a closely documented account of the case while examining the human relationship at its center.