Emma Harriet Joseph was a member of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) who was employed in the Office of Strategic Services

Office of Strategic Services

The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...

 (OSS) during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. She was the sister of Julius Joseph who, together with his wife, Bella Joseph

Bella Joseph

Bella Joseph was the wife of Julius Joseph. The couple worked for the United States Government It is alleged that they also worked for Soviet Intelligence during World War II, Bella in the Office of Strategic Services' Motion Picture Division....

 worked for NKVD, Soviet intelligence

NKVD

The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....

, while also working for the OSS.

A deciphered Venona message in October 1944 reveals Elizabeth Bentley

Elizabeth Bentley

Elizabeth Terrill Bentley was an American spy for the Soviet Union from 1938 until 1945. In 1945 she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligence and became an informer for the U.S. She exposed two networks of spies, ultimately naming over 80 Americans who had engaged in espionage for...

 reporting to NKVD that Emma Joseph was well suited for operational work. The decrypt also explains Bentley would give her recognition procedures so that Joseph could be contacted by Soviet intelligence in Ceylon

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

where she was being dispatched on her next OSS assignment.

Venona

Emma Joseph's cover name in Soviet intelligence is IVY, and she is referred to in the following Venona decrypt:

1464 KGB New York to Moscow, 14 October 1944.