Reuben Efron (born Ruvelis Ezra Effronas, April 12, 1911, Simnas, Lithuania; died November 22, 1993, Miami Beach, Florida) was a Lithuanian-American intelligence officer who worked for the CIA during the Cold War. He is best known for his role in the HTLINGUAL mail-interception program, through which he read letters sent to and from Lee Harvey Oswald after Oswald’s defection to the Soviet Union in November 1959.
Key facts
- Born: 12 April 1911
- Birthplace: Simnas
- Died: 22 November 1993
- Place of death: Miami Beach
- Occupation: spy
- Education: Vytautas Magnus University; Atlanta Law School; University of Vienna
Early life and education
Efron was born in Simnas, Lithuania, on April 12, 1911, the son of Avrom Ezra Effronas (1882–1918) and Sora Mirl Bialocsky (1886–1941). Before emigrating, he attended a Jewish high school in Simnas, which he referred to as a ‘Hebrew gymnasium,’ and went on to study law at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas.
After completing his university studies, Efron practiced law for five years in Kaunas, which was then a thriving center of Lithuanian Jewish life. His mother, Sora Mirl, was murdered in the Holocaust in Balbieriškis, Lithuania, a small town in Kaunas County where mass executions occurred in 1941. His obituary stated that he was inspired by her volunteer work in Lithuania supporting Jews immigrating to Mandatory Palestine. On January 20, 1982, Efron filed her Page of Testimony at Yad Vashem, listing his address at the time as 17 Keren HaYesod Street, Jerusalem, Israel.
Emigration and name change
According to his Declaration of Intention, signed on December 29, 1939, in Tampa, Florida, Efron emigrated from Havana, Cuba to Miami aboard the S.S. Florida on April 15, 1939, under the name Ruvelis Effronas. The Anglicized name ‘Reuben Efron’ was the one he used throughout his subsequent legal and intelligence career.
Military service
During World War II, Efron enlisted in the United States Air Force on February 11, 1943, at Fort McPherson, Atlanta, Georgia. He served in England, France, Belgium, Germany, and Austria in the roles of assistant to the Judge Advocate, interpreter, and Combat Intelligence Specialist.
CIA work and the HTLINGUAL program
Efron was assigned to the CIA’s HTLINGUAL program, which intercepted and read international mail. Lee Harvey Oswald’s name was added to the program’s watch list on November 9, 1959, following his defection to the Soviet Union, and Efron was the officer tasked with screening Oswald’s correspondence.
In February 1964, Efron was present when the Warren Commission interviewed Oswald’s widow, Marina. His presence was noted in an official volume of the investigation’s proceedings, but his CIA employment was not mentioned there.
When the House Select Committee on Assassinations questioned CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton in October 1978 about Reuben Efron, Angleton confirmed knowing him and acknowledged that Efron’s duties were related to mail interception.
The CIA withheld Efron’s name from declassified JFK files for more than 60 years, including after his death in 1993. His identity was publicly revealed in a document release on May 11, 2023. Journalist Jefferson Morley stated that the CIA was protecting not the person but, in his words, ‘the operational activity that he was engaged in.’
Legal career and professional standing
Efron was a member of the bar in Georgia, Washington DC, and Israel. His Miami Herald obituary described him as a specialist on the Soviet Union and a consultant on foreign affairs.
Personal life and religious observance
Efron was an observant Orthodox Jew who actively urged his nephew, Barry Effron, a cardiologist in Cleveland, to intensify his Jewish observance. Personal acquaintances described him as ‘extremely good-natured, low-key, scholarly and modest.’
Efron married Edna Zimmerman in 1961. They had no children. Upon his death he was survived by his wife Edna, who died in 1994, and his brother Irving. He was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Retirement and biblical scholarship
In retirement, Efron lived in Jerusalem and contributed five articles to the Jewish Bible Quarterly. These included a four-part series titled ‘Military Intelligence in the Bible,’ published between 1977 and 1982 in volumes 5:4, 6:4, 9:4, and 11:1 of the journal. The articles examined biblical figures including Moses, Joshua, Rahab, and David through the framework of intelligence and espionage practice.
Did you know
- Efron died on November 22, 1993, exactly 30 years to the day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the event Efron had been most closely linked to through his CIA work. (jta.org)
- Efron emigrated to the United States in 1939 under the name Ruvelis Effronas, arriving aboard a ship called the S.S. Florida. The name on his immigration declaration differed from the Anglicized ‘Reuben Efron’ he used throughout his career. (findagrave.com)
- Efron’s nephew Barry Effron, a cardiologist in Cleveland, recalled that when he visited Reuben’s Washington DC apartment in the late 1960s or early 1970s, there were chairs but no bookcases — an unusual absence for someone who publicly presented himself as a lawyer. (jta.org)
Data sources
Where it appears
- 1955 CIA Memo: A Senator’s Glowing Object Over Soviet Baku October 29, 2026
Data updated: 2026-10-26