Lawrence Martin-Bittman

Lawrence Martin-Bittman (14 February 1931 – 18 September 2018), formerly known as Ladislav Bittman, was an American artist, author, and retired professor of disinformation at Boston University. He was best known for his 1983 book, The KGB and Soviet Disinformation: An Insider's View.

Prior to his defection to the United States in 1968, he served as an intelligence officer specializing in disinformation for the Czechoslovak Intelligence Service.

Czechoslovak secret services

In Czechoslovakia, Ladislav Bittman worked as an intelligence officer and played an integral part in a propaganda operation known as Operation Neptune. He wrote a few books in the 1970s and 1980s about his career and the role of disinformation in Soviet propaganda operations.

Defection to United States

The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and the subsequent end to the Prague Spring became driving forces behind his decision to leave for the United States in 1968. Defectors at that time, most particularly those fleeing the Soviet Union and/or those formerly in positions of government or intelligence, were considered "a valuable source of information" by the US government, which spent at least a year's time in debriefing defectors and in helping them settle down to their new life. As part of the process, he changed his name from Ladislav Bittman to Lawrence Martin (later Lawrence Martin-Bittman) shortly after his debriefing had concluded.

He was sentenced to death in absentia in 1974 by the Czechoslovak government for treason for his defection, a sentence that was not lifted until 20 years later.

Teaching career

In 1972, four years after his defection to the United States, Bittman was given a teaching position at Boston University and primarily taught classes about international media, particularly the press.