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The execution in 1953 of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg after being convicted on charges of spying for the Soviet Union was one of the most controversial, sensational events of the Cold War. The paper argues that the question of the Rosenbergs' guilt remains unresolved. In particular, the so-called Venona intercepts, which appeared to close the case against the Rosenbergs, deserve much greater critical scrutiny. The intercepts were messages from KGB agents on Soviet espionage in the US in the 1940s that were decoded, decrypted and translated by the National Security Agency; the NSA published the intercepts in 1995.