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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: November 7, 2019 at 7:58:02 AM EST > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: Price on Macintyre, 'The Spy and the Traitor: > The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Ben Macintyre. The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story > of the Cold War. New York Crown, 2018. Illustrations. viii + 358 > pp. $28.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-101-90419-0. > > Reviewed by Cole Price (Air University) > Published on H-War (November, 2019) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > The Spy and the Traitor tells the story of two men connected by fate. > Colonel Oleg Anonyevich Gordievsky (the spy) is the son of a career > KGB officer. Superficially, he was born to become a spy in the > service of the USSR at the height of the cold war. His education and > position within the Communist Party set him up for long-term success. > However, upon a deeper dive, his family and surroundings helped > change his outlook on his place within the East versus West framework > of international relations. Ben Macintyre expertly weaves stories of > spycraft with the human yearning of freedom and paints Gordievsky as > not only a double agent but also a defender of democracy. Gordievsky > and his assistance to the British intelligence service MI6 proved > invaluable during the later stages of the cold war. > > Meanwhile, Aldrich Ames (the traitor) was the American Central > Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer whom the United States ordered to > track down the Soviet double agent (Gordievsky) providing the British > with intelligence. Unbeknownst to the CIA, Ames was a double agent > for the Soviets. Showing all the tell-tale signs of an individual > ripe for treason, Ames broke from the fog of his middling career and > found his true calling. His wife frivolously spent money they did not > have, and he felt the United States owed him a debt it did not pay. > Initially, he intended to spy for the Soviets once, but after he > realized how easy it was and how much money they would pay him, his > thirst was unquenchable. Additionally, Ames's secret agenda was to > unmask the double agent providing critical intelligence to the West > and expose him to the KGB. The cat and mouse race between Ames and > Gordievsky plays out in a concise and eloquent manner. > > The dance of spying and statecraft reaches its climax during Able > Archer 83, a command post exercise carried out in 1983 by the North > Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Soviet paranoia about a NATO > first strike against the USSR had risen in the previous two years. As > head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov initiated Operation Ryan in 1981. Ryan > was a far-reaching covert mission aimed at gathering intelligence on > NATO and the United States in the hopes of alerting Moscow of > imminent nuclear attack. In 1982, when Andropov succeeded Leonid > Brezhnev as head of the Soviet Union, Ryan's scope and resources > magnified. Once again Macintyre brilliantly weaves fact with suspense > in his retelling of how close the West and East came to nuclear war. > During Able Archer 83, the Soviets mistook NATO's heightened training > exercise as a pretext for a nuclear first strike. Unbeknownst at the > time, the Soviets truly believed NATO was preparing for a first > strike in a nuclear war and increased their own readiness posture to > respond. Soviet bombers and missiles were fueled, armed, and placed > on alert to retaliate against a NATO first strike. Once the exercise > ended, the Soviets lowered their readiness posture. Only through the > intelligence gathered by Gordievsky, which was passed by MI6 to the > CIA, did US president Ronald Reagan know how close both sides came to > unintended nuclear war. > > Lastly, Macintyre meticulously recounts Gordievsky's 1985 > exfiltration from the USSR to the United Kingdom. The plan, codenamed > PIMLICO, showcased MI6's expertise as it evaded Soviet capture. > Gordievsky was transported in the trunk of a UK diplomatic vehicle > while passing through the USSR and Finland. Throughout the journey, > military officials and KGB officers looked for their lost > intelligence officer but came up empty. The British agents and > Gordievsky narrowly evaded capture at multiple points throughout the > journey and arrived safely in the UK. > > The coup de grâce occured once MI6 informed the Soviets that the > _rezident_ of London defected. The KGB was shocked and could not > believe that was the case. MI6 informed the KGB in order to strike a > bargain for the safe return of Gordievsky's family. He gave up the > names of every Soviet spy in the UK to MI6. The British informed the > Soviets of the situation and struck a bargain. The spies slowly left > the country in exchange for Gordievsky's wife and daughters' safe > passage to the UK. In 1990 Gordievsky was awarded for his > decades-long service to Her Majesty. > > _The Spy and the Traitor _is a nonstop thriller where the information > is almost too good to be true. Macintyre expertly writes in a way > that makes reading the book effortless. While Ames and Gordievsky > both betrayed their countries, they did it for different reasons. > Gordievsky's was ideological while Ames's was purely for money. > Macintyre points out that the unmasked spies on both sides were > treated differently. Those given up by Ames were most likely rounded > up, interrogated, and killed. Meanwhile, those fingered by Gordievsky > were given due process and tried. > > Overall, the book is a must read for anyone who wishes to know more > about the Soviet spy who secretly passed intelligence to MI6 and > eventually defected to the UK as well as the CIA double agent who > hunted him down for the Soviets. > > Citation: Cole Price. Review of Macintyre, Ben, _The Spy and the > Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War_. H-War, H-Net > Reviews. November, 2019. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54469 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
