The Spy in Moscow Station: A Counterspy's Hunt for a Deadly Cold War Threat

by Eric Haseltine, Michael V. Hayden (Foreword)

The thrilling, true story of the race to find a leak in the United States Embassy in Moscow--before more American assets are rounded up and killed.



Foreword by Gen. Michael V. Hayden (Retd.), Former Director of NSA & CIA

In the late 1970s, the National Security Agency still did not officially exist--those in the know referred to it dryly as the No Such Agency. So why, when NSA engineer Charles Gandy filed for a visa to visit Moscow, did the Russian Foreign Ministry assert with confidence that he was a spy?

Outsmarting honey traps and encroaching deep enough into enemy territory to perform complicated technical investigations, Gandy accomplished his mission in Russia, but discovered more than State and CIA wanted him to know.

Eric Haseltine's The Spy in Moscow Station tells of a time when--much like today--Russian spycraft had proven itself far beyond the best technology the U.S. had to offer. The perils of American arrogance mixed with bureaucratic infighting left the country unspeakably vulnerable to ultra-sophisticated Russian electronic surveillance and espionage.

This is the true story of unorthodox, underdog intelligence officers who fought an uphill battle against their own government to prove that the KGB had pulled off the most devastating penetration of U.S. national security in history. If you think The Americans isn't riveting enough, you'll love this toe-curling nonfiction thriller.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Espionage, Russia, Politics, Audiobook, War

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 3, 2019

About the author

Dr. Eric Haseltine is an author, futurist, and neuroscientist. He has held several senior executive positions in private industry and the public sector. He was the associate director and CTO for national intelligence at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the director of research at the National Security Agency, an executive vice president at Walt Disney Imagineering, and a director of engineering at Hughes Aircraft Company. For the past few years, he has been developing completely new forms of digital media, entertainment, and advertising, in addition to cutting-edge cyber and industrial security solutions.

Eric has authored or co-authored 15 patents in optics, special effects, and electronic media. In addition, he has published more than 100 articles in Discover magazine, on Discover.com, and in journals such as Brain Research and Society for Neuroscience Proceedings. He maintains a blog on Psychology Today. Eric’s book, Long Fuse, Big Bang, shows how to prevent the tyranny of the urgent from trumping the pursuit of the important. He is co-author of The Listening Cure, with Dr. Chris Gilbert.

Reviews

[Lizziebeth10 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will scare the heck out of you. It's not a scary book, it's just that, well, the US is not giving credit to other countries for their technological superiority, and our national security suffered, and suffers.

[Levent Pekcan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hızlı başlayıp, tam ortasına gelindiğinde tıkanan ve tüm enerjisini kaybedip finale sürünerek varan bir kitap. Ele alınan casusluk olayı ilginç sayılabilir, ancak ortadaki ilginç bulmacanın Amerikan devlet kurumları arasındaki mücadele içinde kaybolup gitmesi ve net bir finale varılmaması beklentileri boşa çıkartıyor.

Okuduğum için pişman değilim, sonuçta bu kitaptan da bir şeyler öğrendim, ancak harcadığım para ve zamana değdiğinden çok emin değilim.

[Dee Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chirp Narrated by Eric Hazeltine

[Ian Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

THE SPY IN MOSCOW STATION by Eric Haseltine
Review by Ian Smith
If Buran, HUMINT, DS&T and 18 other acronyms mean anything to you, you’re bound to get a lot out of this book. Mind you, they came after just 30 pages, there’s more coming. If you have a degree in the relevant sciences that will help a lot also because, this is written by a participant in the saga of Russia’s spying efforts on the American Embassy and associated buildings in Russia, specifically Moscow.
For me, a fascinating insight into what is a great cloak and dagger story is made somewhat tedious by stuff that I have to confess I have great difficulty in understanding. The genius of the mechanisms used to garner information from typewriters (remember the old rotating ball Remingtons?) was a bit lost on me.
However, this does give you a deep insight into what goes on behind the scenes and the author, who joined the services from Walt Disney Imagineering and had to put up with cheap asides like “General Hayden’s Micky Mouse hire”, put on not only a fresh face but a whole different way of looking at the problem of agents and defectors getting caught out while in Russia.
It all comes down to America’s sheer arrogance getting in the way of sound judgement. While Russia heavily rewards promising university graduates and gets them into the spy game, America did virtually the opposite. Enter Eric. His foray into the American Embassy exposed the fact that the U.S.A. looked down on the Soviet Union figuring their economy was so poor, how could they possibly know anything? The reality that went on for a few decades was that Russia was so far ahead in spy technology and methods it was embarrassing, yet just one or two on the American side were wont to believe that Russia might be ahead; actually, by a long way.
More worrying, and it goes on still, is the interagency squabbling (read “hatred” even) that dampens any possibility of co-operation on the U.S.A. side. While Russia interferes with American elections, their agencies spend their time arguing with each other.
Many will find this illuminating and disturbing but, at times, it’s not an easy read.

[Kursad Albayraktaroglu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book immensely. The main story here is a relatively little-known Cold War espionage operation where the Soviets installed incredibly sophisticated bugs in more than a dozen IBM typewriters that were in use at the US embassy building in Moscow during the late 1970s - early 1980s. Some details of the incident have been public for many years, while the story of how the bugs were discovered and studied was not. The book is somewhat technical in places, but should be very readable for everyone. Highly recommended.

[Merry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The telling of how a very intelligent techie at NSA persisted over a period of 6 years to find bugs hidden by the Soviets in IBM Selectric typewriters at the US Embassy in Moscow. The technical aspects, not only of how the Russians embedded the bugs but how Gandy (our "hero”) and a few others ultimately found them, are on the cusp of unbelievable. Indeed, if this were a work of fiction, the book would have probably flopped because it would have been considered too crazy to be true. Unfortunately one of the other aspects of the book, namely the infighting among CIA, NSA, and the State Department, is also true and very disappointing. After 9/11 in particular this is unforgivable.

If you are at all interested in reading a true story about the world of spying, this is a must read.

[Bess Combs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a very unusual read for me, but it was really rather interesting. It started out a little slow and was hard for me to get into, but once some things were revealed, it became more exciting, making me want to know what the solution was.
This true Cold War story was fascinating and revealed some concerns with how the U.S. handles intelligence operations. It explained how Russian intelligence officers have been able to have the upper hand time and time again over the years by exploiting those concerns in the U.S. intelligence community.
If you enjoy Cold War stories, this might be a good read for you. However, it does at times dive deeply into some technical things, which can be hard to understand, if that’s not your area of expertise. And that is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. I loved the story, but I had a hard time following it at times, because of the technical aspect.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Spy in Moscow Station by Eric Haseltine was a slow, but interesting read. While this is a subject I’m fascinated by, I don’t know much about it, so when I started the book it took me a bit to remember who was who, which agency they were working for, and for the initials to flow where I wouldn’t have to stop to think about what they stood for. But this is just me and for those that have a lot of knowledge in the subject, I think you will really enjoy the book.

This was a very technical book, so if that is something you like, this will be perfect for you. I was hoping for a writing style a bit more like Erik Larson’s, where it feels more like you are reading straight up fiction. So if you are a reader of nonfiction who likes that style, just keep that in mind when you start The Spy in Moscow Station.

I could see this book being an excellent addition to college courses and even though this took place in the 70’s and 80’s, for the most part, if one pays any attention to the news then you know some of these practices are still happening, there is still a lot of mistrust between the various agencies, and we don’t give Russia as much credit as we should for being devious and ahead of us in some technological ways.

[John McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 1970s, US spy assets in the former Soviet Union were being rolled up or PNG'd (given persona non gratis status). No one could identify a cause until the US chief of station for the CIA asked for NSA's help in sweeping the Embassy for bugs, implants, and other technical surveillance devices the Soviet GRU or KGB may have installed surreptitiously. That review, undertaken by a career NSA technician and chief nerd, Charles Gandy, revealed sweeping and ubiquitous spying by the Soviets on US officials on just about everything that took place in the US Embassy in Moscow.

To understand the true significance and drama of this story--believe me, I have read many, many books on US intelligence activity and this is a story that should make everyone conscious of the silent war nations wage against each other in often brazen ways to capture information that leads to consequences for individuals and nations--you must understand the differences in intelligence gathering functions of the CIA, NSA, State Department intelligence services, and the various Defense Department efforts at intelligence and signals capture. Throughout the story told by the former Director of NSA's Research Directorate, the conflicts and petty jealousies among the various intelligence services created havoc, failure to conform around a unified mission purpose, and an unnecessarily prolonged period where the Soviets were able to conduct surveillance unimpeded.

The story itself is amazingly dramatic although partly quite technical. The story is also depressing, because it reveals how human nature and petty emotions created a dangerous environment and real threats to national security. There was even a suspicion that IBM Selectric typewriters--then the state of art in producing and printing text--had been modified in the U.S. by Soviet operatives, a disruption of the supply chain in getting those devices from production to transportation to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow almost unimaginable to contemplate.

Hazeltine came to NSA in 2002 from Disney Imagineering where he was EVP. The story he tells originated from a story told to him by Charles Gandy, who after retirement took a seat on the NSA's advisory board, a kind of Board of Overseers or Governors who evaluated operations, even the most classified, and heard periodically from each Directorate. Gandy privately wanted to convince Hazeltine after his first or one of his first appearances before the governors that 'HUMINT', or human intelligence should never be ignored by NSA even though the agency's mission was focused upon and limited to technical operations. Hazeltine reveals how, over many long years NSA, State, and the CIA spent vast amounts of technical time and resources to fumigate and eradicate what Gandy called the Embassy's "Roach Motel". The story, very technical in part, is tremendously exciting to read and the policy implications beyond serious. The technical memos reproduced in full in the book are cumbersome for non-technical types like me and the Memos from State and other agencies show just how poorly government officials communicate in writing, being simply tedious at times (government officers learning to write succinctly to the point should be a priority, too).

This may be the best book on tradecraft or its failures I have read. Those with an interest in this sort of thing should put this on their list of reading material with a bold star next to the title. It came as a big surprise to me to learn the Russian nationals then and partly now provide cleaning and other administrative support to the Embassy campus in Moscow, and most work for the KGB. I think about this frequently and so should we all. We may not have the technical superiority over the Russians we think we have and that is alarming.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating read. A rare non-fiction page turner. But then again I make a living handling cybersecurity attacks.

I remember learning about TEMPEST attacks in college in my computer science classes. It's an attack where someone can remotely read what's on your computer screen based on EMF being emitted from the monitor. It seemed completely theoretical. But then you read a book like this and find out it's real spycraft and nation-states are doing far more fantastical things to steal our communications and secrets.

[Tim Daughters · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, but for me, I was more interested in the genius of the engineering that went into the spying. That was covered, but the book concentrated more on the rivalries between our own intelligence agencies. These unproductive internal struggles still exist, and the author expresses his continuing concern as it relates to current dealings with Russian meddling in our affairs.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

4+ stars. Very interesting read on the dynamics of espionage in the heart of the beast + intelligence community rivalries (getting into each others' 'rice bowls'). Very telling point made on page 233 about Russian interference in our election: "...the Russians may instigate bad things, but we inflict most of the damage on ourselves by fighting each other..." Apply this to other state actors (China, Iran, North Korea, etc.) and to non-state actors using asymmetric warfare and the intense division and hatred internal to the USA will eat us alive (and fulfill Lincoln's warning).

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It left a lot to be desired. The author tried to argue that the NSA found key evidence that the KGB was indeed spying on the comms coming out of the US embassy in Moscow (which I have no doubt) by showing declassified messages to the State Dept, but not by actions of what the KGB did supposedly based on the classified info? I don’t know … it was half assed, and relied a lot on reprinting the communications to tell the story.

[Shortjg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The remarkable story of Charles Gandy’s efforts to thwart espionage at the US embassy in Moscow. This true story is told in a plain well researched way. It should be a work of history but seems strangely relevant to today.

[Sue Beatson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and well written

[Colin MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cold war stories are not usually my thing, but this was a quick and engaging read. Which is remarkable because, while there is high-stakes drama and a few moments of excitement, most of the story is about arcane electronics knowledge, inter-agency politics, and a methodical and painstaking hunt for surveillance devices.

[Sarthak Bhatt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it, left reading at the final chapter. The book is not easy to read and the author doesn't even try to explain the technical stuff, there is one chapter where they open up an IBM typewriter and find the bug the author very thoroughly explains the architecture of the machine and which instrument and devices were used words like impedance, flux and rf are used a bunch of time. My eyes skimmed over 60% of the text and I know I am dumb in science but I was expecting to read something like Spycatcher, in that book technical stuff is fun to read and the mole hunt is about looking for a human mole in high echelons of mi5. So if you have a science background I think you will enjoy this book but for me it was boring, I kept reading thinking it would get better later but alas it didn't.

[Haley Huckabee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting content but the writing drags along.

[Mal Warwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A JAW-DROPPING STORY OF COUNTERESPIONAGE

No, in spite of this book’s title, it’s not a story about a Russian spy in the CIA’s Moscow Station. It’s something much more engaging—an account of a long-running counterespionage investigation into KGB surveillance technology at the US Embassy in Moscow. An investigation that brought into focus the bitter, long-running war within the American intelligence community. The former head of the National Security Agency’s Research Directorate, Eric Haseltine, does himself proud with this eye-opening exposé of the CIA and NSA’s dirty laundry. Read this book, and you’ll never again look on our country’s vaunted spy agencies without an appreciation for their built-in weaknesses.

A JAW-DROPPING COLD WAR SPY STORY

Haseltine held executive-level posts in the US intelligence community from 2002 to 2007. The Spy in Moscow Station is not his story but that of the late Charles Gandy, a superstar NSA counterintelligence officer who played the central role in this drama from 1976 to 1984. Haseltine interviewed Gandy and then dug deeply into NSA and CIA internal correspondence and the cable traffic between Moscow and Washington.

Haseltine builds his account around those sources, quoting extensively from the cables and memos written during those years. It’s a jaw-dropping story that reveals how top CIA and State Department officials permitted the KGB to hear top-secret conversations within the Embassy and print out copies of cables to Washington and other sensitive documents for six long years—all to avoid the embarrassment of admitting that the KGB’s surveillance technology was better than the CIA’s.

ASKING FOR HELP FROM THE CIA’S ARCHENEMY

Gandy became involved in 1978 when Gus Hathaway, Chief of Station for the CIA in Moscow, took note of the repeated loss of CIA assets in the Soviet government. One after another had been exposed, and some of them executed. At the same time, some of their CIA handlers were exposed as well and sent home as Persona Non Grata. Hathaway suspected that KGB officers had planted bugs in the CIA station and the Embassy which had led to the losses. He arranged for the CIA’s bureaucratic archenemy, the NSA, to send Charles Gandy, their top counterintelligence officer, to investigate. (Gandy held a civilian rank that was the military equivalent of major general.) And he went to work immediately after hitting the ground in Moscow.

THREE YAWNING GAPS IN US SECURITY: AN EXPOSÉ OF THE CIA

Gandy quickly found three gaping holes in the Embassy’s and the CIA Station’s security:

** Scores of locally hired staff had free run of the facilities. They were all, or virtually all, officers or assets of the KGB. And many were in ideal positions to plant or service bugs even in the most sensitive places.

** The Soviets were beaming high-power microwaves into the Embassy compound from an adjoining building. Gandy knew that this represented a way for the KGB to communicate with bugs implanted there. The frequency was far too high to be used for jamming American communications.

** One of the Embassy’s walls abutted a Soviet apartment building. And between the two structures, but clearly within US territory, was a huge, non-working chimney that had no discernible function other than to serve as a way for the KGB to monitor conversations within the Embassy and the CIA Station.

Despite the fact that Gandy was the reigning US expert on surveillance technology, the CIA had a glib explanation for every one of these three threats. There were no bugs in the Embassy or the station, the CIA insisted. They’d detected none even after repeated efforts to do so. The microwaves from the Soviet side were merely to jam US communications. They denied Gandy’s assertion that the frequency was too high for that purpose. And there was nothing to fear from the chimney, because the CIA had detected no bugs or other equipment planted there. Rarely had there been such blatant evidence of inter-service rivalry.

DENIAL WITH REAL-WORLD CONSEQUENCES

This long-running debate was no academic exercise. It had dramatic real-world consequences. Because for six years, from 1978 to 1984, the KGB read all the cable traffic from Moscow to Washington and Langley and eavesdropped on many of the most sensitive meetings involving high US officials, including the ambassador and the station chief. Those were the years of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Iranian hostage crisis, the election of Ronald Reagan and the rise of William Casey as Director of the CIA, the insurrections in Central America, and top-level nuclear disarmament negotiations between the US and the USSR. The Embassy in Moscow was directly involved in many of these events.

SOVIET TECHNOLOGY THAT SHAMED THE AMERICANS

Unfortunately, the KGB surveillance technology was so good, the bugs so tiny and beautifully hidden, that it took Gandy months to prove his case. And then, even though he had done so, the CIA and the State Department continued to contest his findings for years on end. The KGB couldn’t possibly be doing what Gandy said they were doing. Their technology was years behind that of the CIA. His evidence didn’t mean what it meant.

But how could the KGB be so far ahead of the CIA? Haseltine offers the answer. In the United States, the most talented scientific minds gravitated toward top universities or private operations such as Bell Labs. Many went on to win Nobel Prizes in physics or chemistry. Not so in the USSR. There, the most promising young scientists were steered into the military, the KGB, or the GRU.

The Spy in Moscow Station is one of the most important books I’ve come across in many years of reading widely about the CIA and espionage generally. It’s more than a simple exposé of the CIA, because the implications are far worse. Haseltine makes a sobering case that bureaucratic turf wars and overconfidence can have dreadful consequences. And they’ve done so to the detriment of American security for many years.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“Eric Haseltine is chairman of the Board of the US Technology Leadership Council (USTLC). He is a technologist who has worked in senior-executive positions in both industry and the United States intelligence community.”

His experience as Director of Research for the National Security Agency from 2002 to 2005 and as associate director for Science and Technology, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, from 2005 to 2007 form the basis on which he wrote this book. Haseltine was awarded the coveted National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal for his work in the intelligence community.

He is the author of six books on diverse topics. But he seems uniquely well qualified to have written this exposé of the CIA.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is pretty good in context, but not that good in larger context.

Eric Haseltine does a generally good job of narrating the spy-vs-spy aspects of the US vs the USSR in the 1970s and 1980s as focused on the US Embassy in Moscow.

He does a better job yet, perhaps, in describing US intra-intelligence agency and general intelligence-related AND diplomatic-related turf wars between NSA, CIA, and State. (FBI generally gets a pass here.)

He also does a generally good job on noting how most the US field of intelligence craft has snide, condescending contempt without investigation for Soviet signals intelligence skills, which he shows were actually quite good in ways that the US world doesn't even really focus on today, from his gist.

I do think that typing the cables in their original (I presume) all caps format did come off a bit as "look at me, spy guy."

That said, when he goes to the wider-angle picture, he lacks context. Or maybe, he refuses to give it to us.

US versus Putin! Putin evil! Smash Putin!

While ignoring the CIA shelled out millions to get Italy's Christian Democrats elected in the 1940s and stay in power after. How we intervened in Russia to get a drunken Boris Yeltsin re-elected. How we repeatedly have spied on the telephonic communications of leaders of US allies.

Nor will he tell you things like the US digging a tunnel under the Soviet embassy in Washington. We did. The new embassy.

Finally, outside the spying realm entirely, I disagree with his take on how "y'all" is used. Elsewhere, like in places in Texas, it can be "You all," emphasis first syllable, for the people immediately in front of you, or a subgroup, and "y'all" for the general.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this read insigtful, thought provoking and timely. Much of this book surrounds Charles Gandy, a high ranking National Security Agent tech specialsit, who in 1978 was summoned to the American Embassy in Moscow to determine how leaks were escaping through a secure environment. Over a six year span what he discovered was far more than originally expected.
Using declassified information and interviews, Haseltine clearly exposes, in laymans terms, the threat the US faced in the early 1980's and does to this day with a different group of players. Very readable.

[Dave Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Timely and thought provoking Eric Haseltine's The Spy in Moscow's Station should serve as a waring about Russian espionage efforts which have not stopped since the Cold War. Haseltine also warns the reader how inter bureau in fighting and petty rivalries hampers national security effotrs and counter espionage efforts. Haseltine also shows how the KGB ( now FSB & SVR) along with GRU were able to gain access to American intlegance through ingenuity while having a comparative small operating budget.

[Sophie Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read Perloth's "This is How They Tell Me the World Ends" there was a brief illusion to security concerns in the US Embassy in Moscow that resulted in an intensive operation to root any potential Russian technology to intercept American information. Haseltine's book does a clear job of outlining the technical, historical, and political backdrop of that instance. There's a clear sight into Russian tactics as well as interagency competition in the American intelligence community.

[Richard Jespers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never seen so many abbreviations for governmental organizations in one book, the easiest to remember of which may be NATO or NSA. Memorize these and more—OPS2, DARPA, IARPA, NSAAB, DS&T, SIGINT, TOPS, RSO, HUMINT—and the book is a joy to read. Seriously, the story, once the author gets to the heart of it, is quite titillating—especially if you’re into reading spy craft literature.

In the late 1970s, Charles Gandy is an NSA operative sent to Moscow to investigate the US embassy there. He discovers a “chimney” in the embassy building which is adjacent to a Russian government structure, which is not a chimney at all but a tall empty chamber aiming what looks like an antenna directly at the ambassador’s apartment in the embassy. For six years, Gandy fights others in his own organization, not to mention the CIA and the State department, to bring what seems may be a breach to the attention of muckety-mucks in the US government. Many interesting pages unravel that story, the gist of which is: A certain underling working for Gandy uncovers in about half of the thirty IBM Selectric typewriters a bar in which is embedded a transmitter that “reads” each typewriter key and thus translates important memos for the Russians. Since most everything is typed before being sent officially, this is a boon to the Russians.

For some reason, during that period CIA and State leadership underestimated Russian intelligence, mainly because they didn’t think Russia had the money to conduct this kind of research and experimentation. The US looked at the primitive products (including automobiles) that Russian produced and extrapolated the wrong conclusion. The thesis of this book may be that this was a strategic mistake for which our country is still paying quite a price (i.e. Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election which most probably helped to elect Trump). Enough said. And as far as we know, our government is still underestimating the damage the Russians continue to do to our well-being each day.

[J Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. Eric Haseltine chronicles Charles Gandy's unwinding how the KGB was spying on the State Department and the CIA within the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in 1977. Gandy was brought over to try to get to the root cause of why the KGB was bombarding the embassy with microwaves. Working with the CIA, an antenna was found within the U.S Embassy's chimney and it was still being operated by the KGB. Used to pick up signals from devices that resonated when bombarded by microwaves.

Gandy was sent back to the US before he could unwind the full mystery because at the time he could produce no "smoking gun". Once home, the CIA felt that he was a grand-stander and was issued a "cease and desist" order. That is, that he wasn't to bring up the potential threat of data exfiltration within the embassy in Moscow or continue to raise the alarm.

Ultimately, thanks an NSA deputy director, Gandy was put back on the case under project GUNMAN, to locate and understand the "smoking gun". This time he was ready to figure out exactly what the KGB was doing at the embassy.

If technical jargon and plenty or acronyms put you off, then you might not appreciate this book. With no images, it can sometimes get confusing as the building layouts or technical specifications. The main message still holds true: that we cannot underestimate U.S. adversaries resolve to get what they want.

[Tony Nielsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The relationship between Russia and the West has always been fertile territory for spy stories, especially after the discovery of the real thing when the Oxford recruits spied for Russia during the Cold War era.


Eric Haseltine is well placed to deliver a spy story with the essence of truth and a remarkable plot, as he was Head of Technology and Science for the entire US Intelligence community including the NSA, the CIA and fourteen other agencies. So yes, he comes to "The Spy in Moscow Centre" with enormous credibility.

The era is the late 1970's and in Moscow the CIA assets are vulnerable to the sophisticated Russian electronic surveillance and they are desperately looking for a way to access the Russian communications system in the high stakes being played out.


Haseltine constructs the remarkable story of how the British, assisted latterly by the US, create and execute a bold plan to hook in to the KGB's system and give them the knowledge that they are hanging out for. Given his background Haseltine talks the talk of what was a true story of cat and mouse spying which is believable but also far out.

[Chad Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

The true story of espionage, American spy agency bureaucratic infighting, technical surveillance and spycraft wrapped around the race to find THE leak in the US embassy in Moscow.
In the 1970s, unexpected leaks of the most sensitive information were occurring from the US embassy inexplicably. Great lengths were being taken to meticulously scrub the spaces, walls and equipment—to include finding sensitive technology buried within the non-functioning fireplace, yet the leaks continued. NSA engineer Charles Grandy traveled to Moscow to try and figure the mystery out and crack the code, and eventually was able. As it turns out, a sophisticated device was engineered and placed in the power switches of the new electronic typewriters, and their keystrokes would record the sensitive info directly for the KGB. Then, as today, the Russian patience and sophistication of such events cannot be underestimated. Riveting and curiously interesting—fans of the Cold War will love this!

[Brandon Schembri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry.

The book "The Spy in Moscow Station" by Eric Haseltine presents a story of intrigue, spy craft, and internal intelligence battles between the CIA and NSA. Haseltine has a unique perspective as Director of Research at the NSA and Associate Director of National Intelligence in charge of Science and Technology for the U.S. Intelligence community (I had to double check that!). He leverages this throughout the book. Initially, really interesting and compelling. However, and other reviews have suggested this, it is really dry. The author goes to great lengths to articulate the internal battles between NSA and CIA - that's where he lost me. Sadly, it's 3/4 of the book.

The interesting part for me is when Russian spy equipment was discovered in an American embassy. An intelligence battle ensues. The author does well covering the implications for the NSA/CIA and Russia- American relations.

Long story short, interesting beginning but its a trek for the rest of the book.

[Chuck Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good lesson for any organization where competitive branches could result in parochial decisions not best for the whole. This is a great story about what turned out to be a remarkable waste of time.

Of interest to me: the primary character, NSA Director Charles Gandy, is from Homer, Louisiana and attended La Tech. Some good folks come from there!

Note to the editor: Haseltine’s explanations of “Deep South” language were often incorrect, and expose some regional bias. “Y’all” is never plural. “What do y’all think?” is never addressed to one person. That would be, “What do you think?” And “All (of) y’all” means “each and every one of you.” I don’t doubt that Gandy said, “Well, roll me in bread crumbs and drop me in the fryer,” (or similar; I didn’t look it up), but that is not “often heard in the Deep South.” We don’t talk like Foghorn Leghorn around here.

Hopefully the author will jump on this problem like a duck on a June bug, bless his pea-picking heart.

[Avbac23 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun read throughout, but the real meat comes at the very end: What has the US taught Russia, by its failures to respond to their espionage? What are the costs of the infighting between intelligence agencies ostensibly on the same team in the US? What is the current state of Russian espionage, intelligence, and interference?

Haseltine's story of cold-war spycraft is entertaining on its own, but then he goes on to address such questions using "Project Gunman" as a basis for drawing reasonable conclusions applicable to current-day policies. It's fun to read about the unsung (due to extreme secrecy) heroes, but Haseltine even admits that the real story is about the relationships between agencies in the US, more than the story of technologies employed or the US vs. Russia. Thus Haseltine has been successful at hooking us with a real-life tale of spy-vs.-spy thrills, but conveying a few very important lessons based on those historical incidents.