The Nuclear Spies: America's Atomic Intelligence Operation against Hitler and Stalin

by Vince Houghton

Why did the US intelligence services fail so spectacularly to know about the Soviet Union's nuclear capabilities following World War II? As Vince Houghton, historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, shows us, that disastrous failure came just a few years after the Manhattan Project's intelligence team had penetrated the Third Reich and knew every detail of the Nazi 's plan for an atomic bomb. What changed and what went wrong?

Houghton's delightful retelling of this fascinating case of American spy ineffectiveness in the then new field of scientific intelligence provides us with a new look at the early years of the Cold War. During that time, scientific intelligence quickly grew to become a significant portion of the CIA budget as it struggled to contend with the incredible advance in weapons and other scientific discoveries immediately after World War II. As Houghton shows, the abilities of the Soviet Union's scientists, its research facilities and laboratories, and its educational system became a key consideration for the CIA in assessing the threat level of its most potent foe. Sadly, for the CIA scientific intelligence was extremely difficult to do well. For when the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb in 1949, no one in the American intelligence services saw it coming.

Genres: History, Espionage, Science, Audiobook, War, Nonfiction, True Crime

239 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2019

About the author

Vince Houghton is the historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. He is also the host and creative director of the Museum's podcast, SpyCast, which reaches a national and international audience of over 2.5 million listeners each year. He is a veteran of the US army and served in the Balkans before receiving his Masters and PhD in Diplomatic and Military History from the University of Maryland. He has appeared on CNN, NBC News, Fox News, NPR and other major outlets as an expert in intelligence history.

Reviews

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book talks about the early years of the Cold War and the ineffectiveness of spies. It is written like a textbook.

I thought this book had a good account of the history of nuclear bombs and espionage. The author has researched everything very well.

This book is perfect for fans of history, especially the Cold War and fans of espionage.

I received an ARC copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Melisende · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for a work on the more well known "nuclear" spies like Klaus Fuchs, the Rosenbergs or Harry Gold, then you will be a little disappointed for they are not here.

This tome deals with "scientific intelligence" or more importantly, America's need to know where their rivals stood in the race for atomic weaponry. The main time frame is the 1930s and 1940s, and the period in which the US entered WWII to find the Germans working with nuclear fission and making all sorts of discoveries that would eventually lead to what we know as the Manhattan Project.

So, whilst the US undertook a merry chase across Europe for the fleeing German scientists in their pursuit for atomic knowledge and to put a stop to Hitler detonating an atomic bomb, they gravely underestimated the Soviets own capabilities in doing exactly the same.

Here we find out just why that came about - and one word could quite nicely cover this - assumptions. The US dealt in assumption, speculation and prediction (or guesswork) rather than cold hard facts; and this assumption of the Soviets would continue for over a decade before the US abandoned its naive belief in stereotypes and brought the search for scientific intelligence under one cohesive banner.

Very well researched with lots of history on the fledgling US intelligence network and the atomic weapons program.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not particularly insightful or with any overarching narrative. Just a fairly dry recitation of scientific espionage focused on atomic weapons 1941-1949. Some of the information is interesting but not incredibly engaging.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nuclear Spies: America's Atomic Intelligence Operation Against Hitler and Stalin
by
Vince Houghton

4 Stars

Nuclear Spies provides a first rate overview of America’s scientific intelligence operations before and immediately after the Second World War. Houghton very effectively compares and contrasts America’s very successful intelligence efforts aimed at Germany’s suspected atomic bomb program during the war with the nation’s failed efforts to determine Soviet nuclear capabilities after the war, an effort that left most in the country’s leaders shocked when the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic bomb in 1949. The book is well researched and well written, making it easy to read despite its serious academic approach to the subject. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of World War II, the Cold War, or America intelligence operations in general.

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[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at US scientific intelligence collection efforts during WWII and the early Cold War. Directed first at uncovering Nazi Germany's progress towards an atomic bomb, then at the Soviet Union's capabilities, those efforts were, broadly speaking, quite effective in the first instance, rather spectacularly the opposite in the second.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best stuff in the book is about the espionage during the second world war. The intelligence operations into Soviet science were lamentable post-war, so the subject matter isn't as juicy.

[Jan Dunlap · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a fan of espionage fiction, it's always enthralling for me to read about the real spies and intelligence efforts conducted by nations as they attempt to out-wit and out-equip one another. This book recounts the tangled signals that plagued the United States's intelligence collection near the end of World War II, as the US raced to produce a nuclear bomb. Houghton does a great job of following the players on both sides of the war, revealing that science and spying make odd bedfellows, since it was the rare American agent who understood enough physics to actually be able to gauge what information was important and what was not, while the Germans had basically dismissed the importance of developing any nuclear weaponry. With the Soviets, the Americans greatly underestimated a nuclear program's success, leading to a multitude of rationales for why the American spying program failed in that mission. While I wouldn't say that the fact here is stranger than fiction, it's certainly equally fascinating.

[Aaron Finestone · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anyone could write the authoritative account on how American intelligence could predict that Germany would not build an atomic bomb, yet be outfoxed by the Soviet Union in its nuclear research, it would be Vince Houghton, historian at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. Dr. Houghton has produced a carefully researched, tightly written account of the race to build the atomic bomb. Dr. Houghton writes about the heroes--the refugee European scientists who helped us, the reluctant German physicist Werner Heisenberg, and the rogue scientists and spies who hasted the development of the Soviet bomb. The best character in the book is Moe Berg, the American baseball player, Princeton graduate and language wizzard, who went behind enemy lines to meet Heisenberg. Dr. Houghton offers an easily readable book which should be on the e=reader or bookshelf of every Cold War junkie.

[Benjamin Schauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this, I’m in total amazement we didn’t all end up under nuclear clouds in the decade following the end of WWII.

This was quite the enlightening read! I truly don’t know much about the subject, but it seems to be thoroughly and properly researched. The author constructs a narrative that feels conversational while still balancing a lot of information that needs shared. There were a couple of moments that dragged a bit, but overall it’s an enjoyable read!

I also appreciate the backstory that went into the topic. The author treats the subject matter as if we don’t know anything, and that really helps to understand how certain events led to the nuclear arms race. Overall, it’s a solid read and a good introduction to the subject!

[Miguel · Rating 3 out of 5]

In comparing this to two recent works overlapping with this book (“The Bomb” by Fred Kaplan and “The Bastard Brigade” by Sam Kean) it doesn’t quite stack up as the background on development and spying of the Nazi nuclear program was covered so much more elegantly and in more detail by The Bastard Brigade, and when it finally switches over to the Soviet program (only the last 20% of the book), one can glean a lot more from “The Bomb”. Still, there are some interesting kernels of historical information here and there throughout.

[Stephen Tubbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dry in parts as it concentrates quite a bit on the administrative side of the USA intelligence service rather than on the cloak and dagger. Commendably though it does highlight the errors as much as what was done right.

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. There were many facts that I only discovered after reading this!

[Kevin Postlewaite · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, detailed book on the topic.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good listen. It covered some stuff about the US nuclear weapons program but also heavily covers the USSR and German programs.

[CASPER HILEMAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Vince Houghton chronicles the United States Intelligence service's investigation into the Nazi Nuclear Weapons Program as well as the Soviet Union's attempts to steal nuclear secrets.

[Marcus Ludwig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book makes you think as you consider history from the rearview mirror of the Nuclear program of America and those who followed.

[Emma O’Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and I learnt a lot. Great insight into scientific war going on behind the scenes and really well explained.

[Translator Monkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read! Absolutely exhaustively researched, it reads like an espionage thriller, bu tin which the sleuths make their deductions based not on evidence and cold hard facts, but on assumptions that were borne of cultural differences between the West and the Soviet Union, and assumptions that were borne of an unearned regard for German R&D efforts in the face of that country's massive military spending. We have a perfect case of giving too much credit to the Germans, and nowhere near enough credit to the Soviets. Truman himself believed "those Asiatics" (his word for the Soviets) would never be able to produce a nuclear weapon. It's this same mindset that allowed the West to be taken by surprise when the Soviets became the first to launch a manmade satellite, the first to put a man in space, and the first to photograph the so-called "dark side" of the moon. An excellent article I recently read suggests that this locked-down mindset continues today through CIA intelligence estimates of the Soviet, and now Russian, nuclear missile threat. We continue to underestimate what power lies beyond the horizon in the hands of those who would wish to see us most harmed.

Very good book. Four stars.