Wilderness of Mirrors: Intrigue, Deception, and the Secrets that Destroyed Two of the Cold War's Most Important Agents

by David C. Martin

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Genres: History, Espionage, Nonfiction, Biography, Historical, Thriller, Politics

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1980

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

An inside track of those 'trying' to keep the boat afloat. Spies are people, be them at the top or on the frontline, with weaknesses, agendas, fears, bias, scores to settle, arrogance, and at times disregard for the bigger picture. It all makes for captivating reading.

Who would have thought that those in the dangerous game of keeping their country safe might make mistakes and rather than put their hands up, admit to it and seek help sorting it, might just move heaven and earth to cover up the error.

Well worth reading.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilderness of Mirrors was originally published in 1980, then reprinted in 2003. Even in the last two years, new information comes out relating to the Golitsyn and Nosenko cases, and it remains difficult to tell (from the perspective of a reader) what the truth really was. What is undeniable, however, is that James Jesus Angleton was a fascinating character who shaped the CIA in the way J. Edgar Hoover shaped the F.B.I. And whether he was right or wrong, he may have been just as crazy as Hoover. There's a reason as many fiction books have been written about Angleton as nonfiction books. This strange, anti-social, orchid-growing paranoiac nearly brought the CIA to a state of complete paralysis. Though the conclusions of this book may not be entirely accurate, it's worth reading to know how easily one or two eccentric people can cripple one of the organizations we trust with our national security.

NC

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biography of James Jesus Angleton, a brilliant espionage agent who seemed to get lost in the intelligence maze. Interesting, but especially illuminating.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Counterintel is a confusing, intense business for strong-willed, secretive, weird people. Martin does an admirable job of juxtaposing and sorting out the mess and success of 2 major Cold Warrior spies, James Angleton and William Harvey.

James Angleton was drafted into X-2 (counterintel) branch of the OSS in London (where he was trained by and befriended Kim Philby) then sent Italy during WWII. Post-war, he went on to a decades long reign as chief of counterintel in DC where he relentlessly sought a "high-level penetration agent" inside the CIA. Angleton was the leader of a tight group of (in my estimation, paranoid) "double-cross disciples" in the CIA. In 1961, KGB agent, Anatoli Golitsin, offered himself up to the CIA and eventually to Angleton. Golitsin fed Angleton's determination (obsession?) with finding his mole. He was revered and treated very well be the CIA. In 1964, Yuri Nosenko, also former KGB, offered himself up to the CIA. At the urging of his man Golitsin, Angleton believed Nosenko was a KGB plant and treated him like a criminal. In later analysis both men were deemed actual defectors to the US and Nosenko "provided the CIA with at least as many confirmed leads to Soviet penetrations as Golitsin." In retrospect, Angleton ran amok causing intake from and about the Soviet Union to dwindle during the height of the Cold War. His single mindedness also ruined careers, intel collection and sources trying to hunt down his mole. He had "infinite faith in the devious capabilities of the KGB's Disinformation Directorate."

William Harvey oversaw construction of "Operation GOLD," the eavesdropping tunnel into East Berlin used to pick up Soviet sigint. He also outed Kim Philby (Angleton’s buddy!) and oversaw USG assassination plans for Castro. He was considered "America's Top Spy" by many important people (but certainly not Bobby Kennedy!) OTOH, it was determined that his major accomplishment, "Harvey's Hole," was compromised from the beginning. A very expensive folly. So, in a nutshell, the CIA eventually gave up on Harvey and he descended into an alcoholic pariahdom, dead at 60.

Things are not what they seem in the world of clandestine ops and counterintel. If you examine this stuff ad infinitum you can drive yourself crazy and doubt everything and everyone. The CIA can really make a guy lonely and/or ruin his life.

"The public record is the most fragmentary of all (sources of info)and in many cases is just plain wrong. The amount of misinformation that has appeared in print and then been elevated to history through constant repetition is appalling." --David Martin

Put that in your pipe and smoke it! This quote dovetails nicely with the last book I noted in Goodreads, John Schindler’s “Unholy Terror” where the author almost effortlessly points out how awfully wrong Western media got the story on the Bosnian Civil War. Caveat lector, for sure.

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Counter-intelligence is the strangest, most paranoid of games. It is, in the words of James Angleton, a "wilderness of mirrors" where the line between source and target, fact and fiction, trust and betrayal shatter into a million shards. Martin's 1980 book discusses the two most important American counter-intelligence operators, William “King” Harvey and James Jesus Angleton, and their eventual self-destruction.

Angleton was the epitome of the spymaster, educated, aesthetic, austere, a man of infinitely secrets and layers of deception. Harvey was a hard-charging ex-FBI agent, an outsider with a drinking problem and a lot of guns. The original seed of destruction was Kim Philby, and the other moles of the Cambridge Five. Philby was the head of counter-intelligence at MI-6, and a candidate for head of MI-6 itself. He was also a KGB asset. Harvey prosecuted the case Philby, and in the wake Angleton swore a personal vow never to believe anybody.

Harvey followed his Philby break by overseeing a top-secret tunnel in Berlin that tapped into Soviet communications, as well as the covert war against Cuba, post-Bay of Pigs. The American James Bond, as he was dubbed, was a bull in a China shop, and he was forced to resign after a disastrous tour in Rome. But unlike others in the CIA, he was entirely willing to talking about the potential assassination of Castro by Mafia linked agents.

Angleton went the other way. The defection of Anatoliy Golitsyn in 1961 provided a stable point upon which Angleton built an immense web of paranoia. According to Golitsyn, the KGB still had a highly placed mole in the CIA, and worse had a deliberate longterm disinformation strategy involving fake defectors. Every subsequent defector, no matter what they brought in to prove their bonafidas, could be assumed to be disinformation. The mole could be anyone, and in paranoia, Angleton burned bridges with other intelligence agencies and destroyed careers. In final retrospect, if there was mole, he could have done no more damage than Angleton actually did. Angleton was finally forced out in the wake of the Church hearings, where in retirement he used reporters are surrogates for his life of deception.

A fascinating history and biography, Wilderness of Mirrors shows that what's behind the lie is another lie.

[Boozy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilderness of Mirrors is a fascinating read following the careers of two of the most famous or infamous Counterintelligence officers in the history of the CIA, Bill Harvey and James Angleton. While Mr Harvey was rather brash and outspoken Mr Angleton was the exact opposite, very quiet and secretive. I would highly recommend this book for any individual that is a professional in the career field or anyone that would like to know more about the successes and unfortunately the pitfalls of the CI world. One thing of note which is something anyone that works in the CI/HUMINT field should take care to heed is paranoia and chasing ghosts can and will wreak devastating damage. Not only to the people and or organizations one works with but to the individual looking. While most people would consider today's main focus to be terrorism the lessons learned from these two dyed in the wool Cold Warriors should not and can not be forgotten.

[FiveBooks]

Dr Michael S Goodman has chosen to discuss Wilderness of Mirrors by David C Martin on FiveBooks as one of the top five on his subject - Pioneers of Intelligence Gathering, saying that:

It tells the story of James Angleton, the man in charge of counter-intelligence at the CIA, stopping people from infiltrating the organisation. There was a Russian defector in the 1960s, Anatoly Golitsyn, who went to the States and started talking and Angleton basically believed him when he said there was a mole inside the CIA. He tore the CIA apart looking for the mole and the question was: was he a KGB plant getting the CIA to tie themselves up in knots?

The full interview is available here: http://fivebooks.com/interviews/dr-mi...

[kraefty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very, very interesting book. Contains quite a detailed description of some aspects of the spy war raging throughout the world after WWII. I thought that the writing style of the book was very lucid and I could mostly follow the very intricate plots of the spymasters detailed. The characters depicted, Harvey and Angleton, were both interesting and a clever pick of the author. I certainly feel more acquainted with plot twists and turns, after reading this book.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilderness of Mirrors is the definitive view of the successes and excesses of America's spy game during the Cold War. Was there a high-level mole in the CIA? The answer from Jim Angleton was yes, even though the proof was thin. Angleton comes out a little better than Bill Harvey, another CIA titan of the era. Angleton talked; Harvey did not.
There have been other books on the subject, but Wilderness draws the most attacks, so it may be closer to the truth than the others.

[Nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lively exposé of US intelligence messes from WWII to the firing of James Angleton in '74. Much detail about Bill Harvey's astute delivery of the goods while appearing the clown. If you want to know who's wasting your tax dollars, look no further than the CIA, the military industrial complex and government bureaucrats. Anarchy would be more efficient than what we have as shown in this book.

[Roger Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book published in 1980 so it is dated but it still presents an amazing look into the history of the CIA during the critical years of the cold war from 1945-75 and the absolute victory of the KGB in this conflict. It centers on two prominent CIA officials, William Harvey and James Angleton who were involved in counterintelligence and were led into the dilemma which the author coins as the "wilderness of mirrors" where no agent was above suspicion of being a Soviet spy. In fact, Angleton was totally consumed by the hunt for a mole in the agency which was the result of a tip from a Soviet defector. The shadow of the Cambridge Five, especially Kim Philby, hung over the British and American spy agencies after the terrible damage they had done and the unbelievable amount of time it took to expose them. This is definitely worth reading!!.

[Stephen Selbst · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Martin's book is 50% a history of the early days of the CIA and 50% the story of James Jesus Angleton's long and apparently fruitless search for a high level mole within the CIA. Even nearly 50 years after the Church Committee hearings, the brazen illegality and incompetence of the CIA remains breathtaking. As self-appointed guardians of the United States, the CIA repeatedly failed. It's clandestine skirmishes in eastern Europe after World War ll were amateurish. Bay of Pigs was a similar flop. The CIA completely missed the fall of the USSR and the rise of Islamic terror. Given that long history of dismal failure who can put much credence in any CIA analysis?

[R D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this tale. The subject matter is Jame J. Angleton and William K. Harvey, two CIA counterespionage warriors in the 50s and 60s, and in the case of Angleton, into the 1970s. It seems to me that counterspying is necessarily byzantine and because of that, I think I may read through this book a second time to pick up on things I missed the first time through.

[Kara Bowyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting account and demonstrates the suspicion and paranoia that was emblematic of this era. A little hard to follow in places given complexity of the topic but a very interesting account of the CIA side of Cold War espionage.

[Paul Schulte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Very well written. New revelations. Good insights. Bravo . Highly recommended. Pick up a copy. Worth the time. I couldn’t put it down

[Garry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read but fascinating nonetheless.

[Laura Hoover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Not my favorite.

[Joey K · Rating 3 out of 5]

didn’t live up to the hype

[John Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

great information on formation of ZR/RIFLE and CIA operating in Florida

[Tom Buchanan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots to chew on, but dopey coverage on Oswald makes me wonder what else he got ass-backwards.

[Bill Manzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the Macintyre book on Philby this seemed like a good follow up. It centers on two enigmas of the post WWII U.S. intelligence world, Bill Harvey and James Jesus Angleton. Harvey was one of the first to develop the case against Philby (ten years before he fled) and was responsible for the bugging of the Soviet's underground cable in Berlin. Like Philby Harvey eventually became incapacitated by alcoholism. Hard drinking spies are romanticized but the reality is that anyone who drinks like Philby and Harvey must be incapacitated for long periods of time, even when not consuming. Harvey's involvement in the plot to kill Castro (Operation Mongoose) and his direct connection to mobster Johnny Roselli, and some interesting tidbits on Harvey's relationship with RFK are covered, with the Castro plot and the possible Lee harvey Oswald connection to the KGB leading the book to Angleton. Angelton's handling of the Soviet defectors Golitsyn and then Nosenko created a decades old rift in the CIA which is still being debated today. Did a KGB misinformation campaign draw U.S. investigators away from the Oswald/KGB connection. Was Angelton on to something substantial in his hunt for a KGB mole within the CIA? The book ends up portraying both Angelton and Harvey badly, with some of the more ridiculous assertions made by Golitsyn that were being chased by Angelton highlighted. Harvey was a large figure in the history of the CIA, but James Jesus Angelton is the one dominant figure whose actions, as the head of counter-intelligence from 1954-1974, shaped the Agency for decades. Harvey died after several mishaps drove him from the Agency, never recovering from his alcoholism. Angelton was fired in 1974 by Bill Colby. This book gives a good overview of career highlights from both, and though a bit dated is worth a look if you are interested in the history of the CIA.

[Benjamin Wetmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I also read this book in college, but it's still a great one, and a classic.

I re-read it while in Moscow, to give me that Cold War espionage feel. It didn't disappoint the second time through.

It reads very easily, and was written in a very accessible and non-academic way. The book paces itself as a mystery and as a bit of a guarded lesson about the trade of spying.

The book suffers somewhat from overreach, not only in linking William Harvey and James Angleton so much, but also in using them as the illustrative lesson of the entire Cold War. There is undoubtedly much to learn from the book and the lives of these two Cold Warriors, but there are undoubtedly successes that go unnoticed or remain classified. We learn of the mistakes in the same way that we learn of the scandals, but we don't know the successes. The US archives are still highly classified and the temporary thaw in Soviet archive access was restricted once again.

These nations prize their secrets, and as the book so ably notes, the least reliable source is the official record anyway. Finding truth in the wilderness of mirrors is a perpetual question of whose truth we're relaying, and what we're missing.

Martin does a good job admitting what he doesn't know, and focusing on the two careers that he does know about, but it's just reaching too far given the subject matter to say that these two careers represent such a drastic statement about the overall effort to combat Soviet espionage.

[Cort McMeel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work of non-fiction is both great macro history of Cold War espionage, touching on such highlghts as double agents the Rosenbergs, the famous USSR moles in England's MI-6 of Philby and Blake as well as being a fascinating character study of the two top CIA "spy hunters" of the post WWII era. James Jesus Angleton and William King Harvey could not be two more different cold warriors. Angleton was an elitist, Pound poetry reading Princetonian, who would rather tend his orchid garden than hit the shooting range. This intellectual thought in opaque, puzzle minded ways that made him a chessmaster of predicting the Ruskies next moves. Harvey was an ex-FBI, gun toting, knife collecting, skirt chasing lawyer from Indiana. Both made mistakes and both scored victories but it was this Ivy League and Big 10 duo that led the charge against the shadow armies of the Communists. Martin's book also does a great job in unveiling the ideologies that drove both sides to enact elaborate covert warfare that included Le Carre like over the top actions such as tunnels, poisonings, explosions, covert drops, & creative assassainations with hit men named Stein...Its inspired me to read Mailer's spy epic HARLOTS GHOST next which is a fictionalization of ANgleton...

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The two titular agents - Angleton and Harvey - are nominally the focus of this briskly-paced book, but the wider intent of the book seems to capture the world of those two agents - namely, that of the American and British intelligence community in the paranoid post-Philby era. It dips into the Nosenko case and Golitsin in a slighter way - necessarily - than does Tom Mangold's more deeply-researched Cold Warrior, but those two important figures still figure in the book and help the book hit its stride in the last forty pages, in which the paranoia that turns back upon the molehunter himself - Angleton - fingers him as perhaps the KGB's mole in the Agency that he had set out to find. Opening up more questions as it ends, it's a worthwhile, well-written and quickly-paced book, with some fine cameos from the Kennedy brothers - and not a bit of picaresque hilarity as the CIA and the White House essay, in vain, to find the most creative and improbable ways to kill Castro.

[Vivian Valvano · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of several books that I read reading in preparation for my paper on ULYSSES in the film THE GOOD SHEPHERD. This book centers on James Angleton, CIA, and Bill Harvey, FBI/CIA. Lots of interesting information, some tedious information. We're not talking about great writing here. It is a wonder to me how (or whether) the CIA has gotten anything positive accomplished given the mistakes made, the proliferation of so many identities, assumed identities, defectors, possible defectors, code names (some of which are totally hilarious ... two Soviet agents suspected of working in NY were code named Scotch and Bourbon, loyalties(?), betrayals, etc., etc., etc.