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The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal
A retired spy gets back into the game to solve a perplexing case—and reconcile with his daughter, a CIA officer who married into the very family that derailed his own CIA career—in this compulsive true-life tale of vindication and redemption, filled with drama, intrigue, and mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Goodnight, It’s a real-life thriller whose stunning conclusion will make headline news.
On a sunlit morning in September 1978, a sloop drifts aimlessly across the Chesapeake Bay. The cabin reveals signs of a struggle, and “classified” documents, live 9 mm cartridges, and a top-secret “burst” satellite communications transmitter are discovered aboard. But where is the boat’s owner, former CIA officer John Paisley?
One man may hold the key to finding out. Tennent “Pete” Bagley was once a rising star in America’s spy aristocracy, and many expected he’d eventually become CIA director. But the star that burned so brightly exploded when Bagley—who suspected a mole had burrowed deep into the agency’s core—was believed himself to be the mole. After a year-long investigation, Bagley was finally exonerated, but the accusations tarnished his reputation and tainted his career.
When Bagley’s daughter Christina, a CIA analyst, married another intelligence officer who was the son of the man who had played a key role in the investigation into Bagley, it caused a painful rift between the two. But then came Paisley’s strange death. A murder? Suicide? Or something else? Pete, now a retired spy, launches his own investigation that takes him deep into his own past and his own longtime hunt for a mole. What follows is a relentless pursuit to solve a spy story—and an inspiring tale of a man reclaiming his reputation and his family. It’s a very personal quest that leads to a shocking conclusion.
On a sunlit morning in September 1978, a sloop drifts aimlessly across the Chesapeake Bay. The cabin reveals signs of a struggle, and “classified” documents, live 9 mm cartridges, and a top-secret “burst” satellite communications transmitter are discovered aboard. But where is the boat’s owner, former CIA officer John Paisley?
One man may hold the key to finding out. Tennent “Pete” Bagley was once a rising star in America’s spy aristocracy, and many expected he’d eventually become CIA director. But the star that burned so brightly exploded when Bagley—who suspected a mole had burrowed deep into the agency’s core—was believed himself to be the mole. After a year-long investigation, Bagley was finally exonerated, but the accusations tarnished his reputation and tainted his career.
When Bagley’s daughter Christina, a CIA analyst, married another intelligence officer who was the son of the man who had played a key role in the investigation into Bagley, it caused a painful rift between the two. But then came Paisley’s strange death. A murder? Suicide? Or something else? Pete, now a retired spy, launches his own investigation that takes him deep into his own past and his own longtime hunt for a mole. What follows is a relentless pursuit to solve a spy story—and an inspiring tale of a man reclaiming his reputation and his family. It’s a very personal quest that leads to a shocking conclusion.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published June 7, 2022
314 people are currently reading
3576 people want to read
About the author
Howard Blum
33 books310 followersHoward Blum is the author of New York Times bestsellers including Dark Invasion, the Edgar Award–winner American Lightning, as well as Wanted!, The Gold Exodus, Gangland, and The Floor of Heaven. Blum is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. While at the New York Times, he was twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He is the father of three children, and lives in Connecticut.
Get in touch!
Website: www.HowardBlum.com
Email: Howard@HowardBlum.com
Facebook: Like Howard Blum on Facebook
Twitter: @HowardBlum and @FloorOfHeaven
Get in touch!
Website: www.HowardBlum.com
Email: Howard@HowardBlum.com
Facebook: Like Howard Blum on Facebook
Twitter: @HowardBlum and @FloorOfHeaven
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews
June 23, 2022
What a convoluted mess of a story. This should have been written as a short work of non fiction: fifty pages or less. It was boring to read. I definitely will be putting this book on the Goodwill book shelves. Do not read this! Awful
October 31, 2022
I did not finish this book. As someone who had a career in this field, I expected to find this book engrossing and interesting.
Maybe if I had stuck with it, I might have become engrossed. Unfortunately, I found the writing style kind of plodding. I found the writing skill not great at all - and this guy has written several books? Yikes….well, I won’t be reading them.
Maybe if I had stuck with it, I might have become engrossed. Unfortunately, I found the writing style kind of plodding. I found the writing skill not great at all - and this guy has written several books? Yikes….well, I won’t be reading them.
April 5, 2023
What an irritating book. I toyed with giving it two stars, cause I was grinding my teeth. Was it terrible? No. There was a lot of really interesting and compelling (if not disturbing) information, and the story itself could be riveting, but way too much padding, and repetition, and unneeded musing. Get on with it man! And a lot of going back and forth in time.
May 6, 2023
This is a real life thriller, more astounding than fiction. Cold war secrets of the CIA, long buried are revived. I reached two conclusions; Russians are the cleverest, most devious spies on earth. The second conclusion: the CIA will devour its own agents without mercy if they dissent from accepted dogma. Groupthink is always dangerous. In an intelligence agency it is ridiculously perilous.
October 8, 2022
The spy who knew too much was a very good book. I truly enjoyed reading this book. The plot tells the story about a spy who has gone missing and a former spy has made it his business to find out what happened
June 7, 2022
Thank you Harper Books for my gifted copy in exchange for my honest review!
I was instantly hooked when I started reading this book about retired CIA agent, Tennent “Pete” Bagley and his quest to find out the truth surrounding another former CIA officers mysterious death.
We discover that Bagley was once a star agent turned mole suspect amongst the agency. Ultimately his name was cleared but the damage was done. Years later he is determined to uncover what happened to the deceased agent while at the same time clearing his own tarnished reputation and rekindling his relationship with his estranged daughter as well.
This all sounds like the plot of a great spy movie right? This is a a true story though! This isn’t my usual type of book but this reads so much like a thriller novel I kept forgetting it was about real people and events. You could tell a lot of research was put into this and the author does such a great job writing an engaging and compelling story. Do yourself a favor and read this book!
I was instantly hooked when I started reading this book about retired CIA agent, Tennent “Pete” Bagley and his quest to find out the truth surrounding another former CIA officers mysterious death.
We discover that Bagley was once a star agent turned mole suspect amongst the agency. Ultimately his name was cleared but the damage was done. Years later he is determined to uncover what happened to the deceased agent while at the same time clearing his own tarnished reputation and rekindling his relationship with his estranged daughter as well.
This all sounds like the plot of a great spy movie right? This is a a true story though! This isn’t my usual type of book but this reads so much like a thriller novel I kept forgetting it was about real people and events. You could tell a lot of research was put into this and the author does such a great job writing an engaging and compelling story. Do yourself a favor and read this book!
November 2, 2022
According to most expert observers of the intelligence community, James Jesus Angleton (1917-87) had long since descended into paranoia when he retired in 1974 after two decades as CIA chief of counterintelligence. During his last years in the service, Angleton had torn the agency apart in a futile search for a KGB mole. Under William Colby, who was Director from 1973 to 1976, the CIA closed ranks. It became anathema to claim that the KGB had ever penetrated the agency. But now, in The Spy Who Knew Too Much, popular historian Howard Blum makes a persuasive case that Angleton was right all along. In fact, he demonstrates, there was not one but at least two moles. And the nation’s security system suffered grievous losses as a result.
JIM ANGLETON KNEW THERE WAS A MOLE
In “A note to the reader” at the outset, Blum writes that “my intention is to reveal one of the last great secrets of the Cold War. It is also the true story of one spy’s quest through a legacy of betrayals to solve this mystery.” That spy was Tennent “Pete” Bagley (1925-2014), whom Blum casts as the hero of his story. During decades of intensive digging through thousands of pages of obscure official documents, and in interviews with other intelligence officers at the KGB as well as the CIA, Bagley proved to Blum’s satisfaction—and mine—that the mysterious mole Angleton had pursued was a man named John Arthur Paisley (1920-78?).
A MOLE-HUNTER AS DEVOTED AS ANGLETON HIMSELF
In fact, as Pete Bagley set out on his quest in 1978, he was already well aware of at least one long-time mole in the agency—a KGB “defector” named Yuri Nosenko who Bagley knew was not a defector at all. Bagley himself had made the agency’s first eye-to-eye contact with Nosenko in Vienna in 1964 and interrogated him for months, sometimes brutally. The enormous number of contradictions in the man’s story convinced him that the KGB had planted him to divert attention from a highly placed American who was the CIA mole Angleton was looking for. But Bagley’s superiors disagreed, and at length he was accused of paranoia, himself investigated as a mole, and discredited. The experience led him to remove himself from the drama in Langley and eventually to resign from the agency at the age of forty-six.
TWO SUICIDES WHO NEVER KILLED THEMSELVES
Six years after his retirement from the CIA, Bagley was startled by an unlikely coincidence. “Two deaths—each purportedly a suicide, each with its deep roots in the secret world, each with its own perplexing mysteries” caught his attention in 1978. Bagley was living in Brussels after stepping down as CIA station chief there. One of the men who died was a KGB defector who had provided invaluable information to the agency. The other was a long-serving CIA senior officer. In both cases, the circumstances made it clear to Bagley that suicide was unlikely. And as he dug deeply into the available (and sometimes secret) facts, he became convinced that neither had killed himself.
AN AMATEUR DETECTIVE WITH A SPARKLING RESUMÉ
Bagley brought to the task both an obsessive concern for the truth and a passionate commitment to serve his country. He was Navy through and through. “A small flotilla of warships, from frigates to cruisers, had been christened with the names of his father and uncles.” His two brothers each rose to the rank of four-star admiral. And his “Uncle Bill” was five-star Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, who was the highest-ranking US military officer to serve in World War II and was both FDR and Harry Truman’s Chief of Staff.
Bagley himself was unable to follow his brothers at Annapolis because of his “dodgy eyesight.” His career in the CIA was distinguished, involving him in some of the agency’s biggest wins over the years. Colleagues believed he would some day become Director of the CIA. This was not a man to himself betray his county, as some in the CIA maintained.
UPENDING THE HISTORY OF THE COLD WAR
Blum’s account of the course Bagley took in his decades-long investigation follows a serpentine course through the officer’s career and the history of the intelligence battles throughout the Cold War. Summarizing the story is a challenge beyond my capabilities. Suffice it to say that, step by step, Blum demonstrates how Bagley made the case the CIA was infiltrated for decades by at least two moles in the pay of the KGB. Naturally, bureaucracy—and especially espionage bureaucracy—being what it is, the CIA will never acknowledge the truth of Bagley’s findings. That’s understandable, since the events Bagley investigated happened so long ago. Unfortunately, it’s all but certain that most historians will buy the official line and distort a crucial chapter in the history of the Cold War.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Howard Blum is the author of fifteen nonfiction books, many of them about the history of espionage. He won the Edgar Award for one of his true crime books. Blum is a former reported for the Village Voice and the New York Times and is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He was born in New York City in 1948 and earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in government from Stanford University. He is divorced and now lives in New York and Connecticut.
JIM ANGLETON KNEW THERE WAS A MOLE
In “A note to the reader” at the outset, Blum writes that “my intention is to reveal one of the last great secrets of the Cold War. It is also the true story of one spy’s quest through a legacy of betrayals to solve this mystery.” That spy was Tennent “Pete” Bagley (1925-2014), whom Blum casts as the hero of his story. During decades of intensive digging through thousands of pages of obscure official documents, and in interviews with other intelligence officers at the KGB as well as the CIA, Bagley proved to Blum’s satisfaction—and mine—that the mysterious mole Angleton had pursued was a man named John Arthur Paisley (1920-78?).
A MOLE-HUNTER AS DEVOTED AS ANGLETON HIMSELF
In fact, as Pete Bagley set out on his quest in 1978, he was already well aware of at least one long-time mole in the agency—a KGB “defector” named Yuri Nosenko who Bagley knew was not a defector at all. Bagley himself had made the agency’s first eye-to-eye contact with Nosenko in Vienna in 1964 and interrogated him for months, sometimes brutally. The enormous number of contradictions in the man’s story convinced him that the KGB had planted him to divert attention from a highly placed American who was the CIA mole Angleton was looking for. But Bagley’s superiors disagreed, and at length he was accused of paranoia, himself investigated as a mole, and discredited. The experience led him to remove himself from the drama in Langley and eventually to resign from the agency at the age of forty-six.
TWO SUICIDES WHO NEVER KILLED THEMSELVES
Six years after his retirement from the CIA, Bagley was startled by an unlikely coincidence. “Two deaths—each purportedly a suicide, each with its deep roots in the secret world, each with its own perplexing mysteries” caught his attention in 1978. Bagley was living in Brussels after stepping down as CIA station chief there. One of the men who died was a KGB defector who had provided invaluable information to the agency. The other was a long-serving CIA senior officer. In both cases, the circumstances made it clear to Bagley that suicide was unlikely. And as he dug deeply into the available (and sometimes secret) facts, he became convinced that neither had killed himself.
AN AMATEUR DETECTIVE WITH A SPARKLING RESUMÉ
Bagley brought to the task both an obsessive concern for the truth and a passionate commitment to serve his country. He was Navy through and through. “A small flotilla of warships, from frigates to cruisers, had been christened with the names of his father and uncles.” His two brothers each rose to the rank of four-star admiral. And his “Uncle Bill” was five-star Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, who was the highest-ranking US military officer to serve in World War II and was both FDR and Harry Truman’s Chief of Staff.
Bagley himself was unable to follow his brothers at Annapolis because of his “dodgy eyesight.” His career in the CIA was distinguished, involving him in some of the agency’s biggest wins over the years. Colleagues believed he would some day become Director of the CIA. This was not a man to himself betray his county, as some in the CIA maintained.
UPENDING THE HISTORY OF THE COLD WAR
Blum’s account of the course Bagley took in his decades-long investigation follows a serpentine course through the officer’s career and the history of the intelligence battles throughout the Cold War. Summarizing the story is a challenge beyond my capabilities. Suffice it to say that, step by step, Blum demonstrates how Bagley made the case the CIA was infiltrated for decades by at least two moles in the pay of the KGB. Naturally, bureaucracy—and especially espionage bureaucracy—being what it is, the CIA will never acknowledge the truth of Bagley’s findings. That’s understandable, since the events Bagley investigated happened so long ago. Unfortunately, it’s all but certain that most historians will buy the official line and distort a crucial chapter in the history of the Cold War.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Howard Blum is the author of fifteen nonfiction books, many of them about the history of espionage. He won the Edgar Award for one of his true crime books. Blum is a former reported for the Village Voice and the New York Times and is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He was born in New York City in 1948 and earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in government from Stanford University. He is divorced and now lives in New York and Connecticut.
June 5, 2022
I enjoyed the inside look at the CIA’s operations, particularly in the historical context of the Cold War. I also admired Pete Bagley’s persistence and dedication in revealing the truth about a CIA mole working for the KGB. This book was really well researched and engaging. This read more like a fiction read as the narrative followed Pete Bagley’s journey to discover the truth and the backstories of the other CIA and KGB agents involved. Thank you to Harper Collins for providing me an advanced copy in return for my opinions on the book! This was a really fascinating look at the CIA and an interesting true story I had not heard of before!
May 31, 2022
Thank you Harper Collins’s for a arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This isn’t my usual type of book but I really loved it. The story was compelling and the author really drew us in with the main characters journey. I felt like I was the one doing all the research and I was the one living this life. I liked learning the history of the spies and about the Cold War. The only downside was that I wish there was more on the riff between the father and daughter. They didn’t really touch on much about that. Otherwise I would definitely recommend this book and I will check out the authors other books as well.
This isn’t my usual type of book but I really loved it. The story was compelling and the author really drew us in with the main characters journey. I felt like I was the one doing all the research and I was the one living this life. I liked learning the history of the spies and about the Cold War. The only downside was that I wish there was more on the riff between the father and daughter. They didn’t really touch on much about that. Otherwise I would definitely recommend this book and I will check out the authors other books as well.
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May 12, 2022The Spy Who Knew Too Much: Pete Bagley's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal by Howard Blum is a well-written and well-researched non-fiction book organized like a good novel. The story follows the end of the Cold War and enters into the Cold Peace. The book has a surprise ending with an unlikely friendship. A captivating read that is sure to stay with you long after reading.
February 1, 2022
This is a really well written non fiction book that is organized like a good novel. Pete Bagley is a rising CIA star, keeping a cool head and using his extraordinary memory to catalog information. The book is told in past and present tense. The present begins in 1978 when a cover is blown in Moscow. Shortly thereafter, a former CIA agent disappears off his tricked out boat. Pete Bagley, retired CIA agent takes note and activates himself to solve some mysteries that cut his promising career short. The present moves forward from there to Bagley’s death in 2014.
The past tense sets the stage of the Cold War and double agents, defection, moles, and misinformation. Spoiler alert: One thing Russia has down Pat is disinformation. The author writes the book like a novel but is not as the cast of characters is large. Rather than take notes, I followed along well enough but will probably read it again. Absolutely fascinating. The story follows the end of the Cold War and enters into the Cold Peace. The book has a satisfying ending with an unlikely friendship developing. So intriguing is the unlikely friendship, I was led to an earlier work by the protagonist, Pete (Tennent) Bagley and am currently reading about the KGB side of the Cold War. Also fascinating but the cast of characters have Russian names so I’ve mostly given up on keeping track of them.
Better than any spy novel or movie I’ve seen.
The past tense sets the stage of the Cold War and double agents, defection, moles, and misinformation. Spoiler alert: One thing Russia has down Pat is disinformation. The author writes the book like a novel but is not as the cast of characters is large. Rather than take notes, I followed along well enough but will probably read it again. Absolutely fascinating. The story follows the end of the Cold War and enters into the Cold Peace. The book has a satisfying ending with an unlikely friendship developing. So intriguing is the unlikely friendship, I was led to an earlier work by the protagonist, Pete (Tennent) Bagley and am currently reading about the KGB side of the Cold War. Also fascinating but the cast of characters have Russian names so I’ve mostly given up on keeping track of them.
Better than any spy novel or movie I’ve seen.
December 24, 2022
Facinating! I could not put it down. There was nothing dry or boring about this detailed history -- a definite look behind the curtain of the lives of spies. I must confess that how I assumed it was going to end was way off the mark. Toward the end the number of flashbacks could have been reduced but through out the book they were not only interesting but necessary building blocks to the entire story. I do have questions and would love a chance to visit with Howard Blum.
June 16, 2022
A mole not in your yard! A very descriptive and well written true story. Howard Blum delivers.
October 8, 2022
Once again, Tennent Bagley's case gets a second rate write-up. Too much here is derived directly from Bagley's own "Spy Wars", and it shows.
July 7, 2022
This is a difficult review to write without discussing the ending. But in this case, revealing the ending would remove much of the reason for reading this book. I am not going to do a spoiler alert. If you want to know the ending, read the Amazon reviews.
It might have been a dull book if it had not been for the fact that these many betrayals happened in my lifetime involving government officials who were in the news ... as happens frequently, what is reported by the mass media often is a coverup ... especially when the Washington Post is rumored to have been controlled by the CIA.
Pete Bagley was looking for a needle in a haystack when it was difficult to even find the haystack ... so frustrating a search, blocked and/or discouraged by the CIA ... in order to hide their involvement or knowledge of double agents, their corruption, their political agendas to save their careers, the involvement of traitors like (gulp!) Henry Kissinger whose traitorous intentions were suspected by many in the CIA, etc.
Records and activities that did not make sense, double agents and sleepers, lies, danger, and ultimately, implied threats against his family ... but Bagley's calling as a researcher and his deep desire to know the truth would not allow him to let go of this search until he found the truth.
Sometimes the truth is too hard to bear especially when it is found in an agency that is supposed to work for your country and not against it.
Bagley was a man determined to know the truth and to make it known. His biggest enemy was not foreign countries but his own country.
Some truths are too dangerous to know.
Ultimately the winner is not the one who finds the answer but the one who has control over the distribution of the truth.
If you follow US politics, you will find information that puts a new light on history.
The book is worth reading. A bit tedious, yes, but research to uncover moles is tedious. Thankfully, Bagley did not surrender to the tedious nature of this research but to his yearning for the truth for his country.
It might have been a dull book if it had not been for the fact that these many betrayals happened in my lifetime involving government officials who were in the news ... as happens frequently, what is reported by the mass media often is a coverup ... especially when the Washington Post is rumored to have been controlled by the CIA.
Pete Bagley was looking for a needle in a haystack when it was difficult to even find the haystack ... so frustrating a search, blocked and/or discouraged by the CIA ... in order to hide their involvement or knowledge of double agents, their corruption, their political agendas to save their careers, the involvement of traitors like (gulp!) Henry Kissinger whose traitorous intentions were suspected by many in the CIA, etc.
Records and activities that did not make sense, double agents and sleepers, lies, danger, and ultimately, implied threats against his family ... but Bagley's calling as a researcher and his deep desire to know the truth would not allow him to let go of this search until he found the truth.
Sometimes the truth is too hard to bear especially when it is found in an agency that is supposed to work for your country and not against it.
Bagley was a man determined to know the truth and to make it known. His biggest enemy was not foreign countries but his own country.
Some truths are too dangerous to know.
Ultimately the winner is not the one who finds the answer but the one who has control over the distribution of the truth.
If you follow US politics, you will find information that puts a new light on history.
The book is worth reading. A bit tedious, yes, but research to uncover moles is tedious. Thankfully, Bagley did not surrender to the tedious nature of this research but to his yearning for the truth for his country.
September 11, 2022
In the BBC adaption of "Smiley's People", George Smiley visits the showroom of the arts dealer known in his trade as Senor Benatti. Smiley asks the receptionist in the showroom (as she cleans her fingernails) if she would kindly inform Senor Benatti that Mr. Angel (Smiley's cover name) would like to see him. The receptionist, unaware that Smiley was "Senor Benatti's" senior officer at British Intelligence (MI6) informs Smiley (Mr. Angel) that Senor Benatti is unavailable and cannot be disturbed. At Smiley's urging, she calls and Senor Benatti immediately welcoms George Smiley. We learn that Senor Benatti is Toby Esterhazy, himself the head of lamplighters at MI-6 in a prior life where Smiley unmasked the Service's mole.
Smiley wants to know why General Vladimir did not contact his set-off Toby (known as Hector for this operation) first instead of Smiley, since Toby was designated Vladimir's "postman", assigned to deliver messages to Smiley who was leading the Russian emigre's efforts on behalf of the Service.
Toby pauses at the question. He says, George, do you remember what you used to preach loudly to all Service agents, operatives and analysts at Sarrit? Do you remember, George, he insists? Smiley quietly says, no Toby, what was it? George, you used to tell everyone, once you have left the Service never, ever engage in "private enterprise." "When it's over, it's over."
This is advice Pete Bagley never accepted. This scene from "Smiley's People" resurrected itself as I read this book, a thrilling story without question, but incomplete at best and beset with unsupported, if dubious evidence. Why was Pete Bagley conducting his 'private enterprise' to find the mole at the heart of the CIA's directorate of operations? Isn't this the job of the CIA's agency director, who at least for part of the time was the discredited James Jesus Angleton? Angleton himself, an open alcoholic and a close friend and confidant to Kim Philby, the infamous Russian mole who had burrowed deeply into MI-6's operations and who was finally revealed to have been responsible for rolling up network after network of MI-6 (and probably American) agents, many being killed by Russian operatives once uncovered, became single-minded once Philby's treason had been revealed that the same may be happening at the CIA and became so obsessive about uncovering the mole at the heart of the CIA that he made unsupported and unsupportable accusations that ruined the lives and careers of dozen of honest CIA operatives and employees.
Angleton's unbridled and unauthorized quest for the mole modeled and motivated Pete Bagley's 'private enterprise' operation, although Bagley was more circumspect in his accusations and conclusions. Nevertheless, Bagley's evidence consisted, if Blum's account here is correct, almost entirely of conjecture, speculation, and unproved hypotheses. Bagley was so obsessive in uncovering the mole at the heart of CIA counterintelligence that he resorted time after time to confirmation bias, mostly I think to be able to say he had found a solution to the CIA's mole problem.
Neither Blum nor Bagley makes the sale that the mole was who Bagley believed it was. The reason these operations are conducted with the oversight of the agency is to ensure that internal protocols are followed and that the investigator does not in his zeal disclose other matters the intelligence services wished not to have revealed.
Smiley wants to know why General Vladimir did not contact his set-off Toby (known as Hector for this operation) first instead of Smiley, since Toby was designated Vladimir's "postman", assigned to deliver messages to Smiley who was leading the Russian emigre's efforts on behalf of the Service.
Toby pauses at the question. He says, George, do you remember what you used to preach loudly to all Service agents, operatives and analysts at Sarrit? Do you remember, George, he insists? Smiley quietly says, no Toby, what was it? George, you used to tell everyone, once you have left the Service never, ever engage in "private enterprise." "When it's over, it's over."
This is advice Pete Bagley never accepted. This scene from "Smiley's People" resurrected itself as I read this book, a thrilling story without question, but incomplete at best and beset with unsupported, if dubious evidence. Why was Pete Bagley conducting his 'private enterprise' to find the mole at the heart of the CIA's directorate of operations? Isn't this the job of the CIA's agency director, who at least for part of the time was the discredited James Jesus Angleton? Angleton himself, an open alcoholic and a close friend and confidant to Kim Philby, the infamous Russian mole who had burrowed deeply into MI-6's operations and who was finally revealed to have been responsible for rolling up network after network of MI-6 (and probably American) agents, many being killed by Russian operatives once uncovered, became single-minded once Philby's treason had been revealed that the same may be happening at the CIA and became so obsessive about uncovering the mole at the heart of the CIA that he made unsupported and unsupportable accusations that ruined the lives and careers of dozen of honest CIA operatives and employees.
Angleton's unbridled and unauthorized quest for the mole modeled and motivated Pete Bagley's 'private enterprise' operation, although Bagley was more circumspect in his accusations and conclusions. Nevertheless, Bagley's evidence consisted, if Blum's account here is correct, almost entirely of conjecture, speculation, and unproved hypotheses. Bagley was so obsessive in uncovering the mole at the heart of CIA counterintelligence that he resorted time after time to confirmation bias, mostly I think to be able to say he had found a solution to the CIA's mole problem.
Neither Blum nor Bagley makes the sale that the mole was who Bagley believed it was. The reason these operations are conducted with the oversight of the agency is to ensure that internal protocols are followed and that the investigator does not in his zeal disclose other matters the intelligence services wished not to have revealed.
June 26, 2022
The question that THE SPY WHO KNEW TOO MUCH attempts to answer is whether or not, in the pre-glasnost era, the KGB had a mole in the CIA who was never caught. Prolific author and former New York Times investigative reporter Howard Blum tells a convoluted story about Tennent “Pete” Bagley’s quest to unearth the mole, along with Blum’s own efforts to add context to that quest.
A member of the CIA’s elite Soviet Bloc division, Bagley was working in Switzerland in the early 1960s when KGB agent Yuri Nosenko offered his services. Bagley interviewed him on multiple occasions, and over time he came to suspect that Nosenko, who defected to the U.S. after JFK’s assassination (Nosenko had conducted the Soviet “investigation” of Lee Harvey Oswald), was a plant. Part of his suspicion had to do with the remarkable similarity between his stories and the file of Anatoliy Golitsyn, another KGB agent.
However, Bagley was unable to persuade his superiors. Instead, he himself came under suspicion of providing intelligence to the Soviets. Certain that he was the victim of self-serving CIA politics, he retired peacefully to Brussels --- until the apparent death of John Paisley, a CIA official, in 1978 persuaded him to return to DC. Despite questions about the body and why Paisley was on a sailboat with sophisticated electronic equipment, his death was ruled a suicide. Although he was barred from the CIA archives, Bagley launched an exhaustive search and ultimately concluded that the purported victim was the mole.
Blum’s access to Bagley’s writings and other sources enables him to craft a cohesive and convincing narrative, despite stonewalling from intelligence agents and a lot of padding and idle speculation on the part of the author. But readers who stay focused will find this story about the politics of spycraft on both sides of the Iron Curtain to be absorbing.
Reviewed by Lorraine W. Shanley
A member of the CIA’s elite Soviet Bloc division, Bagley was working in Switzerland in the early 1960s when KGB agent Yuri Nosenko offered his services. Bagley interviewed him on multiple occasions, and over time he came to suspect that Nosenko, who defected to the U.S. after JFK’s assassination (Nosenko had conducted the Soviet “investigation” of Lee Harvey Oswald), was a plant. Part of his suspicion had to do with the remarkable similarity between his stories and the file of Anatoliy Golitsyn, another KGB agent.
However, Bagley was unable to persuade his superiors. Instead, he himself came under suspicion of providing intelligence to the Soviets. Certain that he was the victim of self-serving CIA politics, he retired peacefully to Brussels --- until the apparent death of John Paisley, a CIA official, in 1978 persuaded him to return to DC. Despite questions about the body and why Paisley was on a sailboat with sophisticated electronic equipment, his death was ruled a suicide. Although he was barred from the CIA archives, Bagley launched an exhaustive search and ultimately concluded that the purported victim was the mole.
Blum’s access to Bagley’s writings and other sources enables him to craft a cohesive and convincing narrative, despite stonewalling from intelligence agents and a lot of padding and idle speculation on the part of the author. But readers who stay focused will find this story about the politics of spycraft on both sides of the Iron Curtain to be absorbing.
Reviewed by Lorraine W. Shanley
March 5, 2023
Pete Bagley led the CIA’s counterterrorism unit towards the twilight of his career. He helped to recruit and ran a number of Soviet agents. He also helped a few to defect, including one who claimed to be a KGB agent in the early 1960’s. But, once this former KGB agent was in America and Bagley debriefed him over multiple sessions, Bagley began to see in consistencies in what the agent he said. He also seemed ignorant of basic KGB facts and protocols. Bagley began to suspect that this “KGB” defector was not, in fact, genuine, but a Soviet provocateur who was sent by his handlers on a mission of purposeful disinformation and distraction. But why?
Over the remainder of his career as he reflected on the compromise of certain Soviet agents that the CIA had turned and more recent ones, that the answer appeared to be that there was mole in the CIA who was betraying these agents. Bagley also suspected that there was a connection to these compromises and what he believed to be the fake KGB defector. He set out to test his theory and yet in the process a rift occurred in the CIA between those who believed in a CIA mole like Bagley and those who tarred the suspicious as delusional and paranoid. Bagley lost that battle and decided to retire early. But he never gave up.
In his retirement, he continued his research, built his theory and ultimately came to a startling conclusion, which, if you believe the evidence, appeared to vindicate Bagley.
This wonderful, suspenseful book tells the tale.
Over the remainder of his career as he reflected on the compromise of certain Soviet agents that the CIA had turned and more recent ones, that the answer appeared to be that there was mole in the CIA who was betraying these agents. Bagley also suspected that there was a connection to these compromises and what he believed to be the fake KGB defector. He set out to test his theory and yet in the process a rift occurred in the CIA between those who believed in a CIA mole like Bagley and those who tarred the suspicious as delusional and paranoid. Bagley lost that battle and decided to retire early. But he never gave up.
In his retirement, he continued his research, built his theory and ultimately came to a startling conclusion, which, if you believe the evidence, appeared to vindicate Bagley.
This wonderful, suspenseful book tells the tale.
July 6, 2022
Very interesting how it all came together. It’s a look at moles during the Cold War. At times a little too much detail but the ending is just wow. The spy faked his death and how the family found out. Good story.
https://theworldisabookandiamitsreade...
https://theworldisabookandiamitsreade...
August 10, 2023
A CIA mole is captured by the KGB, tortured, and executed. Months later, a Russian defector walks into the CIA’s Geneva Station and reveals—among other things—how the valuable CIA mole was caught. Case closed? Ah . . . not so fast. Years later, another KGB defector tells the CIA a totally different version of the double-agent’s capture. Why two different stories about the same incident? Which defector is lying and why? The answers to these questions are the gateway to a decades-long secret that binds the KGB and CIA in a colossal deception. This book is a carefully researched account of a factual story, but no academic yawn generator. It is a page-turner that reads like a Le Carré spy thriller, has 4.3 Amazon stars, and will keep you up beyond your bedtime.
Early in the story, a thirty-one-foot sloop runs aground on the Chesapeake Bay’s Maryland shore. The owner-operator is not aboard. In fact, no one is. Classified documents and bullets litter the cabin floor and the cupboard contains a burst transmitter for clandestine communicating with satellites, but are the satellites American or Russian? While the authorities are pondering these mysteries, the sloop owner’s body washes ashore, bound in diving weights, and with a bullet hole behind the left ear. There are no fingerprints on file for the deceased, but, in quick succession, he is IDed, autopsied, ruled a suicide, and cremated, all before his family can even view the body. This event and an earlier death launch a story that stretches from the dark days of the Cold War through Russia’s glasnost and perestroika, and into 21st Century. It is the story of “Pete” Bagley, a dogged counterintelligence officer, laboring long after retirement, to expose an inconvenient truth that his CIA colleagues wanted to—and did—ignore. It is a somewhat depressing story of intelligence analysis gone political, groupthink, dueling power centers, character assassination, and covering up inconvenient truths to protect an institutional reputation. This multi-decade odyssey is further spiced with sex parties and honey traps, dead drops, clandestine meeting fraught with danger, and interrogations (harsh and benign), all playing out in the intertwined shadows of Langley and Moscow Center. It’s a darn good read!
There are lots of the spy literature’s favorite heroes and villains in this account: Lee Harvey Oswald; Chief Justice Earl Warren; KGB generals; Washington Post and New York Times reporters; legendary CIA mole hunter, James Jesus Angleton; along with CIA directors William Colby, Stanfield Turner, Richard Helms, William Casey; and Senator Jesse Helms. Even Nakita Khrushchev makes a cameo appearance. Enjoy!
Early in the story, a thirty-one-foot sloop runs aground on the Chesapeake Bay’s Maryland shore. The owner-operator is not aboard. In fact, no one is. Classified documents and bullets litter the cabin floor and the cupboard contains a burst transmitter for clandestine communicating with satellites, but are the satellites American or Russian? While the authorities are pondering these mysteries, the sloop owner’s body washes ashore, bound in diving weights, and with a bullet hole behind the left ear. There are no fingerprints on file for the deceased, but, in quick succession, he is IDed, autopsied, ruled a suicide, and cremated, all before his family can even view the body. This event and an earlier death launch a story that stretches from the dark days of the Cold War through Russia’s glasnost and perestroika, and into 21st Century. It is the story of “Pete” Bagley, a dogged counterintelligence officer, laboring long after retirement, to expose an inconvenient truth that his CIA colleagues wanted to—and did—ignore. It is a somewhat depressing story of intelligence analysis gone political, groupthink, dueling power centers, character assassination, and covering up inconvenient truths to protect an institutional reputation. This multi-decade odyssey is further spiced with sex parties and honey traps, dead drops, clandestine meeting fraught with danger, and interrogations (harsh and benign), all playing out in the intertwined shadows of Langley and Moscow Center. It’s a darn good read!
There are lots of the spy literature’s favorite heroes and villains in this account: Lee Harvey Oswald; Chief Justice Earl Warren; KGB generals; Washington Post and New York Times reporters; legendary CIA mole hunter, James Jesus Angleton; along with CIA directors William Colby, Stanfield Turner, Richard Helms, William Casey; and Senator Jesse Helms. Even Nakita Khrushchev makes a cameo appearance. Enjoy!
February 16, 2025
Howard Blum’s “The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal” masterfully combines investigative journalism with the intrigue of a Cold War thriller. The book centers on Tennant “Pete” Bagley, a retired CIA officer, who embarks on a personal quest to unravel the mysterious death of John Paisley, a former CIA official. Alongside this investigation, Bagley confronts his own career’s shadowy legacy, including his suspicion of a mole within the CIA and the betrayal that derailed his professional life. Blum’s narrative is gripping, weaving historical fact with suspenseful storytelling. The book delves into Bagley’s relentless search for truth, highlighting his clashes with institutional bureaucracy and the psychological toll of being ostracized by his peers. Blum paints a vivid picture of Cold War espionage, enriched by a “Cast of Characters” guide to help readers navigate the labyrinth of spies, double agents, and defectors. The narrative’s complexity mirrors the real-life chaos of espionage during the era, yet Blum’s clear prose ensures accessibility. The story also explores Bagley’s strained relationship with his daughter Christina, who marries into the family of a man pivotal in her father’s downfall. This personal dimension adds emotional depth to the tale, making it not just a spy story but also one of redemption and reconciliation. Blum’s meticulous research, bolstered by access to Bagley’s writings and other sources, lends authenticity to the account. Praised for its thriller-like pacing and historical accuracy, “The Spy Who Knew Too Much” is both an engrossing narrative and a sobering reflection on betrayal—personal and institutional. It is a must-read for fans of true espionage stories and those interested in the human cost of intelligence work.
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April 11, 2024Tennent “Pete” Bagley was a CIA operative in the midst of the Cold War. with Russia. He was once a promising young star in the CIA, but when he insisted there was a high level mole in the organization, others agreed. Unfortunately, Bagley himself became the target of the mole investigation which ultimately led to his early retirement.
But then several years later an abandoned yacht was found adrift with various high tech spyng devices aboard. Sometime after that, a body identified as CIA agent John Paisley was pulled from the water. He was identified before the autopsy was started, although the physical characteristics of the body didn’t match with Paisley’s description. His wife was not allowed to view the body before cremation.
And so Bagley got back into the game, using only the records that freedom of information act would allow any citizen to use. His goal was to identify what happened to Paisley and once again try to find the high level mole. He also wanted to be able to reconnect with his daughter who was married to the son of the man who led the investigation of Bagley.
There are various books and a movie already in existence about this era and Bagley’s cases, including one Bagley wrote. Howard Blum has written much more about the Cold War Era Espionage and has a vivid writing style. However, this book became quite confusing to me as it jumped back and forth along several timelines. I also listened to it in the audioversion, and the time shifts along with my unfamiliarity with Russian names, made it even more confusing. I would definitely not recommend this in audio and only cautiously recommend it for those interested in the Cold War spy vs spy games.
But then several years later an abandoned yacht was found adrift with various high tech spyng devices aboard. Sometime after that, a body identified as CIA agent John Paisley was pulled from the water. He was identified before the autopsy was started, although the physical characteristics of the body didn’t match with Paisley’s description. His wife was not allowed to view the body before cremation.
And so Bagley got back into the game, using only the records that freedom of information act would allow any citizen to use. His goal was to identify what happened to Paisley and once again try to find the high level mole. He also wanted to be able to reconnect with his daughter who was married to the son of the man who led the investigation of Bagley.
There are various books and a movie already in existence about this era and Bagley’s cases, including one Bagley wrote. Howard Blum has written much more about the Cold War Era Espionage and has a vivid writing style. However, this book became quite confusing to me as it jumped back and forth along several timelines. I also listened to it in the audioversion, and the time shifts along with my unfamiliarity with Russian names, made it even more confusing. I would definitely not recommend this in audio and only cautiously recommend it for those interested in the Cold War spy vs spy games.
June 26, 2022
Pete Bagley became a Spy for the CIA after having worked with Army Intelligence during the Second World War. He spent most of his years working in European capitals being a political operative. But he never was the "big" deal, at best he could become a section head at a secondary office. During his middle years he helped to bring in two KGB operatives.
He spent much of his time debriefing these officers. He always felt that there was something wrong with these two defectors. Their backgrounds and cases were too perfect, and to Pete, there was too much about the KGB that they didn't know. Wouldn't an agent know where in the Lubyanka were the offices of their bosses, or the trade-craft for deal with a source. But all those in the know were sure that both these guys were kosher.
After he retires Pete decides that there was always a double-agent in the upper levels of the Agency. He begins to work his way through the papers he had in his house that were a history of what he did in his career. He works his way from the first job he worked on and looked where there might have been interfered with. Who interfered and what did they do? Little by little he finds inconsistencies that led to his failures.
Following with him, we see how his suppositions were not those of a man who was paranoid. But he didn't have the ability to read TOP Secret files any longer and had to depend on colleagues to help him. Many became sources for him. He got to a point where he could prove there was a mole but the mole was able to prevent him getting too close.
He spent much of his time debriefing these officers. He always felt that there was something wrong with these two defectors. Their backgrounds and cases were too perfect, and to Pete, there was too much about the KGB that they didn't know. Wouldn't an agent know where in the Lubyanka were the offices of their bosses, or the trade-craft for deal with a source. But all those in the know were sure that both these guys were kosher.
After he retires Pete decides that there was always a double-agent in the upper levels of the Agency. He begins to work his way through the papers he had in his house that were a history of what he did in his career. He works his way from the first job he worked on and looked where there might have been interfered with. Who interfered and what did they do? Little by little he finds inconsistencies that led to his failures.
Following with him, we see how his suppositions were not those of a man who was paranoid. But he didn't have the ability to read TOP Secret files any longer and had to depend on colleagues to help him. Many became sources for him. He got to a point where he could prove there was a mole but the mole was able to prevent him getting too close.
March 11, 2024
It was a little difficult to follow since it jumped around in time, but I think Mr. Blum was following Mr. Bagley's own discoveries and filling in with memories as he came to realize that there was a Russian mole in the CIA and started to investigate. What really comes out is the civil servant mentality that creates a little fiefdom as someone rises in rank and protects that fiefdom to the detriment of the public good. Maintaining the status quo becomes more important than uncovering someone in the agency who is doing harm. Don't want that to go public by any means. Some of the book was alarming in that I was reading for the first time about certain aspects of the investigation into Kennedy's assassination. How much does the public "need to know"? I think this is the third or fourth book I've read about American espionage activities during World War II and beyond. Most of them have pointed how the CIA's weaknesses, especially compared to MI6 in Britain. I had hoped by now that most of that would have been ironed out, but it seems the agency is still hamstrung by its civil servant mentality. Having worked for the government for the first six years of my working life, I saw it firsthand. It made me so uncomfortable that I left after I had completed my agreement to work for them for three years after receiving three years of training. I am glad now that I turned down the offers from the CIA and NSA which were made as I graduated from college.
October 5, 2022
Pete Bagley was a cold war era CIA operative. He was a protege of counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton and shared his conviction that there was a mole in the CIA. When Yuri Nosenko defected in 1964, Bagley became convinced he was a double agent, sent by the KGB to convince the US that there was no Russian involvement in the Kennedy assassination. Nosenko was held and interrogated for 3 (!) years. Ultimately, the CIA decided the defection was genuine and Nosenko remained in the US, with a new identity and on good terms with the CIA, until he died in 2008. Amidst this intrigue, Bagley himself came under suspicion. He cleared his name, but his career stalled and he retired from the CIA in 1972.
Meanwhile, American agents were compromised, so it seemed like there might well be a mole - Nosenko or someone else. In the next several years, Edward Lee Howard, Aldrich Ames, and Robert Hanssen were revealed to be working for the Soviets. Bagley continued to have doubts about Nosenko.
In 1978, retired CIA man John Paisley disappeared under suspicious circumstances from his sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay. A body turned up days later. It was identified as Paisley and quickly ruled a suicide despite contradictory physical evidence. Paisley had been involved in the interrogation of several KGB agents and had issues in his personal life. Hearing about this, Bagley thought perhaps Paisley was the mole and set about investigating. This book is the story of that investigation.
The author, journalist Howard Blum, makes a convincing case that Bagley was right about Nosenko and Paisley. He also shows Bagley going down a rabbit hole and illustrates that in the spy game, it's very hard to tell what is really going on. Most of the people involved with Nosenko and Paisley have passed away so, unlike in spy novels and films, we may never learn the complete story. I grew up in the DC area. I've been to some of the places discussed, heard of many of the incidents, and known some people who were probably spies or analysts. I recall Paisley being found in the Bay but didn't know all the details at the time. This was an interesting read.
Meanwhile, American agents were compromised, so it seemed like there might well be a mole - Nosenko or someone else. In the next several years, Edward Lee Howard, Aldrich Ames, and Robert Hanssen were revealed to be working for the Soviets. Bagley continued to have doubts about Nosenko.
In 1978, retired CIA man John Paisley disappeared under suspicious circumstances from his sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay. A body turned up days later. It was identified as Paisley and quickly ruled a suicide despite contradictory physical evidence. Paisley had been involved in the interrogation of several KGB agents and had issues in his personal life. Hearing about this, Bagley thought perhaps Paisley was the mole and set about investigating. This book is the story of that investigation.
The author, journalist Howard Blum, makes a convincing case that Bagley was right about Nosenko and Paisley. He also shows Bagley going down a rabbit hole and illustrates that in the spy game, it's very hard to tell what is really going on. Most of the people involved with Nosenko and Paisley have passed away so, unlike in spy novels and films, we may never learn the complete story. I grew up in the DC area. I've been to some of the places discussed, heard of many of the incidents, and known some people who were probably spies or analysts. I recall Paisley being found in the Bay but didn't know all the details at the time. This was an interesting read.
October 8, 2022
Pete Bagley is the spy who put 2 + 2 together and just knew there was a mole deep within the CIA. He thought a recent defector was a KGB trick. But the mindset of the powers running the CIA at the time (1960s-late 1970s) rejected any challenge to their confidence. Finally Pete retired in frustration, but couldn't give up his research when a boat was found adrift in Chesapeake Bay and later a recovered corpse is identified as John Paisley, a former CIA officer also. Pete relies on independent research in public sources and a few conversations with friends to conclude that Paisley was the likely mole. But there's one problem--was the body actually Paisley? I found it interesting that many years later after the Soviet Union became Russia again, but before the rise of Putin, Bagley became friends with a former KGB agent and they traded stories.
I enjoy cloak and dagger, but the author's style going back and forth in time to give Bagley's history and experiences and stories impinging on the main narrative left me often a bit confused. Yes, the story is every bit as complicated as the CIA's own labyrinth of departments and need-to-know-only, but the author didn't handle this material as smoothly as other books I've read along the same lines.
I enjoy cloak and dagger, but the author's style going back and forth in time to give Bagley's history and experiences and stories impinging on the main narrative left me often a bit confused. Yes, the story is every bit as complicated as the CIA's own labyrinth of departments and need-to-know-only, but the author didn't handle this material as smoothly as other books I've read along the same lines.
April 19, 2023
Wow. Educated, degreed CIA agents can't keep the showers running at their sex club (page 235) to pay the mortgage on renovating a ski resort. 30 years a queer with TS/SCI, and I say it again: "heterosexuals should stop procreating and should not be granted clearances."
In an otherwise totally engaging story (about which I knew nothing), the four-times mentioned Russian defector who played match-maker to two kids of spies (page 48) really freaking annoyed me. If I wanna read Dominick Dunne, or Tom Wolfe, or even Kathleen Woodiwiss, I'll read them. I don't need freaking doe-eyed young lovers who'll breed more spies in non-fiction. IDGAFF.
Complete sentences. Subject/verb agreement. Nouns with adjectives. Verbs with adverbs. Engrossing plot. Excellent pace. Believable dialogue. Tense situations. All comptetent writing.
The saddest part: (page 259) "Washington's gay bars were the KGB operatives favorite hunting grounds." That was the 70s. By the 90s, when I had my clearance, I wonder if Fireplace, Mr. P's, Frat House, J.R.s, Chesapeake House, the Glory Hole, etc., still had agents there trying to blackmail people. I never took a Russky home, but I did meet a nice Polish boy once.
In an otherwise totally engaging story (about which I knew nothing), the four-times mentioned Russian defector who played match-maker to two kids of spies (page 48) really freaking annoyed me. If I wanna read Dominick Dunne, or Tom Wolfe, or even Kathleen Woodiwiss, I'll read them. I don't need freaking doe-eyed young lovers who'll breed more spies in non-fiction. IDGAFF.
Complete sentences. Subject/verb agreement. Nouns with adjectives. Verbs with adverbs. Engrossing plot. Excellent pace. Believable dialogue. Tense situations. All comptetent writing.
The saddest part: (page 259) "Washington's gay bars were the KGB operatives favorite hunting grounds." That was the 70s. By the 90s, when I had my clearance, I wonder if Fireplace, Mr. P's, Frat House, J.R.s, Chesapeake House, the Glory Hole, etc., still had agents there trying to blackmail people. I never took a Russky home, but I did meet a nice Polish boy once.
June 2, 2022
Time for a genre change: non fiction … that reads just like a novel 📖
“The Spy Who Knew Too Much” by Howard Blum is a well researched and exceptionally organized true story of CIA agent Pete Bagley🕵️♂️
This book flips back and forth between 1978 and 2014! Bagley was a well respected Agent who was on the move up the CIA ladder. However, he was suspected to be a mole which tarnished his reputation within the agency. As a retired spy, Bagley makes it his personal mission to find the REAL mole and clear his name. He also works hard to build back his relationship with his daughter who has married into the family that led to the demise of his career.
I feel like I became better educated on the Cold War, the CIA, double agents, etc. Although this is a book outside my usual genre, I found it mysterious, insightful, clever and intriguing all wrapped into one!
BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤/5
Thank you kindly to Harper Collins and Howard Blum for a gifted copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on June 7, 2022!
July 24, 2022
Listened to the first half in the car during a long drive then upon arriving at my destination proceeded to immediately read the last half. This book gave me a new appreciation for how difficult it was to be a spy during the Cold War. Aside from the technical complexity and risk to physical well being of field operations — which are covered thoroughly in this book —, there was tremendous ambiguity about who was loyal to the cause. Everyone in the CIA with access to sensitive Soviet information seemed to come under suspicion — except for the actual double agents working at the CIA on behalf of the Soviet Union! It was truly a “wilderness of mirrors”, as described by the T.S. Eliot- loving CIA Counterintelligence Chief. The combination of mystery, thriller and history made this book difficult to pause or put down, particularly once the primary traitor’s story began to be told. It was that character’s biography and what he was able to get away with throughout his life that left me shocked and devastated.
December 8, 2022
Interesting book overall, but dragged in many places. Could have used some editing down.
What I found most interesting was the strong culture of "group think" within the CIA, over decades, that was ultimately delusional that a mole could not penetrate the top echelons of the CIA. Of course, at least two of the double agents in the book did, for years. And the protocols meant to catch them was equally lack -- like not giving them required yearly lie detector tests. The deeper question, that the book does not touch on, is how these lapses in protocol where allowed to happen, year after year.
Lets just say after reading this book, I have less faith in the CIA. It is also clearer to me how people like Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 attack, went completely undetected. I can't help but wonder what agents were sounding the alarm bells internally, but were ignored because non of the brass could envision such an attack on our country. Or the January 6th 2021 attack on our nations' Capital for that matter.
What I found most interesting was the strong culture of "group think" within the CIA, over decades, that was ultimately delusional that a mole could not penetrate the top echelons of the CIA. Of course, at least two of the double agents in the book did, for years. And the protocols meant to catch them was equally lack -- like not giving them required yearly lie detector tests. The deeper question, that the book does not touch on, is how these lapses in protocol where allowed to happen, year after year.
Lets just say after reading this book, I have less faith in the CIA. It is also clearer to me how people like Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 attack, went completely undetected. I can't help but wonder what agents were sounding the alarm bells internally, but were ignored because non of the brass could envision such an attack on our country. Or the January 6th 2021 attack on our nations' Capital for that matter.
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