Synopses & Reviews
The Sword and the Shield is based on one of the most extraordinary intelligence coups of recent times: a secret archive of top-level KGB documents smuggled out of the Soviet Union which the FBI has described, after close examination, as the "most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source." Its presence in the West represents a catastrophic hemorrhage of the KGBs secrets and reveals for the first time the full extent of its worldwide network.Vasili Mitrokhin, a secret dissident who worked in the KGB archive, smuggled out copies of its most highly classified files every day for twelve years. In 1992, a U.S. ally succeeded in exfiltrating the KGB officer and his entire archive out of Moscow. The archive covers the entire period from the Bolshevik Revolution to the 1980s and includes revelations concerning almost every country in the world. But the KGB's main target, of course, was the United States.Though there is top-secret material on almost every country in the world, the United States is at the top of the list. As well as containing many fascinating revelations, this is a major contribution to the secret history of the twentieth century.Among the topics and revelations explored are: The KGBs covert operations in the United States and throughout the West, some of which remain dangerous today. KGB files on Oswald and the JFK assassination that Boris Yeltsin almost certainly has no intention of showing President Clinton. The KGBs attempts to discredit civil rights leader in the 1960s, including its infiltration of the inner circle of a key leader. The KGBs use of radio intercept posts in New York and Washington, D.C., in the 1970s to intercept high-level U.S. government communications. The KGBs attempts to steal technological secrets from major U.S. aerospace and technology corporations. KGB covert operations against former President Ronald Reagan, which began five years before he became president. KGB spies who successfully posed as U.S. citizens under a series of ingenious disguises, including several who attained access to the upper echelons of New York society.
Synopsis
Christopher Andrews new book is based on one of the most extraordinary intelligence coups of recent times: the discovery of a treasure-trove of highly classified documents which the FBI has described, after close examination, as the ”most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source.” Though there is top-secret material on almost every country in the world, the United States is at the top of the list. The contents of the book remain embargoed until publication. As well as containing many fascinating revelations, this is a major contribution to the secret history of the twentieth century.
Synopsis
Christopher Andrew's new book is based on one of the most extraordinary intelligence coups of recent times: the discovery of a treasure-trove of highly classified documents which the FBI has described, after close examination, as the "most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source." Though there is top-secret material on almost every country in the world, the United States is at the top of the list. The contents of the book remain embargoed until publication. As well as containing many fascinating revelations, this is a major contribution to the secret history of the twentieth century.
Synopsis
The Sword and the Shield gives us by far the most complete picture we have ever had of the KGB and its operations in the United States and Europe. It is based on an unprecedented, top-secret archive described by the FBI as "the most complete and extensive intelligence ever achieved from any source". Vasili Mitrokhin worked for almost thirty years in the foreign intelligence archives of the KGB. In 1972 he was made responsible for moving these archives, including all the files on the KGB's deep-cover operatives, to a new a headquarters outside Moscow. Unknown to his superiors, however, Mitrokhin spent over a decade making transcripts of these highly classified files, which he daily smuggled out of the archives and kept beneath his dacha floor. As a result, no one who spied for the Soviet Union at any point between the Bolshevik Revolution and the 1980s can now be sure that his or her secrets are safe. Christopher Andrew has had exclusive access to both Mitrokhin and his archive. Supplementing this treasure trove of KGB secrets with extensive research in other archives, he has written an extraordinary book which forces us to acknowledge that there was indeed an enemy -- and that he was very much in our midst.