Useful Spy Books(berthub.eu)
berthub.eu
Useful Spy Books
https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/useful-spy-books/
54 comments
Failed to mention John LeCarré, although his books are fiction it still comes from the perspective of someone who worked ~20 years in the British intelligence services.
The article's full of references to LeCarré
> I always find it funny how interested and intrigued yet abhorred so many people are when it comes to spycraft/espionage
Also having done this sort of stuff in a previous life. And it’s always interesting how people react when they find out, some people automatically just lose all faith in you. Like you’re some sort of actor, just playing a role. Some people legitimately want to know more about how it really works. I literally keep it to myself in most contexts.
Also having done this sort of stuff in a previous life. And it’s always interesting how people react when they find out, some people automatically just lose all faith in you. Like you’re some sort of actor, just playing a role. Some people legitimately want to know more about how it really works. I literally keep it to myself in most contexts.
“ some people automatically just lose all faith in you”
Could this be that there is a level of dishonesty when involved with espionage/spying. This may be a natural reaction to not want to associate with people who have little qualms being dishonest perhaps?
Could this be that there is a level of dishonesty when involved with espionage/spying. This may be a natural reaction to not want to associate with people who have little qualms being dishonest perhaps?
I was thinking it might be that most people claiming to be a former spy were just posing and not really a former spy. I know the few I dealt with that had the legitimate potential to actually being one were all very low key and wouldn't normally talk about it any way. I would probably lose faith in someone claiming to be a spy simply because of this. Not the dishonesty in being one, but that most who claim to be are probably not.
I expect there’s a fair few intelligence analysts knocking about who don’t need to be that secretive (“I just read material from multiple sources and produced reports”) - unlike intelligence officers (people who covertly recruit and run agents) who really do need to show the utmost discretion to protect other people, methods and locations.
People like to ask what I did in the military if it comes up. It took me a few years to come up with something that didn’t cause this reaction.
I always start out with I was a nobody and didn't do anything exciting or interesting which is the truth. It just sounds more exciting than it really was. I answered the phone and said "so and so is not available, can I take a message" on unsecured lines. I got the job because I was the only one in the temp unit awaiting orders who wasn't there for disciplinary reasons. The "so and so" was a political appointee.
Sounds like a vacation! I was a nobody too, but I did get to see some wild shit because I have a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time; got me demoted a couple of times too. I also had a habit of tinkering with things I had no business tinkering with, to my commander’s chagrin, and sometimes, but rarely, delight. Sometimes I miss it for a few minutes, but I really don’t.
That’s pretty much the gist of what I say these days. There’s usually questions about the wild shit or the tinkering, but that’s pretty much where it ends, because there’s no way those stories are true. My wife didn’t believe most of them until she met some of the people I worked with and she realized that the stories I told were the sane ones: they have even crazier ones.
That’s pretty much the gist of what I say these days. There’s usually questions about the wild shit or the tinkering, but that’s pretty much where it ends, because there’s no way those stories are true. My wife didn’t believe most of them until she met some of the people I worked with and she realized that the stories I told were the sane ones: they have even crazier ones.
The dishonesty is what sadly lead to the breakdown of one of the greatest friendships I've ever had. Hope he is doing well in life, but I personally have zero tolerance for bullshit, especially when being bullshitted by someone you've trusted for so long who was akin to family.
Unfortunately this is just a fundamental lack of knowledge on the part of the public about what intelligence job(s) entail.
This is certainly not their fault, and the media just makes it worse with all the fiction and "sexy" spy stuff that they put into movies etc.... It's just a reality that the public is only ever made aware of either the .01% of ops that go poorly or where there were intentional abuses or just totally made up things you see in movies.
This is certainly not their fault, and the media just makes it worse with all the fiction and "sexy" spy stuff that they put into movies etc.... It's just a reality that the public is only ever made aware of either the .01% of ops that go poorly or where there were intentional abuses or just totally made up things you see in movies.
All the books I've read about being a spy emphasize that everyone you meet in the spy agencies is probably lying to you, about everything, and some of them do it just from force of habit, or to stay in practice.
And people all think you're always lying to them? Gosh, I wonder why?
And people all think you're always lying to them? Gosh, I wonder why?
> n.b. I always find it funny how interested and intrigued yet abhorred so many people are when it comes to spycraft/espionage etc...
I was such a person. When I was in school I read the EU report on Echelon. There was so much basic espionage meta in there that shocked me. For example I had thought of signals intelligence as an aggressive act - an act of war. In the EU report SIGINT and broadly spying was introduced as a ordinary part of a decent intelligence function of a state.
I was such a person. When I was in school I read the EU report on Echelon. There was so much basic espionage meta in there that shocked me. For example I had thought of signals intelligence as an aggressive act - an act of war. In the EU report SIGINT and broadly spying was introduced as a ordinary part of a decent intelligence function of a state.
Listening and watching is not a form of aggression. A state have right to listen and watch other state actions from their territory. If a foreign traffic is passing through your state territory, your state has rights to look into it.
On top of that, it is a tool, which can be used or abused. It can, for example, be used to avoid aggression. Just like talking to a high military leader of a hostile state can be used for 'good' or 'bad' purposes.
It also comprises the vast majority of the intelligence we collect.
It's not even close how big of a gap there is between how much SIGINT and IMINT we collect and there's still another huge gap between the amount of IMINT and HUMINT we collect.
I personally wouldn't consider any of them aggressive.
It's not even close how big of a gap there is between how much SIGINT and IMINT we collect and there's still another huge gap between the amount of IMINT and HUMINT we collect.
I personally wouldn't consider any of them aggressive.
"Having done the job in a previous life there are a lot that are really good out there that don't get a lot of press."
Assuming you had access, I am not asking for any specifics at all, but did you know ANYTHING that is remotely interesting as part of the job?
Anything from "There are aliens, we have plasma weapons" to "we actually figured out a way to fix enamel" or "sleeping 6.8213 hours is actually more efficient than any other number". Basically, does the "intelligence community" actually have any interesting information other than some backdoors, a lot of data dumps, and stealth helicopters that crash (or maybe just tail props thrown around to mislead).
Assuming you had access, I am not asking for any specifics at all, but did you know ANYTHING that is remotely interesting as part of the job?
Anything from "There are aliens, we have plasma weapons" to "we actually figured out a way to fix enamel" or "sleeping 6.8213 hours is actually more efficient than any other number". Basically, does the "intelligence community" actually have any interesting information other than some backdoors, a lot of data dumps, and stealth helicopters that crash (or maybe just tail props thrown around to mislead).
No books on Mossad?
My favourite is - Deception: The invisible war between the KGB and the CIA. by Edward Jay Epstein. This is the real "Art" of Spycraft.
Another must see is Yuri Bezmenov's "The Four Stages of Ideological Subversion" video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yErKTVdETpw
You can go crazy trying to interpret this video in the light of what Epstein wrote about Deception :-)
My favourite is - Deception: The invisible war between the KGB and the CIA. by Edward Jay Epstein. This is the real "Art" of Spycraft.
Another must see is Yuri Bezmenov's "The Four Stages of Ideological Subversion" video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yErKTVdETpw
You can go crazy trying to interpret this video in the light of what Epstein wrote about Deception :-)
Is there anything spies do that doesn't reduce to or is ultimately in service of blackmail of one kind or another? I'm negative on spy stories these days.
From everything I've read it's just, "find adversary's source of power, co-opt or subvert it, run adversary as your own or neutralize them." Where "adversary" is basically, "everyone" these days. As though their job is to physically embody a foundational lie of state power, and be the provisional wing of bureaucracy. A kind of bizarro world anti-aristocracy that props up a kakistocracy.
Spy fiction is full of self pitying people, and they aren't really admirable or role models, probably because they are created by writers, but it's a real theme. If you spend a great deal of time in bureaucracies and in security you encounter spooks from time to time, and the gross vibe they have is because they appear to operate on deception as a basic premise of all things, and I suspect some are just trained that deception itself is power. One of many tells is they often add a reflexive lie about something trivial so they have something to distance themselves from others with and manage, and as a honeypot for scrutiny. I'm unimpressed by stories about them now, as I've seen the results of tolerating them, and someone should balance the romanticisization of them by calling it what it is: propaganda.
From everything I've read it's just, "find adversary's source of power, co-opt or subvert it, run adversary as your own or neutralize them." Where "adversary" is basically, "everyone" these days. As though their job is to physically embody a foundational lie of state power, and be the provisional wing of bureaucracy. A kind of bizarro world anti-aristocracy that props up a kakistocracy.
Spy fiction is full of self pitying people, and they aren't really admirable or role models, probably because they are created by writers, but it's a real theme. If you spend a great deal of time in bureaucracies and in security you encounter spooks from time to time, and the gross vibe they have is because they appear to operate on deception as a basic premise of all things, and I suspect some are just trained that deception itself is power. One of many tells is they often add a reflexive lie about something trivial so they have something to distance themselves from others with and manage, and as a honeypot for scrutiny. I'm unimpressed by stories about them now, as I've seen the results of tolerating them, and someone should balance the romanticisization of them by calling it what it is: propaganda.
Some other interesting books to include:
The Spy Catchers - The Official History of ASIO, 1949-1963 - https://www.amazon.com.au/Spy-Catchers-Official-History-1949...
The Protest Years: The Official History of ASIO, 1963-1975 - https://www.amazon.com.au/Protest-Years-Official-History-196...
The Secret Cold War: The Official History of ASIO, 1975-1989 - https://www.amazon.com.au/Secret-Cold-War-Official-1975-1989...
The Spy Catchers - The Official History of ASIO, 1949-1963 - https://www.amazon.com.au/Spy-Catchers-Official-History-1949...
The Protest Years: The Official History of ASIO, 1963-1975 - https://www.amazon.com.au/Protest-Years-Official-History-196...
The Secret Cold War: The Official History of ASIO, 1975-1989 - https://www.amazon.com.au/Secret-Cold-War-Official-1975-1989...
Spetsnaz - Victor Suvorov
Aquarium - Victor Suvorov
There is a strong possibility he romanticizes or makes a lot of things up though. Some of the things he wrote did turn out to be true.
There is a strong possibility he romanticizes or makes a lot of things up though. Some of the things he wrote did turn out to be true.
Offtopic: what a refreshingly lovely web design... I miss simple pages like this.
Anybody here who likes Twilight Struggle? Have it lying around for years and keep postponing actually learning it. Should I do it?
I'm extremely surprised You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger by Roger Hall didn't make the list. This book had me in stitches the entire time reading it. Amazing story teller and just an overall amazing story.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Stepping-Cloak-Dagger-Bluejacke...
It seems that this specific gun was owned by Roger Hall (OSS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tct21UpVwM
Link: https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Stepping-Cloak-Dagger-Bluejacke...
It seems that this specific gun was owned by Roger Hall (OSS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tct21UpVwM
I've always been a fan of espionage related stories but I was born sometime after the fall of the Berlin wall, so anything Cold War just seems like a tale from a time long ago. Does anyone have recommendations of books dealing with espionage in the contemporary age? Bonus if it's cyberespionage related.
You might like American Kingpin by Nick Bilton which covers the rise and fall of the Silk Road website. There's a lot of "spy stuff" that takes place both when the DEA agents get involved in the case and start stealing bitcoins themselves and cyber sleuthing (well, basically just reading, lots and lots of reading) by the IRS agent who ultimately ID'd Ross via an old username and matching it to one of his throwaway gmail addresses from a message board.
It's a fantastic read- basically a nonfiction that reads like a thriller. Also, if you're from the Bay Area you'll notice a lot of the action takes place here- their final bust happened 3 blocks away from me!
It's a fantastic read- basically a nonfiction that reads like a thriller. Also, if you're from the Bay Area you'll notice a lot of the action takes place here- their final bust happened 3 blocks away from me!
There's a whole bunch of books about the CIA and the lead up to and aftermath of 9/11:
- Currently absorbed in Ghost Wars in audiobook format. Won a Pulitzer. All about the CIA and their dealing with their Pakistani counterpart ISI and the Afghan war lords. Lots of great cowboy stories and incredible amount of detail.
- The Targeter by Nada Bakos
- On another topic, you might enjoy The Spy on Netflix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spy_(TV_series) about Eli Cohen working as a spy in Syria.
- Currently absorbed in Ghost Wars in audiobook format. Won a Pulitzer. All about the CIA and their dealing with their Pakistani counterpart ISI and the Afghan war lords. Lots of great cowboy stories and incredible amount of detail.
- The Targeter by Nada Bakos
- On another topic, you might enjoy The Spy on Netflix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spy_(TV_series) about Eli Cohen working as a spy in Syria.
Speaking of Eli Cohen:
His most famous achievement was the tour of the Golan Heights in which he collected intelligence on the Syrian fortifications there. According to an unconfirmed but widely believed story, he feigned sympathy for the soldiers exposed to the sun and had trees planted at every position, placed to provide shade. The Israel Defense Forces were alleged to have used the trees as targeting markers during the Six-Day War, which enabled Israel to capture the Golan Heights in two days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Cohen
His most famous achievement was the tour of the Golan Heights in which he collected intelligence on the Syrian fortifications there. According to an unconfirmed but widely believed story, he feigned sympathy for the soldiers exposed to the sun and had trees planted at every position, placed to provide shade. The Israel Defense Forces were alleged to have used the trees as targeting markers during the Six-Day War, which enabled Israel to capture the Golan Heights in two days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Cohen
That episode is in the Netflix show.
Note that Bert is one of the 3 people appointed to oversee the Dutch security service. He knows a bit more than your average blogger.
I totally agree that books written by "insiders" are often not the most interesting ones. In the worst cases, you get long descriptions of organisational changes and anecdotes about the quality of the coffee machine (though I suppose that teaches us that spooks are people, too).
From the article:
> One is what I would like to call the communication triangle. Communications can be secure, easy to use or hard to detect. But seldom all three.
Applies to the internet too.
> One is what I would like to call the communication triangle. Communications can be secure, easy to use or hard to detect. But seldom all three.
Applies to the internet too.
Another interesting (non-fiction) book that flies under the radar is "The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB" (vol 1 of 2).
A disillusioned archivist (Mitrokhin) for the KGB kept notes for years and when the Soviet Union collapsed attempted to defect to the US, but was turned away after being incorrectly judged as not credible. But the Brits realized what they had in their hands and took him up on his offer.
The books are an effort by a historian and Mitrokhin to describe the history as revealed by the notes and corroborate them as best as possible. They do a really good job creating a general history of the Cold War from the inside perspective of the KGB.
A disillusioned archivist (Mitrokhin) for the KGB kept notes for years and when the Soviet Union collapsed attempted to defect to the US, but was turned away after being incorrectly judged as not credible. But the Brits realized what they had in their hands and took him up on his offer.
The books are an effort by a historian and Mitrokhin to describe the history as revealed by the notes and corroborate them as best as possible. They do a really good job creating a general history of the Cold War from the inside perspective of the KGB.
The book is very dry, as you might expect from the subject matter. It is also incredibly interesting.
The book both inspired me to go search for hidden caches of weapons, radios, etc., and to absolutely not go search for these hidden caches. The disarming procedure for the KGB's favored Molniya booby trap was a little too exciting for me. "If you don't hear a 'click', do not disturb the package..."
I also recommend Venona^, it has close to a hundred pages of notes on the decoded cables plus the authors had brief access to Soviet records.
^
Haynes, John Earl & Klehr, Harvey (2000). Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-08462-7
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300084627/venona
^
Haynes, John Earl & Klehr, Harvey (2000). Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-08462-7
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300084627/venona
Seems to be available here for free on Archive.org [1]
[1] https://archive.org/details/TheSwordAndTheShield-TheMitrokhi...
[1] https://archive.org/details/TheSwordAndTheShield-TheMitrokhi...
There's a link in there to an issue of Cryptolog, NSA's employee newsletter, from 1994.[1] It mentions the "Director's Summer Program".
"For the past four summers, the R51-sponsored Director's Summer Program ( DSP) has invited exceptionally talented young mathematicians from across the nation to NSA for up to 12 weeks and exposed them to the excitement of cryptologic mathematics by giving them hands-on experience working on some of our most difficult and important cryptologic problems under the direction of top Agency mathematicians. The program has been enormously successful in its first four years ( 1990-1993 ). obtaining surprisingly effective operational solutions to very hard problems, encouraging participants to continue their study of mathematics, and helping NSA to become better known in the active network of outstanding young mathematicians. Entry into this program ideally will take place between the junior and senior undergraduate years, but exceptional older or younger undergraduates and high school students may be considered."
We had five Sun terminals connected to the Cray in the room for the eight students and two technical directors, but we had to add three more terminals.
[1] https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/decla...
"For the past four summers, the R51-sponsored Director's Summer Program ( DSP) has invited exceptionally talented young mathematicians from across the nation to NSA for up to 12 weeks and exposed them to the excitement of cryptologic mathematics by giving them hands-on experience working on some of our most difficult and important cryptologic problems under the direction of top Agency mathematicians. The program has been enormously successful in its first four years ( 1990-1993 ). obtaining surprisingly effective operational solutions to very hard problems, encouraging participants to continue their study of mathematics, and helping NSA to become better known in the active network of outstanding young mathematicians. Entry into this program ideally will take place between the junior and senior undergraduate years, but exceptional older or younger undergraduates and high school students may be considered."
We had five Sun terminals connected to the Cray in the room for the eight students and two technical directors, but we had to add three more terminals.
[1] https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/decla...
Also missing:
Sir David Omand, 'How Spies Think : Ten Lessons in Intelligence', March 2021
About the systematic process for analysis (evaluation of sources, bayesian reasoning, pitfalls), exported to general decision making. Rich with references to well known actual cases (Falklands war, Yugoslav wars, Prague Spring etc) used to provide insights and explanations.
Sir David Omand, 'How Spies Think : Ten Lessons in Intelligence', March 2021
About the systematic process for analysis (evaluation of sources, bayesian reasoning, pitfalls), exported to general decision making. Rich with references to well known actual cases (Falklands war, Yugoslav wars, Prague Spring etc) used to provide insights and explanations.
The Spy and the Traitor was an astoundingly good book. But it's funny that it's called this as the CIA "traitor" who gave up Gordievsky was given like 10% space in the book.
Thats a very weak list-- most of the books are cold war related.
Nothing about the last 10-20 years?
I groan when I see yet another book on World War 2/Enigma/Early cold war-- hasnt this topic been done to the death? Or have I read too many books?
For me, See no Evil by Robert Baer, though it came out in 2003, is a good book about how politics interferes with intelligence work.
I Spy by Tom Marcus, though it was about counter intelligence, is also a great book.
Nothing about the last 10-20 years?
I groan when I see yet another book on World War 2/Enigma/Early cold war-- hasnt this topic been done to the death? Or have I read too many books?
For me, See no Evil by Robert Baer, though it came out in 2003, is a good book about how politics interferes with intelligence work.
I Spy by Tom Marcus, though it was about counter intelligence, is also a great book.
See no Evil is excellent as it covers both CIA training and what intelligence officers actually spend their time doing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_No_Evil_(Baer_book)
Something like Paddy Ashdown's auto biography covers how he got into MI6 (Royal Marines and SBS) and what his cover story was but carefully avoids the intelligence side of his work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_No_Evil_(Baer_book)
Something like Paddy Ashdown's auto biography covers how he got into MI6 (Royal Marines and SBS) and what his cover story was but carefully avoids the intelligence side of his work.
It typically takes about 50 years or for everyone involved to be dead for countries to decide it's okay to declassify.
There is a reason for that. Spying hasn’t changed that much in the last 50 years.
Check out Spooked, it is about the recent phenomenon of private spies for hire.
Are there any useful books on actual tradecraft up to contemporary practice?
Most of what I've seen on the intelligence subject are mostly about history and culture rather than technical info, with hints as to techniques scattered randomly around fiction some of it timeless, but a lot of it probably out of date.
Most of what I've seen on the intelligence subject are mostly about history and culture rather than technical info, with hints as to techniques scattered randomly around fiction some of it timeless, but a lot of it probably out of date.
Here's a few that might be relevant, some are more military than espionage
- SPECIAL OPERATIONS, IRREGULAR WARFARE, AND OPERATIONAL ART: A THEORY OF SPECIAL OPERATIONS, Major William D. Harris Jr.
- The counter insurgency manual, Leroy Thompson
- Counter terrorism and open source intelligence, Uffe Kock Wiil (https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783709103876)
- Enyclopedia of the CIA, W. Thomas Smith Jr.
- Espionage and Intelligence Gathering, Louise I. Gerdes
- Open Source Intelligence in the 21st Century New Approaches and Opportunities (Palgrave MacMillan)
- Open Source Intelligence Methodology, Robert André Furuhaug
- Special Operations Forces Reference Manual, JSOU press
- A Spy's guide to thinking, John Braddock
- Surprise, Kill, Vanish - Annie Jacobsen
- The Intelligence War, Col William V Kennedy
- A theory of special operations, Robert J Spular Jr
- Finally, there's a 23GB dump called "Strategic Intelligence Network" with material relevant to your interests. Found it on /r/datahoarder a while back.
One of the books above has a link to springer.com, you'll find more interesting books & journals on there (CS, cryptology, security, behavior etc). Some of the ebooks are floating around on the web.
- SPECIAL OPERATIONS, IRREGULAR WARFARE, AND OPERATIONAL ART: A THEORY OF SPECIAL OPERATIONS, Major William D. Harris Jr.
- The counter insurgency manual, Leroy Thompson
- Counter terrorism and open source intelligence, Uffe Kock Wiil (https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783709103876)
- Enyclopedia of the CIA, W. Thomas Smith Jr.
- Espionage and Intelligence Gathering, Louise I. Gerdes
- Open Source Intelligence in the 21st Century New Approaches and Opportunities (Palgrave MacMillan)
- Open Source Intelligence Methodology, Robert André Furuhaug
- Special Operations Forces Reference Manual, JSOU press
- A Spy's guide to thinking, John Braddock
- Surprise, Kill, Vanish - Annie Jacobsen
- The Intelligence War, Col William V Kennedy
- A theory of special operations, Robert J Spular Jr
- Finally, there's a 23GB dump called "Strategic Intelligence Network" with material relevant to your interests. Found it on /r/datahoarder a while back.
One of the books above has a link to springer.com, you'll find more interesting books & journals on there (CS, cryptology, security, behavior etc). Some of the ebooks are floating around on the web.
There are a couple books (I don't have the titles handy) by people who went through the spy training, and they describe what it was like. The part I remember was the "graduation exercise" where you were given a 30-page summary of a fictional country, and your task was to meet someone (a CIA actor) from this fictional country, and try to "turn" him.
Part of this exercise was detecting and avoiding surveillance of YOU. They had CIA people trying to follow you, and if you didn't detect and avoid them, you failed.
Part of this exercise was detecting and avoiding surveillance of YOU. They had CIA people trying to follow you, and if you didn't detect and avoid them, you failed.
Every book on hacking, online anonymity, or social engineering attacks. All police books on interrogation. Any book dealing with the psychology of motivation or perception.
If you send me a reminder I can send you a whole bunch when I get home.
Could you just post it here? I'd be interested as well.
Having done the job in a previous life there are a lot that are really good out there that don't get a lot of press.
Here's two:
HUMINT - Counterintelligence: The Double Cross System
https://www.amazon.com/Double-Cross-System-Incredible-Turned...
How Bureaucracy and Policy shapes spying: From the Shadows
https://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Ultimate-Insiders-Story-Presi...
n.b. I always find it funny how interested and intrigued yet abhorred so many people are when it comes to spycraft/espionage etc...