Each time I walk down Whitehall I’m reminded of the two British Army officers who strolled down there in 1940. One asked the other which side the War Office was on. “Ours, I hope!” he was told. It’s a bit like that with spying. You always hope the people you get to do your dirty work are working for you. But the history of espionage shows you can never be sure. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes, as they say or, as John le Carré put it, who will spy on the spies?
This study of the KGB’s history of spying in America poses that question time and again. The detail from each of the cases and themes considered by the authors reveals a range of motives for co-operation and involvement by Americans and Russians alike. Ideology is there for sure but so, too, are greed, blackmail and downright treachery. The romance of spying – fast cars, glamorous parties, hi-tech weaponry, wielding the sword of truth and exposing evils – doesn’t, I’m bound to say, jump off the pages. James Bond this is definitely not, George Smiley possibly.
The sources of evidence, however, are mightily impressive. Alexander Vassiliev had access to much of the KGB archive in Moscow. From it the authors have identified more than 500 Americans of varying backgrounds and motivations who in some shape or form helped Soviet intelligence operations in their various phases and incarnations in the USA. The big names are there, including Klaus Fuchs and the Rosenbergs who were linked to the US nuclear project. They also show that Robert Oppenheimer, also a nuclear man, was not a KGB spy.
Record keeping by the KGB was immense. That’s great from the historian’s point of view but, at times, the narrative based on it is incredibly complex and cross-referenced to the point of, at best, confusion and, at worst, losing the plot completely. There’s a thematic approach of looking at various spheres of life and influences, putting a focus, for example, on the scientific community, then journalists, civil servants and celebrities; this allows the authors to build the story of how the KGB operated in these fields. It also develops an all-encompassing picture of what the Soviets were doing and why.
Ultimately, KGB activities foundered on betrayal and intrigue with some assistance from paranoia-led Stalinist purges. Yet the conclusions drawn by the book are clear. The KGB was successful in garnering sufficient military secrets to embolden and accelerate Stalin’s nuclear programmes and push forward with war in North Korea. Much may, as the authors acknowledge, have depended on luck and the willingness of amateurs in the Communist Party in the USA, but the results were the same. This incredibly detailed book is not easy reading, but it is authoritative and exceptionally well researched. But maybe you will be left wondering whether it’s all an elaborate hoax…
Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev
Yale University Press, £25
