Crack99 The Takedown Of A 100 Million Chinese Software Pirate

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CRACK99: The Takedown of a $100 Million Chinese Software Pirate

Author : David Locke Hall
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393249557
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (932 download)

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Book Synopsis CRACK99: The Takedown of a $100 Million Chinese Software Pirate by : David Locke Hall

Download or read book CRACK99: The Takedown of a $100 Million Chinese Software Pirate written by David Locke Hall and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-10-19 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The utterly gripping story of the most outrageous case of cyber piracy prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice. A former U.S. Navy intelligence officer, David Locke Hall was a federal prosecutor when a bizarre-sounding website, CRACK99, came to his attention. It looked like Craigslist on acid, but what it sold was anything but amateurish: thousands of high-tech software products used largely by the military, and for mere pennies on the dollar. Want to purchase satellite tracking software? No problem. Aerospace and aviation simulations? No problem. Communications systems designs? No problem. Software for Marine One, the presidential helicopter? No problem. With delivery times and customer service to rival the world’s most successful e-tailers, anybody, anywhere—including rogue regimes, terrorists, and countries forbidden from doing business with the United States—had access to these goods for any purpose whatsoever. But who was behind CRACK99, and where were they? The Justice Department discouraged potentially costly, risky cases like this, preferring the low-hanging fruit that scored points from politicians and the public. But Hall and his colleagues were determined to find the culprit. They bought CRACK99's products for delivery in the United States, buying more and more to appeal to the budding entrepreneur in the man they identified as Xiang Li. After winning his confidence, they lured him to Saipan—a U.S. commonwealth territory where Hall’s own father had stormed the beaches with the marines during World War II. There they set up an audacious sting that culminated in Xiang Li's capture and imprisonment. The value of the goods offered by CRACK99? A cool $100 million. An eye-opening look at cybercrime and its chilling consequences for national security, CRACK99 reads like a caper that resonates with every amazing detail.

Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute

Author : United States Naval Institute
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (21 download)

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Book Synopsis Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute by : United States Naval Institute

Download or read book Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute written by United States Naval Institute and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Operation Shakespeare

Author : John Shiffman
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451655169
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (516 download)

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Book Synopsis Operation Shakespeare by : John Shiffman

Download or read book Operation Shakespeare written by John Shiffman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A Pulitzer Prize finalist presents the rare and intimate narrative of a daring national security sting designed to protect US soldiers, sailors, and pilots from the greatest danger they face on the battlefield--an enemy equipped with American-made weapons and technology. In Operation Shakespeare, investigative journalist John Shiffman traces an audacious and high-risk undercover operation--from Philadelphia to Shiraz to London to Beverly Hills to Tbilisi and Dubai. The sting is launched by an elite undercover Homeland Security unit created to stop the Iranians, Russians, Chinese, Pakistanis, and North Koreans from acquiring sophisticated American-made electronics capable of guiding missiles, jamming radar, and triggering countless weapons--from wireless IEDs to nuclear bombs. The US agents must outwit not only enemy brokers, but American manufacturers and global bankers too willing to put profit over national security. The three-year sting in Operation Shakespeare climaxes when the US agents lure the Iranian broker to a former Soviet republic with the promise of American-made radar, fighter-jet and missile components, then secretly drag him back to the United States, where he is held in secret for two years. The laptop the Iranian carries into the sting provides the CIA with a treasure trove, a virtual roadmap to Tehran's clandestine effort to obtain US military technology. Tenacious, richly detailed, broad in scope, and emotionally powerful--and boasting unprecedented access to the government agents fighting this shadow war, as well as the captured Iranian arms broker--Operation Shakespeare is a fast-paced and masterful account of the covert effort to preserve American military supremacy, and to protect US troops"--

Takedown

Author : Brad Thor
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451636156
Total Pages : 528 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (516 download)

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Book Synopsis Takedown by : Brad Thor

Download or read book Takedown written by Brad Thor and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-04-26 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the aftermath of a Fourth of July terrorist bombing that has destroyed all of the bridges and tunnels leading out of Manhattan, an elite cadre of Middle Eastern soldiers searches for a man who holds a powerful secret of key importance.

Priceless

Author : Robert K. Wittman
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0307461483
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Priceless by : Robert K. Wittman

Download or read book Priceless written by Robert K. Wittman and published by Crown. This book was released on 2011-06-07 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Wall Street Journal called him “a living legend.” The London Times dubbed him “the most famous art detective in the world.” In Priceless, Robert K. Wittman, the founder of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, pulls back the curtain on his remarkable career for the first time, offering a real-life international thriller to rival The Thomas Crown Affair. Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a twenty-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid. In this page-turning memoir, Wittman fascinates with the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities: The golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king. The Rodin sculpture that inspired the Impressionist movement. The headdress Geronimo wore at his final Pow-Wow. The rare Civil War battle flag carried into battle by one of the nation’s first African-American regiments. The breadth of Wittman’s exploits is unmatched: He traveled the world to rescue paintings by Rockwell and Rembrandt, Pissarro, Monet and Picasso, often working undercover overseas at the whim of foreign governments. Closer to home, he recovered an original copy of the Bill of Rights and cracked the scam that rocked the PBS series Antiques Roadshow. By the FBI’s accounting, Wittman saved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art and antiquities. He says the statistic isn’t important. After all, who’s to say what is worth more --a Rembrandt self-portrait or an American flag carried into battle? They're both priceless. The art thieves and scammers Wittman caught run the gamut from rich to poor, smart to foolish, organized criminals to desperate loners. The smuggler who brought him a looted 6th-century treasure turned out to be a high-ranking diplomat. The appraiser who stole countless heirlooms from war heroes’ descendants was a slick, aristocratic con man. The museum janitor who made off with locks of George Washington's hair just wanted to make a few extra bucks, figuring no one would miss what he’d filched. In his final case, Wittman called on every bit of knowledge and experience in his arsenal to take on his greatest challenge: working undercover to track the vicious criminals behind what might be the most audacious art theft of all.

The Legal Guide for Museum Professionals

Author : Julia Courtney
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1442230436
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (422 download)

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Book Synopsis The Legal Guide for Museum Professionals by : Julia Courtney

Download or read book The Legal Guide for Museum Professionals written by Julia Courtney and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-03-19 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Museums are multifaceted institutions that reach across all disciplines and encounter a complex range of legal questions. Experts in museum and art law join forces in this essay-format volume. These unique, nonprofit cultural organizations face a myriad of legal concerns as they launch into the twenty-first century and will continue to require specific guidance. From intellectual property law to navigating waters of social media, de-accessioning concerns to governance law, copyright, and rights and reproduction questions to issues of public domain and public trust, The Legal Guide for Museum Professionals seeks to provide answers and courses of action for museums of all disciplines. This book will assist professionals in determining when to seek professional legal counsel and when to educate themselves and proceed on their own. The book was inspired by a panel of experts who have presented at numerous regional and national conferences for museum professionals are especially practiced at providing insight into current legal concerns, including: Gil Whittemore Esq. of Rath, Young and Pignatelli, P.C. and former Chair of the American Bar Association’s Museum Law Committee; Katherine E. Lewis Esq. Chair of the American Bar Association’s Museum Law Committee and practicing New York attorney; Mark S. Gold Esq. practicing attorney in Williamstown, MA with the firm of Parese, Sabin, Smith & Gold LLP who has written and edited extensively on all aspects of museum and art law. All three contributed to this volume.

Hackers

Author : Steven Levy
Publisher : "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN 13 : 1449393748
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (493 download)

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Book Synopsis Hackers by : Steven Levy

Download or read book Hackers written by Steven Levy and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2010-05-19 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 25th anniversary edition of Steven Levy's classic book traces the exploits of the computer revolution's original hackers -- those brilliant and eccentric nerds from the late 1950s through the early '80s who took risks, bent the rules, and pushed the world in a radical new direction. With updated material from noteworthy hackers such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Stallman, and Steve Wozniak, Hackers is a fascinating story that begins in early computer research labs and leads to the first home computers. Levy profiles the imaginative brainiacs who found clever and unorthodox solutions to computer engineering problems. They had a shared sense of values, known as "the hacker ethic," that still thrives today. Hackers captures a seminal period in recent history when underground activities blazed a trail for today's digital world, from MIT students finagling access to clunky computer-card machines to the DIY culture that spawned the Altair and the Apple II.

Ghost in the Wires

Author : Kevin Mitnick
Publisher : Little, Brown
ISBN 13 : 0316134473
Total Pages : 502 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (161 download)

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Book Synopsis Ghost in the Wires by : Kevin Mitnick

Download or read book Ghost in the Wires written by Kevin Mitnick and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2011-08-15 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this "intriguing, insightful and extremely educational" novel, the world's most famous hacker teaches you easy cloaking and counter-measures for citizens and consumers in the age of Big Brother and Big Data (Frank W. Abagnale). Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world's biggest companies -- and no matter how fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. As the FBI's net finally began to tighten, Mitnick went on the run, engaging in an increasingly sophisticated game of hide-and-seek that escalated through false identities, a host of cities, and plenty of close shaves, to an ultimate showdown with the Feds, who would stop at nothing to bring him down. Ghost in the Wires is a thrilling true story of intrigue, suspense, and unbelievable escapes -- and a portrait of a visionary who forced the authorities to rethink the way they pursued him, and forced companies to rethink the way they protect their most sensitive information. "Mitnick manages to make breaking computer code sound as action-packed as robbing a bank." -- NPR

The Blue Nowhere

Author : Jeffery Deaver
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 074321336X
Total Pages : 713 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (432 download)

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Book Synopsis The Blue Nowhere by : Jeffery Deaver

Download or read book The Blue Nowhere written by Jeffery Deaver and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001 with total page 713 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wyatt and Bristol are searching for a hacker who infiltrates people's computers, their lives and lures them to their death.

Merchant of Death

Author : Douglas Farah
Publisher : Turner Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 1118038983
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (18 download)

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Book Synopsis Merchant of Death by : Douglas Farah

Download or read book Merchant of Death written by Douglas Farah and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2010-12-14 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for Merchant of Death "A riveting investigation of the world's most notorious arms dealer--a page-turner that digs deep into the amazing, murky story of Viktor Bout. Farah and Braun have exposed the inner workings of one of the world's most secretive businesses--the international arms trade." —Peter L. Bergen, author of The Osama bin Laden I Know "Viktor Bout is like Osama bin Laden: a major target of U.S. intelligence officials who time and again gets away. Farah and Braun have skillfully documented how this notorious arms dealer has stoked violence around the world and thwarted international sanctions. Even more appalling, they show how Bout ended up getting millions of dollars in U.S. government money to assist the war in Iraq. A truly impressive piece of investigative reporting." —Michael Isikoff, coauthor of Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War "Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun are two of the toughest investigative reporters in the country. This is an important book about a hidden world of gunrunning and profiteering in some of the world's poorest countries." —Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 "In Merchant of Death, two of America's finest reporters have performed a major public service, turning over the right rocks that reveal the brutal international arms business at the dawn of the twenty-first century. In Viktor Bout, they have given us a new Lord of War, a man who knows no side but his own, and who has a knack for turning up in every war zone just in time to turn a profit. As Farah and Braun uncover and document his troubling role in the Bush Administration's Global War on Terror, his ties to Washington almost seem inevitable." —James Risen, author of State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration "An extraordinary and timely piece of investigative reporting, Merchant of Death is also a vividly compelling read. The true story of Viktor Bout, a sociopathic Russian gunrunner who has supplied weapons for use in some of the most gruesome conflicts of modern times--and who can count amongst his clients both the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the U.S. military in Iraq--is a stomach-churning indictment of the policy failures and moral contradictions of the world's most powerful governments, including that of the United States." —Jon Lee Anderson, author of The Fall of Baghdad Two respected journalists tell the incredible story of Viktor Bout, the Russian weapons supplier whose global network has changed the way modern warfare is fought. Bout’s vast enterprise of guns, planes, and money has fueled internecine slaughter in Africa and aided both militant Islamic fanatics in Afghanistan and the American military in Iraq. This book combines spy thrills with crucial insights on the shortcomings of a U.S. foreign policy that fails to confront the lucrative and lethal arms trade that erodes global security.

Corruption in the Americas

Author : Jonathan D. Rosen
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1793627223
Total Pages : 175 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (936 download)

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Book Synopsis Corruption in the Americas by : Jonathan D. Rosen

Download or read book Corruption in the Americas written by Jonathan D. Rosen and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For some states in Latin America, corruption is not simply an industry, but rather it is part of the political system. This collection studies the nature of corruption and its recent trends through expert contributions from scholars from the region who have diverse scholarly backgrounds, theoretical orientations, and methodologies. Through case studies of countries throughout the Americas, the contributors analyze the links between corruption and organized crime, the main actors involved in corruption, governmental responses to corruption, and the impact that corruption has on governmental institutions and people’s faith in them.

The Widow Spy

Author : Martha Denny Peterson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780983878124
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (781 download)

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Book Synopsis The Widow Spy by : Martha Denny Peterson

Download or read book The Widow Spy written by Martha Denny Peterson and published by . This book was released on 2012-02 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marti Peterson spent her thirty-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency as an operations officer, earning both the prestigious Donovan Award and the George W. Bush Award for Excellence in Counterterrorism. She began professional service on the CIA's front line in Moscow, USSR, during the Cold War. Her contribution to her country originated in Pakse, Laos, during the Vietnam War, where she accompanied her husband, John, a CIA Paramilitary officer. After he was killed in a helicopter crash in 1972, Marti returned to the U.S. and entered the CIA. The story told here appears in many books about spying acitivies in the Cold War, but in the Widow Spy, she tells it as she experienced it.

Burning Chrome

Author : William Gibson
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0062273019
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (622 download)

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Book Synopsis Burning Chrome by : William Gibson

Download or read book Burning Chrome written by William Gibson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A breath of fresh air . . . the vision is deeply imagined, very complete and controlled . . . Gibson is truly brilliant.”—Washington Times magazine From a true master of science fiction comes a collection of short stories that show how, no matter the length, Gibson is one of the greatest writers working today. Known for his seminal science fiction novel Neuromancer, and for the acclaimed books Pattern Recognition, The Peripheral, and Agency, William Gibson is actually best when writing short fiction. Tautly written and suspenseful, Burning Chrome collects 10 short stories, including some written with Bruce Sterling, John Shirley, and Michael Swanwick, and with a preface from Bruce Sterling, now available for the first time in trade paperback. These brilliant, high-resolution stories show Gibson’s characters and intensely realized worlds at their absolute best, from the chip-enhanced couriers of “Johnny Mnemonic” to the street-tech melancholy of “Burning Chrome.”

Gray Day

Author : Eric O'Neill
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0525573534
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (255 download)

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Book Synopsis Gray Day by : Eric O'Neill

Download or read book Gray Day written by Eric O'Neill and published by Crown. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cybersecurity expert and former FBI “ghost” tells the thrilling story of how he helped take down notorious FBI mole Robert Hanssen, the first Russian cyber spy. “Both a real-life, tension-packed thriller and a persuasive argument for traditional intelligence work in the information age.”—Bruce Schneier, New York Times bestselling author of Data and Goliath and Click Here to Kill Everybody Eric O’Neill was only twenty-six when he was tapped for the case of a lifetime: a one-on-one undercover investigation of the FBI’s top target, a man suspected of spying for the Russians for nearly two decades, giving up nuclear secrets, compromising intelligence, and betraying US assets. With zero training in face-to-face investigation, O’Neill found himself in a windowless, high-security office in the newly formed Information Assurance Section, tasked officially with helping the FBI secure its outdated computer system against hackers and spies—and unofficially with collecting evidence against his new boss, Robert Hanssen, an exacting and rage-prone veteran agent with a fondness for handguns. In the months that follow, O’Neill’s self-esteem and young marriage unravel under the pressure of life in Room 9930, and he questions the very purpose of his mission. But as Hanssen outmaneuvers an intelligence community struggling to keep up with the new reality of cybersecurity, he also teaches O’Neill the game of spycraft. The student will just have to learn to outplay his teacher if he wants to win. A tension-packed stew of power, paranoia, and psychological manipulation, Gray Day is also a cautionary tale of how the United States allowed Russia to become dominant in cyberespionage—and how we might begin to catch up.

The Moscow Rules

Author : Antonio J. Mendez
Publisher : PublicAffairs
ISBN 13 : 1541762177
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (417 download)

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Book Synopsis The Moscow Rules by : Antonio J. Mendez

Download or read book The Moscow Rules written by Antonio J. Mendez and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2019-05-21 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the spymaster and inspiration for the movie Argo, discover the "real-life spy thriller" of the brilliant but under-supported CIA operatives who developed breakthrough spy tactics that helped turn the tide of the Cold War (Malcolm Nance). Antonio Mendez and his future wife Jonna were CIA operatives working to spy on Moscow in the late 1970s, at one of the most dangerous moments in the Cold War. Soviets kept files on all foreigners, studied their patterns, and tapped their phones. Intelligence work was effectively impossible. The Soviet threat loomed larger than ever. The Moscow Rules tells the story of the intelligence breakthroughs that turned the odds in America's favor. As experts in disguise, Antonio and Jonna were instrumental in developing a series of tactics -- Hollywood-inspired identity swaps, ingenious evasion techniques, and an armory of James Bond-style gadgets -- that allowed CIA officers to outmaneuver the KGB. As Russia again rises in opposition to America, this remarkable story is a tribute to those who risked everything for their country, and to the ingenuity that allowed them to succeed.

The Venona Secrets

Author : Herbert Romerstein
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1596987324
Total Pages : 648 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (969 download)

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Book Synopsis The Venona Secrets by : Herbert Romerstein

Download or read book The Venona Secrets written by Herbert Romerstein and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-10-01 with total page 648 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Venona Secretspresents one of the last great, untold stories of World War II and the Cold War. In 1995, secret Soviet cable traffic from the 1940s that the United States intercepted and eventually decrypted finally became available to American historians. Now, after spending more than five years researching all the available evidence, espionage experts Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel reveal the full, shocking story of the days when Soviet spies ran their fingers through America's atomic-age secrets. Included in The Venona Secrets are the details of the spying activities that reached from Harry Hopkins in Franklin Roosevelt s White House to Alger Hiss in the State Department to Harry Dexter White in the Treasury. More than that, The Venona Secrets exposes: • Information that links Albert Einstein to Soviet intelligence and conclusive evidence showing that J. Robert Oppenheimer gave Moscow our atomic secrets. • How Soviet espionage reached its height when the United States and the Soviet Union were supposedly allies in World War II. • The previously unsuspected vast network of Soviet spies in America. • How the Venona documents confirm the controversial revelations made in the 1940s by former Soviet agents Whittaker Chambers and Elizabeth Bentley. • The role of the American Communist Party in supporting and directing Soviet agents. • How Stalin s paranoia had him target Jews (code-named Rats ) and Trotskyites even after Trotsky’s death. • How the Soviets penetrated America’s own intelligence services. The Venona Secrets is a masterful compendium of spy versus spy that puts the Venona transcripts in context with secret FBI reports, congressional investigations, and documents recently uncovered in the former Soviet archives. Romerstein and Breindel cast a spotlight on one of the most shadowy episodes in recent American history - a past when by our very own government officials, whether wittingly or unwittingly, shielded treason infected Washington and Soviet agents.

The Good Spy

Author : Kai Bird
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0307889777
Total Pages : 467 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (78 download)

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Book Synopsis The Good Spy by : Kai Bird

Download or read book The Good Spy written by Kai Bird and published by Crown. This book was released on 2014-05-20 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Good Spy is Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird’s compelling portrait of the remarkable life and death of one of the most important operatives in CIA history – a man who, had he lived, might have helped heal the rift between Arabs and the West. On April 18, 1983, a bomb exploded outside the American Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people. The attack was a geopolitical turning point. It marked the beginning of Hezbollah as a political force, but even more important, it eliminated America’s most influential and effective intelligence officer in the Middle East – CIA operative Robert Ames. What set Ames apart from his peers was his extraordinary ability to form deep, meaningful connections with key Arab intelligence figures. Some operatives relied on threats and subterfuge, but Ames worked by building friendships and emphasizing shared values – never more notably than with Yasir Arafat’s charismatic intelligence chief and heir apparent Ali Hassan Salameh (aka “The Red Prince”). Ames’ deepening relationship with Salameh held the potential for a lasting peace. Within a few years, though, both men were killed by assassins, and America’s relations with the Arab world began heading down a path that culminated in 9/11, the War on Terror, and the current fog of mistrust. Bird, who as a child lived in the Beirut Embassy and knew Ames as a neighbor when he was twelve years old, spent years researching The Good Spy. Not only does the book draw on hours of interviews with Ames’ widow, and quotes from hundreds of Ames’ private letters, it’s woven from interviews with scores of current and former American, Israeli, and Palestinian intelligence officers as well as other players in the Middle East “Great Game.” What emerges is a masterpiece-level narrative of the making of a CIA officer, a uniquely insightful history of twentieth-century conflict in the Middle East, and an absorbing hour-by-hour account of the Beirut Embassy bombing. Even more impressive, Bird draws on his reporter’s skills to deliver a full dossier on the bombers and expose the shocking truth of where the attack’s mastermind resides today.