Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Viking Adult (1987), Edition: First Edition, 392 pages
Description
A rare inside glimpse of the real dayby-day goings-on within the British intelligence world from a high-level authoritative voice.
User reviews
LibraryThing member delirium
I devoured this one in two days. I thought espionage movies are interesting, but was blown away by how much more intrigue, deceit, and flashy gadgets there are in the true stories!
Peter Wright was recruited into MI5 following World War II as their first staff scientist. He began in signals
The characters in Wright's memoir are larger than life, as spies in the movies never are. There's Pete Harvey, a volatile, alcoholic CIA agent who wears cowboy boots and calls Wright a limey bastard. Anthony Blunt, cultured intellectual with a history for passionate love affairs with fellow spies (mostly men) who lives in quiet luxury after confessing to large scale espionage (Britian has a habit of granting moles immunity if they confess). And Jim Angleton, whose passion for his work and belief that the great game can be won leaves him looking more emaciated each time Wright sees him.
The sheer volume and stature of the moles Wright finds, some of whom are department directors, left me with the initial impression that the entire business of espionage, especially counterespionage, is futile and self defeating. Not only is it impossible to have a large number of people keep a secret, but the work itself damages the people who do it. Few can be in the business of deception and distrust without eventually becoming paranoid, deceitful, or misanthropic.
On the other hand, wiretaps and double agents were the weapons of the Cold War. Though it was, as Wright put it, just a great game, it's a far less destructive way to fight a war than with bombs and guns.
Peter Wright was recruited into MI5 following World War II as their first staff scientist. He began in signals
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technology, designing new methods for detecting and decrypting soviet signals. A rising star, he quickly moved on to counterintelligence, where he spends the remainder of his career trying to ferret out moles in the system. Despite the ultimate futility of his work--every time he finds a mole, evidence of more arises--and what it means for the effectiveness of his organization, Wright passionately pursues his work, though near the end he admits to feeling like he is surrounded by enemies.The characters in Wright's memoir are larger than life, as spies in the movies never are. There's Pete Harvey, a volatile, alcoholic CIA agent who wears cowboy boots and calls Wright a limey bastard. Anthony Blunt, cultured intellectual with a history for passionate love affairs with fellow spies (mostly men) who lives in quiet luxury after confessing to large scale espionage (Britian has a habit of granting moles immunity if they confess). And Jim Angleton, whose passion for his work and belief that the great game can be won leaves him looking more emaciated each time Wright sees him.
The sheer volume and stature of the moles Wright finds, some of whom are department directors, left me with the initial impression that the entire business of espionage, especially counterespionage, is futile and self defeating. Not only is it impossible to have a large number of people keep a secret, but the work itself damages the people who do it. Few can be in the business of deception and distrust without eventually becoming paranoid, deceitful, or misanthropic.
On the other hand, wiretaps and double agents were the weapons of the Cold War. Though it was, as Wright put it, just a great game, it's a far less destructive way to fight a war than with bombs and guns.
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LibraryThing member JimThomson
Imagine that both the FBI AND the CIA having Directors who are Soviet Moles planted decades earlier and now doing everything possible to not only ensure that U.S. espionage activities are unsuccessful, but passing all information to Moscow. This is what appears to have happened, in effect, to the
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British Intelligence services MI5 and MI6 from 1945 to 1965. And this was all because the Ox-bridge 'Old Bouy' network did not want anyone to even surmise that 'their kind' could even be suspected of disloyalty, much less treason. Through-out this period, even attempts to expose the traitors were suppressed for political reasons, to benefit the Party in Power. There were so many traitors that the effort to discover them was eventually abandoned on the premise other priorities demanded more attention of limited resources. All this while the spies were giving the Soviets all the information on U.S. advances in submarine warfare and missile technology, electronic warfare and much else; all so that the British 'Upper Claasses' could save face. This whole story is the Intelligence Fiasco of the Century. Now we know whom we cannot trust. Show Less
LibraryThing member sa54d
The concept of a "mole" popularized by John Le Carre comes from actual events. The plot for many spy movies, the upper-class British man who the KGB recruits before WWII and who escapes to the Soviet Union when the investigators close retells the true story of the "Burgess and MacLean affair." In
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reality, two British administrators of MI6 a branch of British Intelligence that handled running spies and acquiring intelligence. Peter Wright worked for MI5, the counter-intelligence part of the state apparatus which worked to prevent the Soviet Union and others from running spies in Britain and acquiring intelligence. After Burgess and MacLean defected to the Soviet Union Wright served as the lead investigator seeking out other spies within the British intelligence agencies. As told by a major participant in the events described, Spycatcher works as a primary source for the history of the cold war. Show Less
LibraryThing member theportal2002
The way Peter Wright takes you through all of his experiences is something special. A fantastic first hand account of the creation and workings of the intelligence services in Great Britain.
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Not a writer of genius, but the book is quite interesting. I wonder how much of the material covered is still state of the art, and I expect that very little of it is. There's quite a gap, one would hope, between escapist literature on this topic and the actual tradecraft of the current operations.
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But with Edward Snowdon throwing out great heaps of sensitive information, the future's probably full of changes for our invisible grey eminences. By writing this review, have I added to mt file? Does anyone care? I'd like to be fully informed, but I'm afraid of knowing too much. A normal human, I think. Show Less
LibraryThing member ElizabethCromb
A really interesting look at spy craft in the inter war and post WW2 years. Especially having seen the British TV series Spooks which deals with modern day handling that is based on what the early years has taught them.
LibraryThing member electrascaife
An account of Wright's time working for MI5.
Another one that sounds interesting but wasn't. This one could be on me, though, since I just couldn't keep my thoughts on what I was reading, and not necessarily because the writing was dry (I just have trouble following spy stuff). Anyway, YMMV.
Another one that sounds interesting but wasn't. This one could be on me, though, since I just couldn't keep my thoughts on what I was reading, and not necessarily because the writing was dry (I just have trouble following spy stuff). Anyway, YMMV.
LibraryThing member zot79
Inside view of the British Secret Service and the hunt for moles
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1987
Physical description
392 p.; 20 inches
ISBN
0670820555 / 9780670820559