Treachery: Betrayals, Blunders, and Cover-Ups: Six Decades of Espionage Against America and Great Britain

by Chapman Pincher

Book Overview

For readers ofLegacy of Ashescomes an extraordinary and immensely readable account of six disastrous decades of Soviet espionage-from noted intelligence authority Chapman Pincher This landmark book is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 140006807X
• ISBN13: 9781400068074
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 679 Pages
• Weight: 2.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Those clever Ruskis, those English galoots

Although long, highly detailed and drawn-out, Pincher develops, through necessity for the sureness of his argument, a compelling case against the traitor Roger Hollis. Over a far-too lengthy time, Hollis systematically betrayed a complacent and careless MI5 (as did his co-accomplice Philby in MI6)and severely compromised his country in a treacherous manner. The consequences on the American alliance were savage and the impact on the Cold War were such that Russia, who demonstrated a cunning and deceit of the most sophisticated levels during this espionage period, was able to achieve a parity in nuclear weaponry far in excess of its then capacity. Pincher's arguments and steps in both logic and surmise are convincing and disturbing. A deep-placed mole in the intelligence service was previously seen as imaginative speculation, best expressed in John LeCarre's 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'. Now it can be seen as a disturbing fact. Pincher tells us some of the betrayals - no doubt over the coming years, more will be revealed and the true depth of Hollis' (and others) perfidy will be revealed.

Roger Hollis -- Head of MI5 & a Soviet Agent

This is the third book by Chapman Pincher I have read, all of which have been devoted to building the case against Roger Hollis K.B.E., the former Head of the British Security Service MI5 (earlier works included "Their Trade is Treachery" in 1981 and "Too Secret Too Long" in 1984.) The title is somewhat misleading as it does not really cover espionage against the U.S. except as what Hollis caused to be exposed when the U.S. shared secrets with Great Britain. This is the latest, probably the last, and certainly the most definitive book on Hollis to date. It only remains for the Russians to confirm Hollis'a treachery which may or may not happen since Russian espionage against the U.S. and Britain is still alive and well. But the case put forth by the author leaves no doubt as to Hollis' guilt, as well as those involved in covering up Britain's intelligence failures since 1945. The American reader unfamiliar with British intelligence needs to understand that MI5 was responsible for all British counter-intelligence, so that Hollis's role as a Soviet agent can be likened to the situation if J. Edgar Hoover had been a Soviet agent. During the years of the New Deal, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Soviet agents literally ran amuck in London and Washington, and even those agents eventually unmasked generally avoided retribution or prosecution and lived out their lives in comfort. Both the US and Great Britain have refused to recognize this period for what it was, and liberals in both countries have, and in some cases still are, defending proven Soviet agents in the face of indisputable evidence. On the American side there are Alger Hiss, Harry Hopkins, Ted Hall, Laughlin Currie and the hundreds of agents in the State Department and other Federal organizations identified through the Venona Project (see John Haynes & Harvey Klehr, "Venona Decoding Soviet Espionage in America" and "The Venona Secrets Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors" by Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel.) Those on the British side include Kim Philby, George Blake, Klaus Fuchs, Alan May, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Sir Anthony Blunt, Leo Long, John King, John Vassall, John Cairncross, Douglas Britten, Nicholas Prager, Geoffrey Prime, Michael Bettaney and of course, Roger Hollis. It would not be inaccurate to characterize Soviet Intelligence, both GRU (Army) and KGB (State) as producing the finest and most devastating intelligence networks ever known in their campaigns against the U.S. and Great Britain. At no other time or place in history has an intelligence effort so completely penetrated its targets' institutions, including their intelligence services, MI5, MI6, the FBI and CIA, their State Department and Foreign Ministry, scientific communities, political leadership including a Vice President and White House advisors, and literally all government agencies. The Soviet intelligence services did not fail the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union Union faile

Essential Reading for Anyone Wanting to Understand Russia Today!

TREACHERY would be essential reading for anyone wanting to understand today's Russia as it "flexes its military and espionage muscles once again," even if it were extremely dry prose, but Chapman Pincher's inimitable style makes the 679 pages go incredibly fast. It is an absolutely riveting read. I thought I already knew most of this, but I have been stunned by some of the revelations. You will not be disappointed.

A VERY GOOD SURVEY OF WESTERN INTELLIGENCE FAILURES

Chapman Pincher has written a very detailed and long book on how the Western intelligence services were led astray and were deeply penetrated by Soviet moles during the Cold War. It is a well-known fact that the Cold War was mainly a war of shadows, where the intelligence services from both sides played an important role in preventing another World War.After the fall of the Communist bloc, hundreds of thousands of documents were declassified(and still are) by both sides of the conflict showing to what extent the intelliegence services were the key factors influencing political and other decisions taken during the Cold War. In his new book, Mr. Pincher has made use of the many new documents to augment his theory showing that Roger Hollis, head of MI5,was a Soviet spy, or in other words:he was a double agentHis code name was ELLI.True, this is not new as the author has already published this view in the past.Now he is offering the reader fascinating new material by elaborating on this issue. The KGB and the GRU were devastated when,in September 1945,a code clerk by the name of Igor Gouzenko defected in Canada and caused a Pandora box to be opened-all this by revealing that the Soviets had spies and moles everywhere and in every significant secret project.This was especially true regarding the Manhattan Project which was riddled with Soviet spies.Gouzanko was not taken seriously at the beginning, but later this attitude towards him and his allegations have changed. Stalin knew about the Manhattan Project already as early as in the middle of 1941, thus, he did not show any surprise when he was officially informed about it by President Truman in the summer of 1945. Pinchman raises the possibility that it no other than Hollis himself who was controlling Klaus Fuchs, the latter being responsible for delivering the Soviets with thousands(!) of pages of detailed documentation about the atomic project.In this he was assisted by a myriad of other traitors, among them the notorious Melita Norwood,who was working as a secretary at the British Non- Ferrous Metals Research office.From there, she had all the information about the Brtish Tube Alloy projects which she passed over to Fuchs and others. In fact, as stated in chapter 13,the KGB center was sent so much materials by the Cambridge spies that a group of officers there suspected that they were too good to be true.17526 classified documents were given to the Soviets,showing the enormousness of their treachery. Other chapters deal with the way the foxes were guarding the henhouses, such as in the cases of Philby, George Blake and his accomplices;chapters on Blunt and the other Cambridge spy ring members;and additional information about the Profumo affair and his meetings with the renegade officer Peter Wright. Mr. Pincher had such good sources that- we are informed-Harold Macmillan has even threatened to get rid of Mr. Pincher.This is shown on the back cover of this intriguing and riveting book. The author