Global Security and Intelligence Studies Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2016 | Page 117

Review of The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
1974, did as much damage as any Soviet agent. Angleton was obsessed with moles and
feared that EVERY Soviet “walk-ins” were provocateurs. Admiral Stansfield Turner
later ordered a freeze on any Moscow ops for fear of a penetration, turning away ALL
valuable sources. It is with good cause why the American people have right to question
the leadership of the Intelligence Community as they seem, time and time again, like
Sisyphus, doomed to roll the rock of wrong decisions up the hill.
Like Macintyre’s work on Kim Philby, the British intellectual who betrayed the
West, this book is a must read. It is interesting to note that what seemed dangerous to us
from that era seems now almost polite compared to ISIS beheadings and mass suicide
attacks in marketplaces. What the book drives home in an understated fashion is that
the American and Western Intelligence Community, despite 60 years of effort, never
really got a foothold in the Soviet system, despite the expenditure of billions of dollars.
The lesson for today is relevant for when we hear the Intelligence Community talking
about all the resources devoted to the fight against terrorism. Use this as a lesson—and
note we have had no real defections from inside the Islamo-fascist movements. The
lesson here is simply that individual heroism will sometimes win out over bureaucratic
ineptness. Thankfully, the Soviets were as hidebound in some of their methods as the
West; else, the bravery of individuals like Tolkachev would have been for naught,
whose documents one must consider led to the final victory of both sides who did not
find cause to unleash a nuclear Armageddon.
Robert Smith
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