Robert Baer

The explosive, never-before-told story of the thrilling hunt for a KGB spy in the top ranks of the CIA, revealing how spies blinded the US to the rise of Putin and Russia's dangerous future, from New York Times bestselling author and former CIA officer Robert Baer We think we know all the Cold War's greatest spy stories. The tales of America's greatest traitors have been told over and over. However, the biggest story of them all remains untold--until now. Rumors have long swirled of another mole in American intelligence, one perhaps more damaging than all the others combined. Perhaps the greatest traitor in American history, perhaps a Russian ruse to tear the CIA apart, or perhaps nothing more than a bogeyman, he is often referred to as the Fourth Man. Blowing the lid off the biggest spy story in decades, Robert Baer tells the full, gripping story for the first time. After arrest of KGB spy Aldrich Ames, the CIA launched another investigation to make sure there wasn't another double agent in its ranks. Led by three of the CIA's best spy hunters, women who devoted their lives to counterintelligence, its existence was known only to a few. They began methodically investigating their own bosses and colleagues, turning up loose threads, suspicious activity, and shocking intelligence from the CIA's best Russian asset. In the end, they came to a startling conclusion that, whether true or not, would shake American intelligence to its core, setting the stage for a cat-and-mouse game with enormous geopolitical stakes. Spies and moles may seem like bygone cold war history, but with Russia again a misunderstood belligerent power, the skeletons America would rather keep hidden are emerging, and as Robert Baer shows in this thrilling masterwork of investigative reporting, they matter as much now as ever.

Piinaavan jännittävä tositarina vakoilusta ja epäonnistumisista. Kylmän sodan jälkeen Yhdysvalloissa saatiin kiinni kolme venäläistä huippuvakoojaa. Pidätysten jälkeen huhuttiin, että maan turvallisuusvirastoissa toimi vielä yksi myyrä. Ryhmä tiedusteluveteraaneja sai tehtäväkseen löytää hänet. Tapahtumaketjun dramaattiset seuraukset ulottuvat edelleen Yhdysvaltain ja koko lännen turvallisuuteen. Tietokirjailija ja entinen CIA-virkailija Robert Baer kertoo ensimmäistä kertaa tarinan siitä, kuinka KGB soluttautui korkeisiin asemiin CIA:n sisälle. Mukaansatempaavan tositrillerin tapahtumilla on kiinteä yhteys tämän päivän Venäjälle ja kansainväliseen turvallisuuspolitiikkaan.

***'Reads like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' -James Risen, The Intercept'A compelling account of the ongoing search for the Fourth Man... a gripping and mind-bending read' - Dr. Mark Stout, The Daily Beast For the first time ever, bestselling author and former CIA operative Robert Baer tells the explosive story of how insiders believe a KGB mole rose to the highest ranks of the CIA. In the aftermath of the Cold War, US intelligence caught three high-profile Russian spies. However, these arrests left major questions unanswered, and rumours have long swirled of another mole, often referred to as the Fourth Man. Three pioneering female veterans of counterintelligence were tasked with unearthing him. With steadfast determination and expertise, they came to a shocking conclusion, one which had, and continues to harbour, dramatic consequences for American security. In this gripping insider account, Baer tells a thrilling story of Russian espionage and American intelligence. With profound implications for the rise of Vladimir Putin and international relations with Russia, The Fourth Man is a real-life spy thriller with echoes of John Le Carré.

An odyssey through the art, theory and brutality of modern political murder by Robert Baer, bestselling author, former CIA operative, and, yes, assassin.

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Robert Baer was known inside the CIA as perhaps the best operative working the Middle East. Over several decades he served everywhere from Iraq to New Delhi and racked up such an impressive list of accomplishments that he was eventually awarded the Career Intelligence Medal. But if his career was everything a spy might aspire to, his personal life was a brutal illustration of everything a spy is asked to sacrifice. Bob had few enduring non-work friendships, only contacts and acquaintances. His prolonged absences destroyed his marriage, and he felt intense guilt at spending so little time with his children. Sworn to secrecy and constantly driven by ulterior motives, he was a man apart wherever he went. Dayna Williamson thought of herself as just an ordinary California girl -- admittedly one born into a comfortable lifestyle. But she was always looking to get closer to the edge. When she joined the CIA, she was initially tasked with Agency background checks, but the attractive Berkeley graduate quickly distinguished herself as someone who could thrive in the field, and she was eventually assigned to "Protective Operations" training where she learned to handle weapons and explosives and conduct high-speed escape and evasion. Tapped to serve in some of the world's most dangerous places, she discovered an inner strength and resourcefulness she'd never known -- but she also came to see that the spy life exacts a heavy toll. Her marriage crumbled, her parents grew distant, and she lost touch with friends who'd once meant everything to her. When Bob and Dayna met on a mission in Sarajevo, it wasn't love at first sight. They were both too jaded for that. But there was something there, a spark. And as the danger escalated and their affection for each other grew, they realized it was time to leave "the Company," to somehow rediscover the people they'd once been. As worldly as both were, the couple didn't realize at first that turning in their Agency I. D. cards would "not" be enough to put their covert past behind. The fact was, their clandestine relationships remained. Living as "civilians" in conflict-ridden Beirut, they fielded assassination proposals, met with Arab sheiks, wily oil tycoons, terrorists, and assorted outlaws - and came perilously close to dying. But even then they couldn't know that their most formidable challenge lay ahead. Simultaneously a trip deep down the intelligence rabbit hole - one that shows how the "game" actually works, including the compromises it asks of those who play by its rules -- and a portrait of two people trying to regain a normal life, "The Company We Keep" is a masterly depiction of the "real "world of shadows. "From the Hardcover edition."

Over the past thirty years, while the United States has turned either a blind or dismissive eye, Iran has emerged as a nation every bit as capable of altering America's destiny as traditional superpowers Russia and China. Indeed, one of this book's central arguments is that, in some ways, Iran's grip on America's future is even tighter. As ex-CIA operative Robert Baer masterfully shows, Iran has maneuvered itself into the elite superpower ranks by exploiting Americans' false perceptions of what Iran is--by letting us believe it is a country run by scowling religious fanatics, too preoccupied with theocratic jostling and terrorist agendas to strengthen its political and economic foundations. The reality is much more frightening--and yet contained in the potential catastrophe is an implicit political response that, if we're bold enough to adopt it, could avert disaster. Baer's on-the-ground sleuthing and interviews with key Middle East players--everyone from an Iranian ayatollah to the king of Bahrain to the head of Israel's internal security--paint a picture of the centuries-old Shia nation that is starkly the opposite of the one normally drawn. For example, Iran's hate-spouting President Ahmadinejad is by no means the true spokesman for Iranian foreign policy, nor is Iran making it the highest priority to become a nuclear player. Even so, Baer has discovered that Iran is currently engaged in a soft takeover of the Middle East, that the proxy method of war-making and co-option it perfected with Hezbollah in Lebanon is being exported throughout the region, that Iran now controls a significant portion of Iraq, that it is extending its influence over Jordan and Egypt, that the Arab Emirates and other Gulf States are being pulled into its sphere, and that it will shortly have a firm hold on the world's oil spigot. By mixing anecdotes with information gleaned from clandestine sources, Baer superbly demonstrates that Iran, far from being a wild-eyed rogue state, is a rational actor--one skilled in the game of nations and so effective at thwarting perceived Western colonialism that even rival Sunnis relish fighting under its banner. For U. S. policy makers, the choices have narrowed: either cede the world's most important energy corridors to a nation that can match us militarily with its asymmetric capabilities (which include the use of suicide bombers)--or deal with the devil we know. We might just find that in allying with Iran, we'll have increased not just our own security but that of all Middle East nations. The alternative--to continue goading Iran into establishing hegemony over the Muslim world--is too chilling to contemplate.

A veteran of the CIA provides an insider's account of the love-hate relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, giving an up-close view of the corrupt Saudi empire and how the royal family's suppport of a radical religious group helps keep them in power while fostering hatred of the West throughout Saudi society, and explaining why turning a blind eye to Saudi turmoil has damaged America's homeland security. Reprint. 75,000 first printing.

In this text, one of the CIA's top field officers recounts his career running agents in the Middle East. In the process, Robert Baer paints a picture of how terrorism works on the inside and how Washington politics sabotaged the CIA's efforts to root out the world's deadliest terrorists.