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The Spy in Moscow Station- Book Review

 

A Spy in Moscow 2024 by
Geoffrey W. Sutton & Designer

The Spy in Moscow Station:

A Counterspy's Hunt for a Deadly Cold War Threat

by

  Eric Haseltine

2019

The Spy in Moscow Station: A Counterspy's Hunt for a Deadly Cold War Threat by Eric Haseltine recounts the true story of the incredible challenge to discover the deadly intelligence leak in the United States Embassy in Moscow. The book is an electrifying account of espionage, American spy agency bureaucratic infighting, technical surveillance, and spycraft that reveals the barriers to counter-intelligence caused by the limitations of the intersection of human intelligence and personality.

 

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Haseltine's book is a technical account of the lengths that governments will go to gain intelligence advantages as we head into the 2020s. The Spy in Moscow Station describes what really happened behind the scenes in the 1970s and 1980s at NSA, CIA, and in the U.S. embassy in Moscow. The book is a real-life, high-stakes spy story that offers a glimpse into the world of international spy agencies.

 The main characters in the book are as follows:

Charles Gandy was a long-term NSA engineer who was sent to Moscow to investigate the leaks from the US embassy.

Gardener “Gus” Hathaway was the CIA’s Moscow Chief of Station who asked the NSA to send Gandy to Moscow in 1978 to find out why the KGB was bombarding the embassy with radio waves.

Walt Deeley served in the Korean War. He joined NSA in 1952 and rose to several leadership positions. In the book, he managed the search for the leak. The project was called GUNMAN.

Jon LeChevet earned a PhD in physics and held leadership positions within the Diplomatic Security Service. He retired in 2005.

Mike Arneson, a low-level technician at the time of the story, discovered the smoking gun in an IBM Selectric typewriter.


The author, Eric Haseltine, is a neuroscientist, futurist, and author who has held several senior executive positions in private industry and the public sector. He was the associate director and CTO for national intelligence at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the director of research at the National Security Agency, an executive vice president at Walt Disney Imagineering, and a director of engineering at Hughes Aircraft Company.

 The book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of espionage and the lengths that governments will go to gain intelligence advantages.

As a psychologist, I was particularly interested in the variations in human intelligence, motivations that could interfere with security, and the power of arrogance to interfere with our nation's safety and security. I value the checks we have in the US when it comes to the distribution of power amongst government leaders. I agree with Haseltine, that there are times when strong leadership is vital to national security. A president must know when to harness the generals to fight a common enemy.

 References

Haseltine, E. (2019). The Spy in Moscow Station: A Counterspy's Hunt for a Deadly Cold War Threat. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Sutton, G. W. (2024, January 19). The spy in Moscow station: Book review. Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews. Retrieved from https://suttonreviews.suttong.com/2024/01/the-spy-in-moscow-station-book-review.html

I read the hardcover edition.

Note: The image is for illustration only and not related to the book where the main characters are men.


Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

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