Books like Circle of Treason

David Wise was the dean of American espionage writers, the author of more than a dozen well-regarded books about spies before his death in 2018, and Molehunt is my favorite. It tells the story of the James Angleton-inspired to hunt for a supposed mole within the CIA, an enormously damaging affair that paralyzed the agency for years. Wise’s books are so authoritative because of the unmatched sources he had in the intelligence community.

Wilderness of Mirrors, written more than 40 years ago by Martin, the still-distinguished CBS News correspondent, remains a classic of espionage nonfiction. As the title suggests, the book captures the Byzantine world of counterintelligence during the Angleton era. Martin was the first to write knowledgeably about the Berlin Tunnel, and this book is also the first in-depth look at one of the most fascinating, important, and ultimately self-destructive officers of the first decades of the CIA, William King Harvey.

Hoffman tells the previously little-known story of Soviet military engineer Adolf Tolkachev, whose disgust with the communist regime inspired him to turn over enormously valuable secrets to the CIA station in Moscow beginning in the late 1970s. Hoffman’s careful reporting allows him to describe in meticulous and fascinating detail the remarkable techniques and great risks involved in running an agent in Moscow late in the Cold War.

Schecter, a journalist, and Deriabin, a KGB officer who defected to the U.S., tell the inside story of Oleg Penkovsky, the history-changing Soviet GRU colonel who delivered critical information that helped the CIA and President John F. Kennedy avoid nuclear disaster during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The inside account delivers fascinating details about Penkovsky’s motivations, actions, and tragic demise, as well as a gripping narration of how the CIA handled one of the Cold War’s most important intelligence operations.

As I researched the 1990s hunt for Osama Bin Laden for my book, I became aware that most of the team in the CIA virtual station tasked with tracking down the terrorist leader was composed of women. And yet, most histories of the CIA are histories of (white) men.

In this book, I could find a lot more detail on the women hunting Bin Laden, as well as on many others. Mundy provides a potted history of women in the CIA, from its origins to the present day. In the book, I admired Mundy’s ability to contact and fully connect with current and former CIA operatives. The stories are told in an almost unfiltered manner from the perspectives of those who lived through them.

In this manner, each aspect is made somewhat more real, from the fight for better roles, pay, and recognition to the central role in intelligence collection,… show more.

Biography, especially this riveting biography, is a great way to learn about intelligence in World War II. Bradley looks into dark corners to uncover the almost unbelievable truth about a Soviet spy in the front office of American spy chief William J. Donovan. Like James Grafton Rogers, Bradley tells us what it was like to live and work in Washington during World War II—but with another layer of intrigue and, yes, treachery. 75 years after the fact we tend to forget that a group of privileged Americans like Lee—a Rhodes Scholar and Wall Street lawyer distantly related to Robert E. Leen—once thought that communism might be a viable alternative to capitalism and the economic misery of the depression.

With so many truly excellent novels to choose from Harris’ An Officer and A Spy makes my list largely because Harris skillfully recreates an historical period and weaves a captivating story by mixing historical fact with a compelling set of interpreted characters. In doing so, using the Dreyfus Affair, he provides us with a disturbing view of a notorious lapse in democratic justice and the moral perils of rushing to judgment.

Harris’ protagonist is Georges Picquart, head of the "Statistical Section" in French military intelligence. For me, Picquart is one of those rare, complex individuals. He is a little stodgy but principled and willing to risk his career and reputation in pursuit of justice.

Taking a leaf from Forsyth, the outcome of An Officer and A Spy is well known, but it’s one of the novel’s numerous strengths as it provides a brilliant depiction of the seamier side of France’s… show more.

This is an interesting collection of essays on the history of the CIA.

A spy agency thrives on deceit and uncertainty, making plans and taking actions when the adversary also thrives on those same elements.

Arranged in chronological order, the essays cover nearly 20 different incidents, describing the challenges, uncertainties, goals, and decisions made by both high-level political decision-makers and practitioners in the field.

Topics covered include early stages in the development of the CIA (founded in 1947), including covert action against the Soviet Union in the 1950s, the Bay of Pigs (1961), the Iran-Contra affair (mid-1980s), up to more recent events with bin Laden, fake news, and more.

Dan Golden is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who exposes how enemies of the United States are using our universities and graduate schools as recruitment centers for a new generation of spies.

Russian, Chinese, and of course, Cuban intelligence services are having a field day exploiting our open system to identify and turn their newest recruits (yes, our government returns the favor abroad.)

Spy Schools has an excellent chapter on Ana Montes, the Cuban agent who is the subject of my book. There’s also juicy information on the American woman who recruited Ana as a spy when they both were attending SAIS, the Johns Hopkins graduate school in Washington. 

This book is set in Lebanon during the 1970s when tradition, an etiquette of secrets, and shifting alliances were the norm.

The story is compelling because it captures the Middle East before it was transformed by decades of conflict and political turmoil. CIA officer Tom Rodgers is a better Bond, relying on wit and intelligence instead of gadgetry. He’s a spy’s spy in a novel rich with intrigue, tradecraft, and human insight.

I hope you love it as much as I do.