Venona: The Greatest Secret of the Cold War - Softcover

West, Nigel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006530710 ISBN 13: 9780006530718

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2000

Synopsis

The hitherto untold story of the peacetime equivalent of ULTRA, an extraordinary cryptographic effort conducted in conditions of unprecedented secrecy over three decades which gave Western counter-intelligence experts a fascinating glimpse into how Soviet Russia recruited and ran hundreds of moles across the globe.

Based on the only set of decrypts held in Britain outside Whitehall, supplemented by interviews with most of the principal players in the venona drama. The US National Security Agency and its British counterpart in Cheltenham, GCHQ, spent 37 years analysing cipher traffic to and from Moscow.

venona provided the FBI and CIA with compelling evidence against the Rosenbergs, Hiss, Fuchs, Donald Maclean and many others, but (to protect the source) venona could not be mentioned in any trial.

Nigel West identifies for the first time the real names of several important Soviet British spies (including the famous scientist J.B.S. Haldane and the Hon. Ivor Montagu).

About this title

From the Back Cover:

The astonishing story of VENONA remains one of the last untold chapters in the history of the Cold War. Based on the only complete set of decrypts held in Britain outside Whitehall and supplemented by interviews with most of the key players in the drama, VENONA reveals the extraordinary cryptographic effort conducted in conditions of unprecedented secrecy over three decades which gave Western counter-intelligence experts a fascinating glimpse into how Soviet Russia recruited and ran hundreds of moles across the globe. VENONA provided the FBI and CIA with compelling evidence against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Alger Hiss, Klaus Fuchs, Donald Maclean and many others, but- to protect the source – VENONA could never be mentioned in any trial. Nigel West here identifies for the first time the real names of several important Soviet British spies – including the famous scientist J.B.S. Haldane and the Hon. Ivor Montagu, and discloses that there are nearly 300 as yet unidentified former Soviet agents in America and Britain. Once again Nigel West proves himself a masterly guide to the intricate world of espionage and a supremely well-informed authority on the spies themselves.

'Nigel West gives the operation the detective-story treatment it deserves...(he) has carried out his own investigation to uncover the story of the Britons identified by VENONA as Soviet agents, a valuable contribution in a field dominated by books aimed largely at an American audience... and excellent book.'
MICHAEL SMITH, 'Daily Telegraph'

'By naming names in the fellow-travelling British Establishment, Nigel West will have won himself fresh kudos as a first-rate espionage sleuth.'
JOHN CROSSLAND, 'Independent on Sunday'

'(A) vast, investigative peek through the secret barriers of British intelligence...bewitching magic.'
MICK MIDDLES, 'Manchester Evening News'

Synopsis:

This book is based on the only complete set of decrypts held in Britain outside Whitehall and is supplemented by interviews with most of the principal players in the VENONA drama (NSA, GCHQ, FBI and MI5 officers). In 1996 the White House authorised the release of the complete VENONA collection, which proves that the FBI and CIA had accumulated compelling evidence against the Rosenbergs, Alger Hiss, Klaus Fuchs, Donald Maclean and other Soviet spies. To protect the source, VENONA was never mentioned in any trial. Study of the VENONA material reveals that there are nearly 300 unidentified Soviet agents in Britain and America, plus a smaller number of people (like the nuclear physicist Dr Theodore Hall) whose activities are described in compromising detail.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0006530710
• ISBN 13: 9780006530718
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400