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Rating: 
Summary: Letter to Comrade J.Edgar Guver, FBI
Review: Some time ago I paid 45.00 euros of my legitimate earnings for this book written by a retired Special Agent of the FBI. Mr Duff, I must admit, opted for a non-routine approach, and lacking any documentary sources, but most of all, any desire to research in archives, decided to use Oleg Tsarev, former KGB spy and present time SVR desinformation specialist, as a primary source of his inspiration. So the book is cooked chiefly from pieces, provided by Tsarev in his interviews with Dan Mulvenna and the author, spiced by quotations from Alexander Orlov and other former Soviet intelligence officers and agents.Starting to read as usual from the Index and Bibliography, I found William Duff's reference to eight "Archival and Official Records". This is one of the most extraordinary parts of the book, as in the Austrian State Archive, for example, the author found only one source on Maly, titled Austrian-Hungarian Last War 1914-1918, published in 1938, by which date the Great Soviet Illegal was shot in Moscow's prison by his NKVD colleagues. Duff's British Archival Sources include three references: PRO, Soviet Diplomatic Representation files 1937-38; City of London Map and Street Guide 1938; City of London Telephone Directories 1936-38. Similarly poor are his US sources. Instead of the Soviet archives, former FBI Special Agent decided to rely fully and completely on Tsarev's word and his two books, which since their appearance in the West had been considered among professionals as KGB-sponsored desinformation. Sir, could it be possible that recent literary exercises of your former agents Duff, Gazur & Co. are the results of your education imposed on them? We already know that this may be pretty dangerous both in the field of operations and on the literary front, as blind and duped own warriors bring more harm than enemies. Ten years ago Pete Bagley wrote an article titled "Bane of Counterintelligence: Our Penchant for Self-Deception" and this was a remarkable and timely warning, unfortunately, not heard. The most outrageous part of Duff's book is the so-called Serial 21 of Section 3 titled "Home to New Jerusalem", where the author phantasises about the last days of Theodor Maly. Whenever I read sentences like 'he looked straight ahead at a grey-white wall as an NKVD officer stood silently behind him. There appeared on the wall a vision of a mountain top shrouded in fog. Slowly the mist dissipated and the ramparts of New Jerusalem appeared... The first shot from the TT eight-shot automatic struck Maly in the back of the neck... A sudden realization to came him (sic): "Those who have known the decadence of Capitalism must be sacrificed for the good of the coming generation of Socialist man..." The second shot hit Maly just below the right ear and all went black...' (p.184), I think of Mikhail Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita", where Bezdomny asks Woland, 'Have you ever, by any chance, been in a hospital for the mentally ill?', for which he receives a reply: 'Name a place I have not been to! It is a pity, though, that I have never cared to inquire about schizophrenia. So you will have to ask professors yourself.'(Ch.I) It is a very good advice to follow. Tovarishch Guver, do not do favours to the enemies of your country, therefore, do not permit your staff to write books. They should better catch spies and terrorists. Yours sincerely.
Rating: 
Summary: Lessons of by-gone era for future illegals
Review: There's never too much of a good thing ...or ,is it? If we, proverbially, let by-gones be by-gones , we we will keep on repeating the mistakes of the past.Extremelly well -researched book,very stylish,thorough and readable.As long as we will need the Humint which is not online , which is not free and which is not in English , we will need them- " all time greats , illegals".P.S. Arnold Deutsch has recruited not seventeen , but thirty nine agents . And , yes, some of them have not to this day been identified.But that's another story.
Rating:
Summary: lessons of the by-gone era for the future illegals
Review: Will by-gones ever be by-gones ? I don't think so . Golden era of illegals has been thrown into a temporary disarray by all the recent global changes and developments . The structure of that type of intelligence service will have to be upgraded , but the concept itself will remain the same . There is never too much of a good thing . Or...is it ?
Rating:
Summary: lessons of the by-gone era for the future illegals
Review: Will by-gones ever be by-gones ? I don't think so . Golden era of illegals has been thrown into a temporary disarray by all the recent global changes and developments . The structure of that type of intelligence service will have to be upgraded , but the concept itself will remain the same . There is never too much of a good thing . Or...is it ?
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