Deriabin, Peter, and Tennent H. Bagley. The KGB: Masters of the Soviet Union. New York: Hippocrene, 1990. Deriabin, Peter, and Tennent H. Bagley. The KGB: Masters of the Soviet Union. New York: Hippocrene, 1990.
Surveillant 1.1 calls this book a "careful examination of the new Soviet Union in terms of its oldest source of political power.... This is a hard -- some might say gloomy -- look at the reality of the KGB."
According to Horton, IJI&C 4.3, Deriabin discusses "the KGB's relationship with the Communist Party, the government, and the Soviet people." The intelligence "role abroad ... is a minor part of the main discussion." This is an "intriguing account of the KGB as a primary political body in the Soviet Union."
Knight, Russian Review 50.2, finds that these "die-hard veterans of the cold war ... have not come to terms with the momentous changes that are taking place." Although the book "contains a great deal of information,... it lacks organization and structure." Despite some "inaccuracies and inconsistencies." the biggest problem is one of seeming "out of touch" with current issues.
Deriabin, Peter S., and Joseph C. Evans. Inside Stalin's Kremlin: An Eyewitness Account of Brutality, Duplicity, and Intrigue. Washington, DC: Brassey's, 1998.
Dziak, John J. "Reflections on the Counterintelligence State." In 2In the Name of Intelligence: Essays in Honor of Walter Pforzheimer, eds. Hayden B. Peake and Samuel Halpern, 261-276. Washington, DC: NIBC Press, 1994.
Foreign
Intelligence Literary Scene. Editors. "The
Russian Security Services: Present Configuration." 11, no. 4 (1992):
1-3.
Knight, Amy.
1. The KGB: Police and Politics in the Soviet Union. London: Unwin Hyman, 1988. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1990. Revised ed. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1990.
Mapother, IJI&C 3.1, says this book is a "scholarly enquiry" that "provides illuminating insights into the organization and development of the KGB."
Commenting on the revised edition, Surveillant 1.1 notes the addition of a "new epilogue covering 1987-1989."
2. Spies Without Cloaks: The KGB's Successors. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996. HV82272A3K59
According to Legvold, FA 75.5, this book provides "a detailed account of the former KGB's evolving role in the new Russia." Doing this is "a formidable task," but the author "meets it ably." The Federal Counterintelligence Service "gets most of Knight's attention." In her opinion, this service remains too large, unreconstructed, and "too tempting a tool of power for politicians."
Mapother, History 26.4, calls Spies Without Cloaks "interesting and informative," and notes that the author provides "a good biographical sketch" of Yevgeniy Primakov. Knight also makes clear that "[i]n the world of CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] security services, Moscow remains the center."
For Kelley, Parameters, Autumn 1998, this "powerful, multifaceted, well-documented book" documents "the continuity of the Russian power ministries with their Soviet roots." The author "investigates the multiplicity of renamed, reorganized, and resubordinated KGB successor organizations; demonstrates how they have successfully resisted democratic control by virtue of their indispensability; and shows how Boris Yeltsin has used them to fortify his hold on power."
Nation, R. Craig. Black Earth, Red Star: A History of Soviet Security Policy, 1917-1991. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992.
Pierre, FA 71.5, says this book synthesizes "in a remarkably comprehensive manner the foreign and defense policy of the Soviet Union" from the Revolution to the demise of communism.
Parrish, Michael. The Lesser Terror: Soviet State Security, 1939-1953. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996.
According to Kelley, Parameters, Winter 1997-98, the author "demonstrates that terror ... did not cease with Ezhov's removal in late 1938 but continued unabated, in phases and under various directors, until Stalin's death in 1953.... The hard-hitting detail which Parrish marshals is most impressive, if at times tedious."
Primakov, Evgenii M., ed. Ocherki istorii rossiiskoi vneshnei razvedki: V shesti tomakh. [Studies in the History of Russian Foreign Intelligence: in 6 volumes.] Vol. 1. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia, 1996.
Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, I&NS 14.1, notes that Volume 1 of this popular "repackaging" of the past of Russian intelligence covers "From Ancient Times to 1917." The book brings together the work of six authors under the editorship of the then-head of the SVR and now former prime minister. While it may make for "diverting bed-time reading," Ocherki "is not necessarily good history, and scholars should approach it with caution.... [O]n the whole, the book is marred by an overly tendentious approach and sloppy scholarship" at a time when "[n]early all the sources necessary ... are now freely accessible."
Sobolyeva, Tatyana A. Tainopis v Vistorii Rossii [Cryptology in Russia's History]. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia, 1994.
Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, Cryptologia 21.1, finds this "a creditable attempt at chronicling Russian code-making and -breaking from the Middle Ages until the start of the Second World War." Nonetheless, the author's "treatment of the 1920s and 1930s is weaker tham the earlier sections of the book.... The main irritant ... is her repeated ... tak[ing] issue with every criticism [David Kahn] makes of the Russians.... [Yet,] she ultimately agrees with most of his points."
West, Nigel. [Rupert Allason, former M.P.] Games of Intelligence: The Classified Conflict of International Espionage Revealed. London: Crown, 1989. New York: Crown, 1990.
Clark comment: In this book, West compares U.S., UK, Soviet, French, and Israeli intelligence.
Surveillant 1.1 notes that the American edition has been updated. "West, as provocative as he is prolific, asks and answers ... questions about the workings of intelligence organizations in both East and West."
A NameBase review calls the book "a broad, name-intensive survey of British, French, U.S., and Soviet intelligence." The author "prefers attention to detail and the occasional anecdote to make his points, rather than the scholarly approach that would have to be used by those without [his] impressive access to classified sources. This makes the book a good read as well as a good reference to some of the available literature."
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