Dallin, David J. Soviet Espionage. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1955. London: Oxford University Press, 1956.
Pforzheimer calls Dallin an "authoritative source" who presents "one of the most comprehensive treatments of the subject"; the book is "limited to [the] period prior to the mid-fifties."
To Chambers, the book is the "first rigorous Western look at the Soviet intelligence services -- the ultimate reference on the period before the use of the term KGB."
Constantinides notes that the perspective of time has diminished the importance of this early effort on this subject.
Deacon, Richard [Donald McCormick]. A History of the Russian Secret Service. New York: Taplinger, 1972. London: Muller, 1972.
Rocca and Dziak call this a "highly selective, anecdotal survey ... from the Oprichnina ... to the KGB. Actually not a 'history,' this ... book ... relies largely on secondary materials, on unaccredited 'insider' information, and on the Soviet and Western press." The GRU receives no attention.
De Poncins, Léon. Espions Soviétiques dans le Monde. Paris: Nouvelles Editions Latines, 1961.
According to Pforzheimer, Studies 6.2 (Spring 1962), this work provides "[a]n account of several important Soviet espionage cases" in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, "and of Communist espionage in France."
Deriabin, Peter. Watchdogs of Terror: Russian Bodyguards from the Tsars to the Commissars. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1972. 2d ed. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1984.
Pforzheimer notes that Deriabin was a "Soviet counterintelligence officer and bodyguard until his defection in 1954.... [He] traces the history of ... internal security from Kievan Rus to ... the 1970's ... [and] shows how the bodyguard system ... has been used as an instrument of terror." This work provides "unusual insights."
According to Rocca and Dziak, the 1984 edition "continues the narrative through the post-Brezhnev succession."
Deriabin, Peter, and Frank Gibney. The Secret World. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1959. London: Barker, 1960. New York: Ballantine Espionage/Intelligence Library, 1982. [pb]
Clark comment: Deriabin was a KGB officer when he defected in Vienna in 1954.
Pforzheimer sees this "important work" as "the definitive account of the KGB ... as known by the author during his years of service." It is "highly recommended ... for the period of the 1940's through the mid-1950's." Chambers finds in it some "useful insights into Soviet internal security practices."
Constantinides notes that Deriabin's information on "KGB training, tradition, methods of operation, and attitudes add considerably to the West's understanding of the Soviet intelligence and security system."
Dziak, John J.
1. Chekisty: A History of the KGB. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1988.
Cimbala, IJI&C 2.2 says this is "going to be the definitive study of the history of Soviet security services for some time. This book has many virtues." It is filled with "hard information" and historical "documentation is abundant." For Dziak, "the USSR is a 'counterintelligence state.'"
2. "The Study of the Soviet Intelligence and Security System." In Comparing Foreign Intelligence: The U.S., the USSR, the U.K. & the Third World, ed. Roy Godson, 65-88. Washington, DC: Pergamon-Brassey's, 1988.
Wark, I&NS 4.1, finds that the usefulness of Dziak's focus on the Soviet Union as the "counterintelligence state" -- that is, on Soviet intelligence as "an instrument and shaper of the totalitarian state" -- "is undermined ... by [his] unwillingness to admit the validity of any other" approach.
Freemantle, Brian.
KGB: Inside the World's Largest Intelligence Network. New York: Holt,
Rinehart & Winston, 1982.
Rocca and Dziak: "Marred by serious factual errors."
Hutton, J. Bernard
[Pseud.]. School for Spies: The ABC of How Russia's Secret Service Operates.
London: Spearman, 1961.
Chambers: Czech defector.
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."
Levytsky, Boris.
Uses of Terror: The Soviet Secret Police, 1917-1970. London: Sidgwick
& Jackson, 1971. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegen, 1972.
Rocca and Dziak: "Should be used with caution."
Lewis,
Donald. Sexpionage: The Exploitation of Sex by Soviet Intelligence. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1976.
Constantinides: Although the operational use of sex is a legitimate topic for research, this book "can only be described as a potpourri of fact, rumor, and speculation."
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