So diabolical, but in the end mostly laughable. If the Russians focused as much on the advancement of their society as they do trying to cheat things from the west, they’d be miles ahead. So sad.

Well presented material on a subject most probably only know in fiction (i.e. the Americans on FX). This was a great audiobook to have for long drives and pockets of time when TV just didn't scratch the itch. ( )

If you were a fan of the TV show “The Americans” and were fascinated by stories of Russian sleeper cells living in the US and other countries for decades in order to spy, this book was a really cool look into all the details of the real life cases that inspired the show. I was impressed with the level of detail.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
( )

Six-word review: Spy vs. spy: we're not winning.

Russian "illegal" Andrey Bezrukov lived for twelve years as a Canadian citizen named Donald Heathfield and then eleven as an American while spying for Russia. His career was the model for the deep-cover Russian agents in the TV series The Americans. Asked by a class of Russian students in 2018 what it was like to be a spy, he said, "Just watch the series," adding that it was "quite close to reality, though without the killings and the wigs" (page 310). (If he also said "without the sex," it wasn't quoted.) His career in espionage ended in June of 2010 along with those of several others in an FBI roundup that was grossly humiliating to Putin's Russia, where the sleeper agents were considered heroes, the jewels of Russian spycraft. Capping the unbearable humiliation of the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the incident left Putin with an insatiable thirst for revenge.

And so we come to the election of 2016.

Today, three days before the U.S. election of 2020, I have just finished reading the book and am pondering the things that have clicked into place. Not least among them is that it affords a particular view of Russia's interest in American elections that I have not seen discussed in countless written articles by columnists and commentators in dominant U.S. media.

I have read four or five books on Russia and Putin in the past few years, but this one delved into territory I had not explored before.

Among the main ideas that I took away are
•  that even though the Cold War was considered "over" by the CIA and the UK's counterpart, MI6, which moved on to terrorism as their primary concern in international conflict, Russian spying never abated but just changed as technology changed;
•  that most American authorities stopped taking it seriously after the Cold War ended, but Russia remained "patient and persistent" (page 396);
•  that influence--among power wielders and ordinary citizens alike--became a major aim of the Russian agencies, rather than espionage per se, meaning stealing secrets; and
•  that while we in the West were still thinking about war and peace in conventional terms, the Russians were thinking about bringing chaos and destabilization to the West, unbalancing and dividing allies and populations, along with destruction of faith in their institutions and systems--a different sort of victory altogether, and one that we have sorely underestimated.

One of many points that surprised me was that fictional drama and especially spy stories actually shape how both Russia and the West think about "how the world really works and what their adversaries are up to" (page 341).

Author Gordon Corera, security correspondent for the BBC since 2004, has high credibility as a journalist with a long track record covering spy cases and investigators with the CIA, MI6, and Russia. His capably crafted and very readable narrative of the personal histories and missions of Russian spies from the Cold War to the present is backed by interviews and documented reports from numerous informed sources, some openly identified and some in sensitive positions protected.

Many names we know from news stories over the past decades appear, including FBI and CIA directors Mueller and Panetta, respectively, and those of Russian poisoning victims Litvinenko, Skripal, and Navalny. This book was published before Navalny in September 2020 became the latest high-profile victim of the Russian-made nerve agent Novichok.

Right now, in the breathless suspense of the countdown to victory and defeat in the 2020 presidential election, wild theories abound on all sides. I don't think this account is a wild theory. Skeptic though I am, I found it credible and compelling.

The book has 28 pages of notes and an adequate index. The editing seems a little lax in places, as if performed in haste. ( )