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Christopher Andrew
Basic Books

The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB

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AuthorChristopher Andrew
PublisherBasic Books
PublishedJan 10 2011
Book FormatPaperback
ISBN-139780465003129
Dimensions9.24 X 6.19 X 1.95 inches
Weight 2.04 pounds
BISAC
CategoriesHistory > Russia & the Former Soviet Union
LanguageEnglish

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Book Description

The Sword and the Shield is based on one of the most extraordinary intelligence coups of recent times: a secret archive of top-level KGB documents smuggled out of the Soviet Union which the FBI has described, after close examination, as the most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source. Its presence in the West represents a catastrophic hemorrhage of the KGB's secrets and reveals for the first time the full extent of its worldwide network. Vasili Mitrokhin, a secret dissident who worked in the KGB archive, smuggled out copies of its most highly classified files every day for twelve years. In 1992, a U.S. ally succeeded in exfiltrating the KGB officer and his entire archive out of Moscow. The archive covers the entire period from the Bolshevik Revolution to the 1980s and includes revelations concerning almost every country in the world. But the KGB's main target, of course, was the United States. Though there is top-secret material on almost every country in the world, the United States is at the top of the list. As well as containing many fascinating revelations, this is a major contribution to the secret history of the twentieth century. Among the topics and revelations explored are: The KGB's covert operations in the United States and throughout the West, some of which remain dangerous today. KGB files on Oswald and the JFK assassination that Boris Yeltsin almost certainly has no intention of showing President Clinton. The KGB's attempts to discredit civil rights leader in the 1960s, including its infiltration of the inner circle of a key leader. The KGB's use of radio intercept posts in New York and Washington, D.C., in the 1970s to intercept high-level U.S. government communications. The KGB's attempts to steal technological secrets from major U.S. aerospace and technology corporations. KGB covert operations against former President Ronald Reagan, which began five years before he became president. KGB spies who successfully posed as U.S. citizens under a series of ingenious disguises, including several who attained access to the upper echelons of New York society.

Author Bio

Professor Christopher Andrew is a Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University, teaching European history and international relations since the French Revolution. His research interests are Twentieth-century political history and international relations with particular reference to the role and influence of intelligence agencies.

Professor Andrew rose to prominence with his books on the KGB, most notably KGB: The Inside Story of its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev (1990) and The Mitrokhin Archive. Vol.1: The KGB in Europe and the West (1999), written in collaboration with former KGB officers Oleg Gordievsky and Vasili Mitrokhin respectively.

Owning to his expertise in the history of security and intelligence agencies, Professor Andrew was commissioned by the Security Service (MI5) to write the first authorized history of the Service, to mark its centenary in 2009.

To conduct his research for the book, Professor Andrew was given exclusive access to the Service's records and files. Defense of the Realm (2009) was very well received.

Professor Andrew is the Former Chairman of the Faculty of History, and in December 2010 he stepped down as President of Corpus Christi College.

Source: University of Cambridge

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