Eric Haseltine

Really more of a technical thriller than a spy thriller, but no less interesting for it. In the 1970s through the 80s the KGB – who surprisingly had the run of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow – deployed an extremely sophisticated array of technical surveillance devices concealed in typewriters.

This book tells the story (or as much as it can) of the NSA technicians who discovered the deception and how it took years for the government to do anything about it because of infighting among the various agencies involved – including the Department of State and CIA. There are some highly technical passages but a fascinating true story.… (mais)

The basic story starts in the late 1970's at the US embassy in Moscow where State Department employees find a mysterious antenna inside a chimney that is not a real chimney. Due to interdepartmental infighting nothing is done about it, and in fact the whole problem is quashed due to interdepartmental infighting until the French find the same thing at their embassy 6 years later and get fired up about it. Then things begin to happen and the US finds out how the KGB has been listening and learning ALL of our top level secrets for years. The book reads like a spy thriller after it gets going and I could totally see this one made into a movie - it gets that exciting. There is lots of technical information up front in the book - stuff about microwaves and microbursts of megahertz and ohms, etc. etc. but that didn't bother me. I thought it helped me to understand why the techie geeks working on the problem had a hard time explaining to others what was going on. It was simply unbelievable because it was advanced applied physics. But finishing it - what a finish. The stuff of spy legends.… (mais)

The Spy in Moscow Station by Eric Haseltine was a slow, but interesting read. While this is a subject I’m fascinated by, I don’t know much about it, so when I started the book it took me a bit to remember who was who, which agency they were working for, and for the initials to flow where I wouldn’t have to stop to think about what they stood for. But this is just me and for those that have a lot of knowledge in the subject, I think you will really enjoy the book.

This was a very technical book, so if that is something you like, this will be perfect for you. I was hoping for a writing style a bit more like Erik Larson’s, where it feels more like you are reading straight up fiction. So if you are a reader of nonfiction who likes that style, just keep that in mind when you start The Spy in Moscow Station.

I could see this book being an excellent addition to college courses and even though this took place in the 70’s and 80’s, for the most part, if one pays any attention to the news then you know some of these practices are still happening, there is still a lot of mistrust between the various agencies, and we don’t give Russia as much credit as we should for being devious and ahead of us in some technological ways.… (mais)