Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda
    Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda
    Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda
    Audiobook19 hours

    Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda

    Written by H. Keith Melton, Henry Robert Schlesinger and Robert Wallace

    Narrated by David Drummond

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    -Secret instructions written in invisible ink

    -Covert communications slipped inside dead rats

    -Subminiature cameras hidden in ballpoint pens

    If these sound like the stuff of science fiction or imaginary tools of James Bond's gadget-master Q's trade, think again. They are real-life devices created by the CIA's Office of Technical Service. Now, in the first book ever written about this ultrasecretive department, the former director of OTS teams up with an internationally renowned intelligence historian to give listeners an unprecedented look at the devices and operations deemed "inappropriate for public disclosure" by the CIA just two years ago.

    Spycraft tells amazing life-and-death stories about this little-known group, much of it never before revealed. Against the backdrop of some of America's most critical periods in recent history-including the cold war, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the war on terror-the authors show the real technical and human story of how the CIA carries out its missions.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 26, 2008
    ISBN9781400177141
    Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda
    Author

    H. Keith Melton

    H. Keith Melton, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, is an intelligence historian and a specialist in clandestine technology and espionage "tradecraft." He is the author of several books, including CIA Special Weapons and Equipment, Clandestine Warfare, and The Ultimate Spy Book.

    Related to Spycraft

    Related audiobooks

    Politics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for Spycraft

    4/5

    9 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      There was definitely a lot of interesting information in this book, but it suffers from strange organization, and from incomplete information.The technological achievements of the CIA and the KGB are quite impressive, and it was fascinating reading about some of the things they created and how they used them. However, the book is very anecdotal, and a lot of the anecdotes peter out at the end... whether that's because the climactic ending is classified, or because Wallace sets them up to be more interesting than they really are is hard to say.The book suffers from what appear to be several overlapping organizational structures. Sometimes it is chronological, sometimes it is thematic, and sometimes it feels like a bunch of old guys sitting around swapping whatever war stories come to mind. The last few chapters are an overview of spy techniques and how spies use technology, which is really weird - those chapters would have been much more useful at the beginning of the book, but because they were at the end, they re-explain information that has already been covered earlier in the book.What bothered me the most about the book, though, was the information that was not in it. Perhaps some of this is just my personal agenda, but I would have liked more information about the overall impact of the technology developed and the information intercepted with that technology - in other words, was all of this time and money worth the bother? The book also dropped some tantalizing details (for instance, there is a section that talks about small bombs they developed that could, for instance, go off if suddenly plunged into darkness, so that if they were attached to a train, they would blow the train up when it entered a tunnel), but then didn't talk about how much the technology was actually used (how many trains did we blow up? why?). The book also came across as rather defensive at times - for instance, there are several pages about what MKULTRA was not, but very little information about what it actually was, and whether or not the psychological experiments damaged anyone.All in all, the book is interesting, but definitely feels like the "official line" and I found the lack of big picture to be unsatisfying.
    • 3/5
      History of the more technical aspects of the CIA. Very interesting stories, although a bit repetitive at times.
    • 4/5
      A very interesting book. It's written from the perspective of a former CIA chief, so the author is cheerily enthusiastic about the CIA's successes with technology, but he also talks a lot about their failures. If you've ever wondered if there's any truth to the gadgets seen in movies, this book explains it all, from installing tiny microphones to breaking into the KGB's lead-encased sewer pipe wires in downtown Moscow.
    • 4/5
      In 500 non-encrypted pages, the reader learns the basic elements of espionage and the real history of the first 50 years of the CIA's Office of Technical Services. The tools of espionage were always at the cutting edge of technology. Sometimes, commercially-produced electronics were the basis for a CIA device, but more often, the demands of our spies drove the developments that would later give us pagers and miniature digital cameras. James Bond's toys were more realistic than most people ever realized. Behind them was a dedicated group of clever, driven technologists who supplied agents with better means of surveillance and covert communications. More than just a guide to gadgets, this book tells a meaningful story about the importance of intelligence to national security, and the unfortunate events that occur when the intelligence network is compromised.