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    The Spy Who Couldn't Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI's Hunt for America's Stolen Secrets
    Unavailable
    The Spy Who Couldn't Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI's Hunt for America's Stolen Secrets
    Unavailable
    The Spy Who Couldn't Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI's Hunt for America's Stolen Secrets
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Spy Who Couldn't Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI's Hunt for America's Stolen Secrets

    Written by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee

    Narrated by Robert Fass

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The thrilling, true-life account of the FBI's hunt for the ingenious traitor Brian Reganknown as the Spy Who Couldn't Spell.

    Before Edward Snowden's infamous data breach, the largest theft of government secrets was committed by an ingenious traitor whose intricate espionage scheme and complex system of coded messages were made even more baffling by his dyslexia. His name is Brian Regan, but he came to be known as The Spy Who Couldn't Spell.

    In December of 2000, FBI Special Agent Steven Carr of the bureau's Washington, D.C., office received a package from FBI New York: a series of coded letters from an anonymous sender to the Libyan consulate, offering to sell classified United States intelligence. The offer, and the threat, were all too real. A self-proclaimed CIA analyst with top secret clearance had information about U.S. reconnaissance satellites, air defense systems, weapons depots, munitions factories, and underground bunkers throughout the Middle East.

    Rooting out the traitor would not be easy, but certain clues suggested a government agent with a military background, a family, and a dire need for money. Leading a diligent team of investigators and code breakers, Carr spent years hunting down a dangerous spy and his cache of stolen secrets.

    In this fast-paced true-life spy thriller, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee reveals how the FBI unraveled Regan's strange web of codes to build a case against a man who nearly collapsed America's military security.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateNov 1, 2016
    ISBN9781524708047
    Unavailable
    The Spy Who Couldn't Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI's Hunt for America's Stolen Secrets

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    Reviews for The Spy Who Couldn't Spell

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    • 5/5
      This book could be subtitled, "The Spy Who Couldn't Read Straight." A government employee concocts a scheme to sell top secret data to governments who are enemies of the United States. Due to his dyslexia, the Feds have a difficult time untangling the codes and ciphers used to hide the stolen documents,and media. The story is told in a blow by blow recitation of each maneuver of Mr. Regan. The description of the breaking of his codes is very detailed as is the recounting of the his trial. The author has performed exhaustive research to chronicle this historical event. My thanks to him and the Penguin First to Read program for a complimentary copy.
    • 5/5
      Most people probably remember the capture and revelations surrounding Robert Hanssen, a CIA officer who sold sensitive information to Russia. I had never heard, however, of Brian Regan, also an intelligence insider who tried to do something similar. Regan tried to offer a variety of sensitive documents to a number of enemy governments. He managed to steal the documents with disturbing ease. He didn't manage to sell them on, but it wasn't for want of trying. Regan's downfall came, in part, through dyslexia. His pattern of misspellings provided important clues to investigators. When Regan's messages were intercepted, CIA counter-intelligence agents had to figure out who the traitor was. Much of the book discusses the process of breaking the code and trapping the spy. In general it reads quickly and with excitement, as one might expect of an inside spy chase. There are fascinating bits of information- like polaroid photos taken by the CIA teams that break in and sweep offices and other locations. Anything moved is put exactly back in place, to the millimeter. It was amazing to me how cocky Regan became during his espionage. He really seemed to think he was above catching. According to Bhattacharjee's analysis, this cockiness, combined with a constant anger from having been belittled because of his learning disability, is what led Regan to his acts. This is a book well-worth reading for the interest and page-turning factor.
    • 5/5
      audiobook that tells the story of a disgruntled U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst who used his cipher skills to almost pull off an incredible intelligence theft and attempted sale of classified documents. The author discusses the spy’s background and details the tedious work of the FBI in tracking him down. It was an intelligence agency’s nightmare: having a mole in your own agency.The FBI received a package containing several letters in a sophisticated cipher but when deciphered were marked by numerous misspellings. Those errors proved to be Brian Regan’s undoing. The FBI agent who doggedly pursued him was Steven Carr, and the methods used to track him are straight out of the best espionage/police procedural novels. Regan was a retired Air Force Master Sergeant whose dyslexia and ineptitude with social skills made him an almost perfect spy and he was viewed as the least likely person to be involved in such a scheme. One of eight children, he had been bullied and mistreated most of his childhood, considered stupid by most of his teachers because of his dyslexia. Steven Carr, his FBI antagonist, was a devout Catholic who considered his mission to track down Regan as a spiritual assignment. Once they had identified their suspect, the FBI had to build a case, and here another of the ironies appeared. The agent who broke Regan’s ciphers had a disability himself, one that prevented him from doing arithmetic functions and math, a form of dyscalculia. He was really good at word problems but doing straight arithmetic and polynomial functions was very difficult. He was superb, however at pattern recognition and was discovered while taking a class from a postal inspector who told the clasExcellents to ignore some codes because they are insoluble. He took it as a challenge and deciphered the codes during class. First, though, to get into the FBI he had to get a college degree and it was only with the help of a very understanding math instructor (probably at a community college) that he managed to pass the math requirement. Something I have emphasized over and over to my friends is to never, ever, ever, put anything into a digital document or email you don’t want the world to see. In spite of Regan’s having formatted his HD and deleted documents, they were, of course, all recoverable, including multiple versions of letters he had written. (The only way to truly protect yourself -- short of using a hammer to smash and fire to melt -- is to use a program that writes over your HD with multiple passes using gibberish.)I love books about codes and ciphers so I liked the sections where Bhattacharjee discusses Regan’s system in some detail. Others may prefer the human aspects of the characters. For me it was a perfect mix and a very enjoyable book, difficult to put down. What was astonishing was how easy it was for Regan to steal highly classified material. Then again government has a tendency to over-classify material which perhaps leads people to be careless with the stuff. That he was discovered at all was a fluke, and the letters deciphered only because the letters happened to be delivered at the same time. Riveting.