Into Tibet: The CIA's First Atomic Spy and His Secret Expedition to Lhasa

nto Tibet was a six years research on CIA's first atomic spy and his secret expedition to Lhasa, happened sixty years ago in Tibet, China involving an American James Bond thrill. It was Douglas Mackiernan, the consul at Tihwa/Urumchi of Sinkiang, China and his partner Frank Bessac. It was an American intelligence on uranium in the area and the daring trip to plant strategic radiation detection device to monitor and transmit data on USSR atomic explosion in the Cold War Era. Writer Laird commented that it was bureaucratic failure to notify Tibet in time for the American group to enter Tibet as Chinese Communists liberation was imminent. This error of delay caused a fatal gruesome humiliation. The declassified document mentioned in the book showed CIA, State Department, Tibetans, Chinese Communists invasion and 14th Dalai Lama. As a spiritual leader, Dalai tirelessly campaigned for the political agenda of returning home for independence after an escape to India to set up a government. in Exile fifty years ago. On P.181, Dalai commented "After the PR was established in China, America ... did not come forward to recognize Tibet as independent. The courage was not there", as Nations of the world accepted that Tibet is part of China in 1951. Bessac, a student and agent met Heinrich Harrer, Nazi supporter in Tibet who wrote the book - Seven Years in Tibet and mapped Lhasa with modern techniques and accuracy. Bassac came back with this gift of 5 by 9 foot map now in display in National Archives in Maryland. Reading this book will help reader understand the politics in Tibet, CIA in power struggle with State Department and Senator McCarthy Red Scare leading to the events in Korea and Vietnam This book also revealed how little the un-named First Star on CIA Wall of Honor left his widow and family in pension support and truth from the government. This book is a good must-read shocking information on the history of American involvement in Tibet even till today for all Americans especially the White House and Members of Congress SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET Please check UC-Berkeley video titled The Shadow Circus the CIA in Tibet (BBC production)

Since publication of this book some readers have wondered if I had gotten the story about Mackiernan right. Obviously I had to piece the facts together, from many sources, since when I reported this story CIA was still keeping all facts about Mackiernan classified. Concerned readers should note that Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden admitted on September 16, 2008, that Douglas Mackiernan was a CIA agent, and was assigned to Sinkiang to spy on the Soviet's atomic program in Kazakhstan. Into Tibet was the first book to report those facts-- though many doubted it when the book was first published. That debate is now over.CIA now admits I got this story right. See here: https://www.cia.gov/news-information/speeches-testimony/directors-remarks-at-lawac.html

This was a spectacularly interesting read. The Cold War begins and the first atomic spy is launched. The juxtaposition between atomic energy espionage and traditional Tibet is extremely charming. Laird spent at least 30 years in Asia based in the Himalayas and knows Tibetan culture well. The characters are well drawn and each exerts a special charm. Laird interviewed many of the principals and was able to translate the spirit of the person and the age into print. The fall of Tibet and the descriptions of the state it was in at the time are---by far---the most accurate and balanced I've ever read. Full marks for this one.

If you are a fan of true spy stories you'll really like this book. The time is just after WWII, and China is about to go "Red", the USSR is building an atomic bomb and the US cold warriors are in country. Why did the state department abandon Tibet? This story gives us a lot of information that up until now has only been hearsay. When the USSR blew up their first bomb where did they get the U235? When did the USA know about it, and what were they doing to know more... read on.

This is an intelligent adventure story about an American agent, Douglas Mackiernan, who was stationed by the CIA at a remote diplomatic outpost in north China in the late 1940s. Nominally he was a State Department employee. In fact he was setting up seismic instruments intended to monitor and pinpoint the sites of Russian atomic bomb tests, which were evidently expected to occur a few hundred miles to the north in Russia. And did. When Mao-Tse Tung took over China, Mackiernan was essentially cut off from an easy exit path. He had to trek out, and headed south toward Tibet, which was then still free -- the avenue to India and escape. To give you an idea of the difficulty of this journey, he began by purchasing from a nomad chieftain a train of camels and horses that were willing to eat meat. The little caravan was headed into lands so high, cold and barren that there would be no possibility for the animals to graze on grass. The men shot game daily to keep themselves and their pack animals fed. The pack animals were carrying a radio for encoded communications with the CIA, gold and machine guns -- which begins to hint at some of the layers of complexity in this story. Suffice it to say this was an intelligence mission, not a boy scout trip, and it ended terribly for Mackiernan, who was shot to death near the Tibetan border, apparently by mistake. The author is a photographer as well as a writer, with long experience in Asia. His ability to present richly visual, graphic pictures of this wildly beautiful and dangerous country, in words, makes the book a real pleasure to read. He has probably researched the story as well as it can be researched. He found a good deal of material salted around in the National Archives, and he made use of the Freedom of Information Act insofar as possible. He has also extensively interviewed survivors of the trip, and Mackiernan's family. The story was first told in a Life Magazine article in the 1950s, but the author's re-telling is far more careful and better informed. All that said, it is a story about spies. Mackiernan was a deeply complicated man, as were his companions, and you have to make your own judgements, reading along, about who was who and what really happened. It is a hall of mirrors, really - but the author manages to convey this: Without directly contradicting his interviewees, he signals you when skepticism is in order. One thing that comes through unambiguously is how GOOD these guys were. Scientifically and technically skillful, multilingual in many difficult languages and dialects, good with guns, good with horses, good at haggling - street smart and scholarly at the same time. Amazing, exotic Americans. The book now and then turns into a polemic. The author seems eager to be outraged about this and that - the course of diplomatic history, American blunders, the China Lobby, McCarthyism, corruption, whatever. The heated exposition interrupts an otherwise clear narrative line, b

At last the geo-political forces that shaped Tibet being swallowed up by China in 1950 have been revealed. The Cold War, McCarthyism, America's troubling relationship with Chiang Kai-shek, the pressures of the atomic bomb, and the formation of the CIA all begin to make sense thanks to Thomas Lairds meticulously researched book. Those who love modern day China, or feel the CIA can do no wrong, will find fault with this book as it draws the reader into reaching damning conclusions towards both. At the core of the book is the fascinating story of Douglas Mackiernan, a CIA operative and swashbuckling ladies man with a penchance for Asian adventure, and Frank Bessac, an Fulbright scholar who had more connections to the CIA than he wants to admit. Mao is invading Mongolia, the Russians are testing atom bombs, and Doug and Frank set off across Mongolia to Tibet on an ill fated journey taking over a year. The tale brilliantly illuminates American foreign policy at the time and the devastating effect of McCarthy's accusations causing the few Asian scholars who existed in the State Department to leave. Also, the progression of how China was able to claim Tibet is clearly stated. This is a must read for anyone interested in Tibet.