Moscow Station: How the KGB Penetrated the American Embassy

I read this book years ago and remember it as being very interesting and full of interesting stories involving sex, deceit, and fraternization with the enemy while guarding the American embassy in the USSR. Great story with very sad implications for embassy security. Reads like the Enquirer, but so much more serious in nature and with excellent research, as usual, by Kessler. Great book by a great author about a little known subject-- embassy security behind the 'iron curtain'.

The publisher probably accepted the book because of the huge national uproar over the sex-for-secrets scandal in which U.S. Marines at the American Embassy in Moscow allowed KGB agents into the Embassy's most secret areas. However, I found the book infinitely more interesting and timeless in what it shows about the U.S. State Department and bureaucratic problems and bungling in Washington.... much of it still going on today, as you read this. My only complaint is that the book is out of print!

Having served in the US Embassy, Moscow, I felt the author did an excellent job describing the living conditions in and around the US Embassy, Moscow and most of the information was very accurate. The author is a little biased, but that's cerainly understandable given such a case of espionage. If you're planning on serving in Moscow, this is a must-read. It will give you some insight as to what you should expect living on compound and also will serve as a wake up call concerning KGB operations, now the FSB. They are alive and well and will continue to target Americans. My advice is that if you are planning on traveling to or living in Russia, you should be very paranoid.

Moscow Station is perhaps the greatest book I have ever read. I am an espionage enthusuast and I plan to work for the CIA after I graduate college, I found this book very entertaining. Although Mr. Kessler adds a lot of personal theories in the story, and some information that wasn't entirely true, I still found this book to be a wonderful read. For as soon as Mr. Kessler wrote the book after the incidents happened, I feel the did a marvelous job. The book is somewhat hard to follow because there is no dialogue, but, the facts and information it reveals is astonishing. If you want a good book to read, pick up Moscow Station.