Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America

Venona is an outstanding history lesson. It clearly illustrates the pervasiveness of Soviet Espionage in the United States during (and after) World War II.Unlike many such studies, this is well researched and utilizes not only US but also period Soviet sources.Highly recommended.

BACKGROUND Venona was the cover name of a top secret US government project that from the 1940's to the 1980's intercepted and decoded Soviet government messages all over the world. Venona gave numerous facts about Soviet espionage from some 3000 messages. Venona was officially revealed in 1995 The Soviets got hints about Venona, but thought their codes were safe.TIDBITS Learning details about spies, the US government often did not prosecute, since it would alert the Soviets that their codes were being broken. Instead the FBI often maneuvered to keep spies away from sensitive positions by stopping promotions or having people fired. Often when a spy was brought to trial, the government still held back evidence. Therefore, many spies were never convicted, or got off easy. This gave ammunition to leftist public opinion who claimed "McCarthyism". The book details hundreds of spies/cases such as Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs, the Manhattan Project, ... just to name a few. OUTLININGThe authors tells how the book came about. The basics of Venona. What the codes looked like. In detail how they were constituted and broken. Then its off to numerous "cases". Typically a person or "ring" is reported on a couple of pages. Some cases cover whole chapters.FACTS / OPINIONSFilled with facts of the Soviet operations. Such as birth names, KGB/GRU internal cover names and cover names used in the US. The book gives dates, cities, US Business', government offices and political organizations. We see the orders the KGB gave, who recommended who to sensitive posts, how much money changed hands... The authors stays with the facts and gives almost no opinions, but some background. The book is not about telling stories, so often we get facts without "punch-lines". Venona does not explain everything, and open ended cases are presented as well. Then the book sometimes speculates in a couple of possible scenarios referring to other facts. Fact and speculation are always easy to separate. READThe text is sober and easy to read. The authors always gives clear and open references. We learn only a little about the personal lives and feelings of the spies. Except for their basic motivation. Which are the usual black-mail, ideology, greed, personal vendetta,... COMMENTSThe sheer number of spies is staggering. They were everywhere. Including the top of the US government. It makes you wonder how much of what the Western World did, actually was controlled from Moscow. The book makes it easy to understand how all the weapons of mass destruction we develop comes back to haunt us.

Speaking as someone who taught US History in California schools for a short time, I can attest that this book reveals facts that reverse much of what is taught in our high schools.As an example, the case of the Rosenbergs being convicted of espionage is explained as an extremist reaction that had no legal merit. This book exposes the truth that the Rosenbergs were deep in the network of soviet espionage that has existed since the 1920s.Its amazing to read the stories of agent after agent that worked in nearly every level of American government. From the most sensitive to the most politically charged events... a soviet spy was not far.The techniques and style of soviet espionage leaves one looking at todays situation and thinking, if that is what the soviets did then, imagine what China, North Korea, Iraq or Syria could be doing now.If you have any interest in espionage, its history or how nations deal with each other, you can't afford to leave this off your must read list.

The authors have done a very convincing job of tying the Venona communiques to actual Soviet spies working in the US before, during and after WWII. Its revelations that high administration officials in the executive branch was a real shocker, and that these so-called "brain trusters" thought and anti-democratic communism could co-exist with American democracy is proof how how we should always be wary of the "intellectural elite". Regardless of how you feel about communism, there is no doubt that these American spies cared more about the ideals of communism, didn't see the reality of Stalin's totalitarian state, and obviously felt the American system was so bankrupt, it would never recover from the depression. I was also saddened that the Roosevelt administration was so concerned about the Nazi threat, that it would accept Stalin and his similar tactics. We see that many who were admired by the intellectuals were really spies who were more than willing to sell out their country for a money. And there is no question that Julius Rosenberg was very aware of what he was doing. Makes you wonder, in light, of the current Chinese spy scandal. This opened up, for me, a whole area of history, which until now, has been approached hysterically and ideologically, rather than based on original documents, as the authors have done here.