BOOK REVIEW: The Nuclear Spies: America’s Atomic Intelligence Operation against Hitler and Stalin
By Vince Houghton
Reviewed by Rolf Mowatt-Larssen
Rolf Mowatt-Larssenserved over three years as the Director of Intelligence and Counterintelligence at the U.S. Department of Energy. Before that, he served 23 years as a CIA intelligence officer in roles that included Chief of the Europe Division in the Directorate of Operations, Chief of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Department, Counterterrorist Center, and Deputy Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support. He is currently a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center.
The Nuclear Spies is the best book I’ve read this year. It’s a great read: Concise, fact-packed, laden with fascinating anecdotes, and chock full of insights. I’ll admit up front that I’m biased as an intelligence officer and a nuclear geek. This book is for everyone, intelligence expert and layperson alike. A page turner.
Author Vince Houghton has a gift for storytelling. He shares his passion for his material that draws the reader into a pulsating, existential race against time to determine whether Germany, as many people assumed, was ahead of the U.S. in developing the Atomic Bomb during World War II. The second half of the book assesses the transition period and subsequent U.S. intelligence operation to penetrate Stalin’s program. His tie in between the effort the U.S. mounted against the two programs is seamless. The result is, in essence, a comparative study as to the reasons why U.S. intelligence efforts were not as successful in assessing the state of the Soviet program as they had been against the Nazis.
As an intelligence historian and curator of the International spy museum, the author’s mastery of his material enables him to offer original insights concerning the crucial factors that impacted positively and negatively on mission success. What separates this book from many of its kind, is the rich historical context in which the author presents the intelligence efforts to penetrate the German and Soviet atomic programs. Moreover, he meticulously analyzes the key factors that drove the success and failure of nuclear tradecraft and modus operandi of the time. Key factors include focused leadership; dedicated resources; personality and organizational rivalries and interests; counterintelligence setbacks and successes; the role of creativity; luck and misfortune; and the intervention of external events such as politics and policy.
Drawing on a treasure trove of anecdotes, characters come to life, and history’s lessons are revealed. My favorite character was Moe Berg, a professional baseball player turned nuclear spy. Berg serves as a memorable illustration of the surprising origins of spies and the potential impact of a single spy on history. The author displays an affection for his characters that draws the reader to want to know them better.
Based on my experience, the book’s most enduring contribution lies in applying the lessons of history to reliably interpret the efforts of state and non-state actors to acquire nuclear weapons today. Through the case studies of Germany and the Soviet Union, the author implicitly answers the question of what it takes to develop reliable foresight and early warning on an actor’s efforts to achieve a breakout of nuclear weapons. In this context, Nuclear Spies is a case study in identifying and interpreting the factors that define success in the arguably most difficult question to answer: What does it take to prove a negative, i.e., whether a threat exists, or not? How does an intelligence agency interpret the absence of information?
In that regard, the U.S.’ ability to prove the negative in the case of Germany was decisive. As he states in Chapter 4, Transitions, “The conclusions were unmistakable”. The documents and letters captured at Strasbourg “proved definitely that Germany had no atomic bomb and would not be able to produce one before the end of the war. They were not even far along in their research to present a danger from radiological attack.”
This sets the standard for defining success in countering nuclear weapons proliferation today. The sense of urgency in America’s Atomic intelligence operation shines through in the author’s chronicle of its history. The author also offers a compelling expository as to “why” this was the case. The U.S. and its allies were locked in an existential struggle in which not knowing the answer to the question was unacceptable to those who pursued it. Consequently, they considered options that would be regarded as being too extreme by today’s standards. Bomb a ferry boat in Norway with civilians on it. Consider kidnapping a prominent German physicist with questionable loyalties, but with knowledge of critical importance to Germany’s efforts to build a bomb.
In bringing the past back to life, Vince Houghton reminds us that the greatest operations, most creative spy masters, and most innovative organizational managers, were driven by a sense of urgency and passion for the mission. Nuclear Spies is an inspirational call to bring those qualities to bear in intelligence work against the threats we confront, today.
This book earns a prestigious four out of four trench coats.
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