CIPHER BRIEF SPOTLIGHT — Many Cipher Brief readers love giving - and getting - books as gifts during the holiday season. And we love suggesting titles from the world of national security that we think they would especially enjoy. We’ve reviewed more than 80 books in 2024 and featured quite a few others on our Cover Stories podcast – so the winnowing down to a “Best of” list has been difficult.
In the end, we settled on those books which earned our coveted “Four Trench Coat" rating during the past six months or so – since our last “Beach Reads” recommendation newsletter in early July. Even then, we still had a long list. So we broke them down into several broad categories in case there is a particular genre of interest to you – or someone on your holiday gift list.
Memoirs and Reflections
There are three books we might roughly put in the category of memoirs, biographies, or reminiscences of significant historical events. The first we will cite is Midnight in Moscow the memoir of John Sullivan who served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia during both the Trump and Biden administrations. Havard scholar Calder Walton reviewed the book for us and praised it as a work that should be “read by anyone who wants to understand the current quagmire of Russian relations with the West and Putin’s war in Ukraine.”
If biographies of important people are your thing, we’d suggest America’s Cold Warrior: Paul Nitze and National Security from Roosevelt to Reagan” by James Graham Wilson. It’s the story of a remarkable public servant who served at high levels in eight presidential administrations. Cipher Brief expert and senior CIA and NRO veteran John Lauder tells us in his review that despite the weighty subject matter, “America’s Cold Warrior” is “a highly readable book that one can peruse at the beach or on an airplane.”
Next, we’ll mention The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and The Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World” by Ben Macintyre. This is the story of six young Iranian Arabs who seized the Iranian Embassy in London and held it and its occupants hostage until the British SAS wrested control of the facility in a spectacular operation. In his review, Cipher Brief expert Nick Fishwick, a retired British Foreign Service officer, called Macintyre “one of Britain’s greatest writers on security and intelligence history…”and suggests that this book is best “read at a single nerve-grating sitting.”
War, Cyberwar, Foreign Relations and Peace
War (particularly the ongoing one in Ukraine) continued to maintain its grasp on the world’s attention – and also that of authors whose work was featured in The Cipher Brief. One of our favorites in this category was “In Their Own Words: How Russian Propagandists Reveal Putin’s Attentions” by the prominent Russian media watcher Julia Davis. Davis’ book is a collection of her excerpts and analysis of commentary made on Russian state TV exposing the heartless and often genocidal ambitions of the Kremlin’s favorite talking heads. Check out both our review and Julia Davis’s interview on the Cover Stories podcast (on Apple Podcasts and Spotify).
For an examination of the strategy, tactics and innovations of the ongoing war, check out The War for Ukraine, by Mick Ryan, a retired major general in the Australian Army. Our reviewer, Jean-Thomas Nicole, a policy advisor with Public Safety Canada, says the book is a snapshot in time – given that the war continues to evolve – but a valuable contribution for the U.S. and its allies as they try to lessen the prospects for such conflicts in the future.
For a very personal view of the impact of Russia’s war of aggression, check out I Will Show You How It Was: The Story of Wartime Kyiv by Kyiv Independent reporter Illia Ponomarenko. The book offers a highly personal account of the days and weeks leading up to Russia’s February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine and its aftermath. In his review, Cipher Brief expert Ed Bogan, a retired senior CIA operations officer, writes, “Ponomarenko’s meticulous and painful description of the period stirred up gut-wrenching emotions from the time and will quickly take any reader back to those harrowing days.” To further paint the picture of the struggle of the Ukrainian people, you might turn to “Portraits of Ukraine: A Nation at War” by Gregory Slayton and Sergei Ivashenko. This is a coffee-table style book packed with 310 often dramatic images. Ambassador Roman Popadiuk, the first U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, reviewed the book for us and praised it for its evocative images and stirring prose, bringing “to life the human dimension of the suffering and courage of the Ukrainian people during this time of war.” Especially noteworthy: all profits from the sale of the book go to Ukrainian charities.
Beyond the wars of today – there are of course the wars of tomorrow to worry about. We leaned heavily on Cipher Brief expert Glenn Gerstell, who is a principal with the Cyber Initiatives Group and former NSA General Counsel, to review several forward-looking books. Glenn gave four trench coats to Algorithms of Armageddon, by George Galdorisi and Sam Tangredi. The authors’ goal was “to provide a detailed and impartial picture of the current state and potential evolution of military applications of AI,” and our expert reviewer found it “surprisingly readable.” Gerstell also looked at Rethinking Cyber Warfare by David Edelman for us. That book examines “which, if any, forces in the international system might restrain state use of cyberattacks, despite the strategic advantage they confer?” Glenn found the book “elegantly written but dense text” (well, you didn’t expect all cyber-warfare stuff to be easy, did you?). And completing Gerstell’s trifecta of techy tomes (with four trench coat ratings) he also reviewed Raj Shah and Christopher Kirchoff’s Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War. This one is an inside look at the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (known as Unit X) which tried (and sometimes succeeded) to bring Silicon Valley cutting-edge technology into the Department of Defense.
Help Yourself
Then there is a popular category of books that roughly fall into the “self-help” genre. For example: Sell Like a Spy: The Art of Persuasion from the World of Espionage by Jeremy Hurewitz. The author is a business consultant, entrepreneur and business intelligence practitioner who draws lessons from legendary military and CIA officers (and many Cipher Brief experts) to offer guidance on how to use techniques often employed by intelligence officers in connecting with others in the world of business. Dr. Ken Dekleva, a former Regional Medical Officer and psychiatrist for the Department of State (and an author himself) calls this a “must read” both for what is says about such techniques as “empathy, active listening, connection, elicitation, due diligence, recruitment, investigation, security protection, curiosity, negotiation, motivation, trust, and cultural awareness” – but also because of the real-world examples the author includes.
If you are looking for a book on leadership, we’d recommend Might of the Chain: Forging Leaders of Iron Integrity” by Rear Admiral Mike Studeman, USN (Ret.). Studeman is a Cipher Brief expert and acknowledged authority on China. His book tells readers how to strengthen their own leadership qualities, how to shape a team, and how to use that team to have the most impact. You can read our review of the book here – or better yet – listen to our interview with Studeman on our Cover Stories podcast (on Apple Podcasts and Spotify).
Another four-trench-coat book on leadership came from retired Navy SEAL Admiral Bob Harward – The Gouge! How to Be Smarter Than the Situation You Are In.” To ensure no service favoritism, we turned to retired Army officer and former Deputy Director of the DIA, Doug Wise, to review it for us. Wise says that Harward explains that “the gouge” is a Navy term for “essential information,” and he praised the book for doing just that in an energetic style which “transcends organizations and cultures and has universal applicability.”
Fine Fiction
Turns out you can make this stuff up. Our list contains four very different novels that share one attribute – having earned four-trench-coat reviews.
Let’s start with the most recent, “City of Lost Souls: A Jack Ford Shanghai Mystery” by Cipher Brief expert and veteran CIA officer Marty Petersen. The novel is set nearly a century ago in Shanghai, where an expat American private investigator tries to help a young British woman find her missing brother. Ken Dekleva reviewed this one for us, calling it a “delightful read” which transports you back in time “to the scenes, delights, smells, gaudiness, character, cruelty and sensibility of Shanghai in the early 1930s.” Petersen joined us on a recent Cover Stories podcast (here on Apple Podcasts or Spotify) and explained how the novel grew out of his hobby of collecting ephemera from Shanghai – and how the novel can help readers understand the mindset of modern day China.
In addition to being an Asia expert, Petersen is also an aficionado of World War II history – which made him the perfect choice to review “The Restless Wave: A Novel of the United States Navy” by another Cipher Brief expert, retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis. In his review, Petersen pointed out that “The Restless Wave,” in describing the exploits of a young naval officer during the first years of the Second World War, is “peppered throughout” with real figures – so the reader enjoys both the fictional adventures of the novel’s hero but also learns about a wide variety of people from that era and stories of their real-world adventures. Stavridis joined Cipher Brief CEO Suzanne Kelly for a live online book club discussion of “The Restless Wave,” and that session was preserved as a Cover Stories podcast for listeners to enjoy (available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify).
For a novel look at the world of intelligence – look no further than “The Seventh Floor” by CIA veteran David McCloskey. We turned to another Agency veteran, and Cipher Brief expert, Joe Augustyn to review this one for us. Joe, who spent a lot of time on the 7th floor (where CIA leadership work), says that the strength of the book derives from how McCloskey brings the unique culture of the CIA to life, and says that “McCloskey has written a highly entertaining and engrossing book that will surely satisfy the palate of those looking for a vicarious fictitious escape into the exciting and unpredictable world of espionage.”
One thing you can almost always rely on is a gripping novel from Daniel Silva, featuring his hero Gabrial Allon. That holds true with his latest installment: A Death in Cornwall. CIA veterans Jay and Anne Gruner reviewed it for us and awarded it max trench coats. They advise that “unlike many of (Silva’s) previous books, A Death in Cornwall is not about espionage operations or fighting terrorists, but rather a private battle against greed and corruption at the highest financial and political levels in various Western countries, most notably in the U.K. The Gruners say “Silva has once again written an entrancing novel of international suspense and unexpected detours that is both educational and satisfying. Beautifully yet simply written, the book’s characters are memorable and their dialogue compelling.”
But Wait, There’s More
Our arbitrary cutoff at the four-trench-coat level leaves out several books we know would delight many readers. Keep in mind the expert reviewers of books for The Cipher Brief are on their own in assigning trench coat ratings – and some of these folks are tough graders. Among the not-quite-four-trench-coat books that we suggest you check out are: The Accidental Joe, a toque-and-dagger spy novel about a TV chef who finds himself in the middle of a CIA covert operation. Check out the review by the exceedingly well-qualified person for the job — CIA veteran, TV producer and amateur chef Rodney Faraon. And also check out our interview with author Tom Straw on a Cover Stories podcast (on Apple Podcasts and Spotify).
We also highly recommend Autocracy, Inc by Anne Applebaum, reviewed for us by former Director of National Intelligence, Lt Gen. James Clapper, who we are proud to say is another Cipher Brief expert. And llong somewhat similar lines, there is To Run the World by Sergey Radchenko, reviewed by Cipher Brief Managing Editor Tom Nagorski. Tom says the book is a sweeping look at the Cold War, stocked with lessons for the current moment.
Another memorable book was Prisoner of Lies: Jack Down’s Cold War, by Barry Werth. Downey was a CIA officer held captive for twenty-one years in China. Former State Department officer Jim Bullock says in his review that perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the story of how Downey rebuilt his life after his release. Also worth your time is our Cover Stories podcast interview with the author Barry Werth.
One last suggestion: A Suspicion of Spies: Risks, Secret and Shadows – the Life of Wilfred ‘Biffy’ Dunderdale.” Dunderdale is likely largely unknown to American readers – but Cipher Brief expert Tim Willasey-Wilsey says he is well worth learning about. The former MI-6 official was one of “about a dozen friends of Ian Fleming thought to be models for James Bond.”
If we haven’t given you enough to chew on yet – check out all of our reviews here and our Cover Stories podcasts too.
The year ahead
We are looking forward to reviewing some enticing new books in 2025: “The Chinese Phantom: The Hunt for the World’s Most Dangerous Arms Dealer”; “The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World”; the cheerful sounding “Death is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare”; and “Assignment in Saigon: A Cold War Thriller” by CIA veteran Bill Rapp.
One of the things that makes Cipher Brief reviews of books so valuable is that our reviewers are experts in their own right. If you think you may have the chops to be a Cipher Brief reviewer, check out our guidelines here – and if you still think you would be a good fit – send a note to us at undercover@thecipherbrief.com to toss your hat in the ring.
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