Customer Reviews

Counterspy: Memoirs of a Counterintelligence Officer in World War II and the Cold War

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A well written personal memoir about intelligence operations during WWII by someone who was part of the effort to uncover German spies and plant Allied agents behind the lines. His

conversion from fledging lawyer to intelligence officer provides

insight into how America built its intelligence capabilities in a hurry. Cutler gives a vivid picture of the people and events

around him in London, Wiesbaden, and later Berlin as America

struggled to become fluent in the unseen world of espionage.

Unlike many books about spies and spying, this is no third party report. Cutler was there, and draws the reader into the intracacies of intelligence work, theirs and ours. His keen

observations on the people and personalties he worked with give life to the events he describes. Trying to vet operations and individuals was and still is a difficult, inexact process, especially in wartime. Trying to determine whom you could trust and and how to differentiate between reliable people and sources

and disinformation and opportunists trying to milk the situation

became even more complex after the German surrender as Russian

agents were trying to turn friendly Germans into Soviet moles.

The world of obscure shadowy people were all in play in postwar Berlin. His descriptions of the people he met and places he went in his work paint for the reader a good sense of what that portion of Europe and people were like in the postwar world.

All this is pertinent today, as we see the need for more and better intelligence on other parts of the world. Cutler's book gives some idea of how that information is collected by

people living in the shadows. His comments on how intelligence has been coordinated into our national plans and actions, for

better or worse, deserve wider attention.

A fascinating book that makes you think as you enjoy reading it. Excellent

An elegantly written, enjoyably readable book about a dangerous and often inelegant time in world history, Richard Cutler presents an inside account of the Allied intelligence systems that contributed to the defeat of Nazi Germany and to confound the ambitions of Stalin's Soviet Union in the post-war period. The author skillfully balances his account of the massive international struggle with the personal experiences and reflections of this intelligent, charming and cultured (and lucky) young man in wartime London, as well as in Wiesbaden and Berlin immediately after the death of Hitler and the German surrender. His portrayals of various individuals, ordinary men and women functioning in extraordinary circumstances, and his thoughts on the role of personal character in the context of mammoth international events are most interesting and revealing of the importance of the individual for good and for ill on all sides of this conflict. He portrays politicians and journalists of the time candidly, warts and all, and the comparisons to our own point in history are cautionary and disturbing. The author served this country and its allies well in wartime and his book serves history just as well. Those interested in the history of WWII, the Cold War, and cloak-and-dagger stories, will, of course, find this book most fascinating. But also those who are interested in travel sagas, theater, personal development and psychology will find this author's observations and reflections to be of value. It is a must-read book.

Bravo to Richard Cutler! Counterspy is a fascinating, perceptive, extremely well written and thoroughly enjoyable memoir and history of espionage during the latter part of World War II and the early post-war period. I have read other books on the general subject - including Peter Grose's biography of Allen Dulles, Gentleman Spy, Joseph Persico's Roosevelt's Secret War, and Anthony Cave Brown's biography of Gen. William Donovan, Last Hero. Cutler's book more than holds its own - and adds much that is new. His is a high stakes adventure story - where the stakes are real, and Cutler is on the front lines. His characters are vividly drawn. He brings alive for the reader at a remove of some sixty years a certain very important place (or places), time and challenge.

The tail end of the war in Europe and the subsequent delicate peace which was really the start of the cold war had to have been an interesting time. And during this time Mr. cutler was semi drafted into the OSS and assigned to counter espionage. First he was working on finding people to send into Germany and subsequently stationed in Berlin he was seeking out the remains of the German spy organization and working to counter the activities of the Soviets who were also looking for the Germans with a view of turning them into Soviet agents. It was a very interesting time with a great deal of intermixing between the Russians and the Americans, before the big breaks that were to come later.

In 1946, Mr. Cutler was faced with the decision to remain with the OSS, becoming the CIA, or leave. He left to join civilian life. Still he retains his interest in intelligence matters, and in the last chapter offers some comments and advice on the CIA and it's actions regarding Watergate, the Church Committee, and 9/11. I wish he had added another chapter or two on this area, but perhaps that's another book.