Customer Reviews

Licensed to Spy: With the Top Secret Military Liaison Mission in East Germany

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John Fahey is an unassuming man, who it seems, prefers to get things done by using humor and tact rather than force. During this unusual period when he was living and working behind the iron curtain, he avoided being shot or permanently jailed by joking with his captors. Even his US Army bosses were out to get rid of the "swabbie" and that too he managed to easily avoid.It's unusual for a naval officer to be involved with so much army, including the enemy's army and Fahey was able to not only get along with these folks but collect very valuable intelligence information to forward back to our Government.
This little known part of history is a pleasure to read and you'll find yourself chuckling along the way. My recommendation is : Buy it! you"ll like it.

As a former HUMINT Tour Driver stationed in USMLM, I take exception to Reader/San Antonio's comments regarding Cmdr Fahey's experiences during his extraordinary time at the Mission. While I certainly understand that many spy afficianados tend to lump human intelligence methodologies into one large basket, the USMLM was unlike anything anywhere else in US military history during the Cold War era. Cmdr Fahey's comments regarding personal interactions aside, being detained by hostile forces 7 times has nothing to do with level of success that he achieved. In other words, being detained came with the turf; sometimes you wouldn't be detained for 6 months and the KGB/GRU/Stasi would target you specifically because of your ability to get the job done. In a country with hundreds of thousands of hostile personnel, we took our life into our hands every time we went on "tour." I highly recommend this book.

Commander Fahey's memoir as a "licensed" spy in the former East Germany is an informative and entertaining read. While the incidents he relates are worth reading about, more useful are his comments about dealing with the (former) East Germans and Soviets, and observations on the Russian character. His memoir should serve as a excellent example of how fluent and perceptive linguists are crucial to intelligence operations. His comments about one (unnamed) mission chief provides a good example of how carefully intelligence agencies should choose their personnel. One very minor shortcoming: Cdr. Fahey's assignment was to the US Military Liaison Mission to the Soviet forces in East Germany. The Soviets had a similar mission in West Germany. Were their "licensed" spying activities similar? Recommended for those interested in intelliegnce activities, the Cold War, and the Soviet/Russian military.

The story of the US Military Liaison Mission in East Germany is a story that needed telling -- and it still does. Fahey's book is more about his personal travails such as receiving a traffic ticket and wearing a required patch than it is about Mission operations. While Fahey is undoubtedly an excellent Russian linguist, he couldn't be much of an intelligence officer if, as he says, he was detained by the Soviets seven times out of six attempts. He constantly boasts of his photographic memory, but misspells at least two names. He seems intent on degrading other members of the Mission and delights in demonstrating what he perceives to be his intellectual superiority.