Odyssey of an Eavesdropper: My Life in Electronic Countermeasures and My Battle Against the FBI [Hardcover]

Martin Kaiser III (Author), Robert S. Stokes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 19, 2005

Martin Kaiser is a legend within the nation's covert electronic surveillance fraternity. With a hot-wired transmitter the size of a pea, Kaiser built devices that could bring down a government, prevent a terrorist attack, or provide blackmail for a government agency to smear a well-known American Civil Rights leader. Now, in Odyssey of an Eavesdropper, he steps from the shadows of national security to tell his own story-a journey from an abusive childhood in a Pennsylvania coal-mining town to icon status in the black ops world of U.S. spy operations as the premier producer of electronic surveillance gadgets and dirty tricks, and then his battle for professional and emotional survival with the FBI bent on his destruction. Kaiser's clients included the FBI, the CIA, DEA, Secret Service, Army, Navy and Air Force Intelligence, as well as foreign intelligence services. However, as a result of his testimony before the National Wiretap Commission in 1975, the FBI began a vendetta against Kaiser, nearly driving his business into bankruptcy and resulting in his eventual indictment on charge of illegal wiretapping, conspiracy and transporting an illegal eavesdropping device across state lines. Acquitted of all charges and having reinvented himself, Kaiser tells his tale.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Modesty aside," says electronic surveillance expert Kaiser, "I was to the FBI, and the CIA, and the rest of the intel community, what 'Q'—the British Secret Service technical genius—was to James Bond." And Kaiser, who consulted on the 1998 film Enemy of the State, which he says is loosely based on his story, first made his name in the late 1950s and early '60s, when he helped develop a missile-directing system. Eventually he began making "bugs" for the FBI and CIA as well as private companies. But after his 1975 testimony before the House of Representatives about his work in government intelligence, the FBI, he says, came after him. He was indicted for illegal wiretapping and other crimes, and while he was acquitted on all charges, his business was ruined and he suffered an emotional breakdown that he attributes, in part, to childhood abuse. Kaiser ends the book with a chapter about the lack of privacy in America today—and while some of his warnings seem alarmist, his background will make readers of this compelling and sympathetic book (written with journalist and novelist Stokes) think twice.
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Review

A book by a true insider . . . lurid details about spying by the Soviets, the FBI, and rogue ex-agents . . . Highly recommended. -- Library Journal, December 6, 2005

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (December 19, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786715464
• ISBN-13: 978-0786715466
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,587,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The American Revolution continues . . ., December 25, 2005

By 

Tom Paine "ex-colonist" (Montana USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Odyssey of an Eavesdropper: My Life in Electronic Countermeasures and My Battle Against the FBI (Hardcover)

This is a classic American David and Goliath tale of the little guy who dares to confront the FBI and not only survive (at great cost) to tell his story, but also be vindicated by the truth.

Marty Kaiser was--and still is--a legend in the nation's electronic "black ops" community. Once regarded as the "Michaelangelo of Electronic Surveillance," he was the genius "go-to" guy for U.S. Intelligence services in the late l960s and 1970s. He was the electronics surveillance master who designed and created exotic transmitters the size of a fingernail that the FBI used to bug terrorists, politicians, innocent citizens and, among other things, gather dirt on a well-known civil rights leader and other political/social "heretics."

Then Kaiser made a huge mistake--he told the truth before a Congressional committee investigating his main employer, the FBI. The result was a scandal that rocked the Bureau and led to the dismissal or forced retirement of several high ranking FBI officials. The Bureau retaliated by blackballing Kaiser from the Intel community and nearly driving his private company into bankruptcy. Two years later they indicted him on charges of bugging two FBI agents, but he was acquitted. The two agents, with plenty of backing, then filed a civil suit that nearly ruined Kaiser with crushing legal fees and the torment of constant harassment.

Kaiser's story doesn't stop there. He also recounts illegal eavesdropping on American citizens by the NSA, FBI and CIA that's been going on for decades--all before the Patriot Act.

If you care about the high-handed violations of legitimate civil rights in America by those who think they are above our laws, this is a must read. To his credit, Kaiser doesn't demean all the unsung people in the intelligence services who are working hard and doing a good job. He's talking about those hiding in the higher echelons of power making black policy and intimidating anyone who wants to bring them into the light. His story is one of courage and hope, but it's also a sad reminder that the heroic days of the "Untouchables" have been replaced by the dark days of the "Unaccountables."

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Trailblazer in the Surveillance Business Comes In From the Cold, November 18, 2005

By 

James M. Atkinson "Spy Hunter, Electronics En... (Gloucester, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Odyssey of an Eavesdropper: My Life in Electronic Countermeasures and My Battle Against the FBI (Hardcover)

During the Summer of 1966 an electronics genius accidently stumbled into the intelligence business and virtually over night became a legend within the halls of the FBI, CIA, and intelligence agencies all over the globe. This book is the memoirs of Martin L. Kaiser, known also simply as "Marty". His little black boxes has brought down entire governments or administrations, and even almost 40 years in the business his products are as revered and sought after as Holy Relics. For the first time ever an insider who supplied classifed bugs for decades comes in from the cold, and exposes the soft underbelly of corruption within the CIA, NSA, and FBI. Hollywood has even produced two movies about this quiet genius without actually mentioning him by name. But now the governments secrets are out of the bag, and this book lays them bare. The book is filed from cover to cover with explicit details of how the intelligence agencies operate, how they buy their toys, how their little games are played, and what happens to people to expose corruption.

The author also discusses his consulting work for everal movies including "The Conversation" and "Enemy of the State", both of which are based on his life. We also get to share both his joy, and his pain in this book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity?, February 5, 2006

By 

Carol I. Hoenig (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Odyssey of an Eavesdropper: My Life in Electronic Countermeasures and My Battle Against the FBI (Hardcover)

Our government has many patriotic symbols. For instance, the CIA seal signifies strength, alertness, defense and intelligence. Every color and symbol on the FBI seal also has a special significance, the dominant blue representing justice. When Michael German was an FBI agent and discovered the mishandling of a terror investigation going on in Florida, he reported it to his boss. Instead of using the information for the protection of our country, German was ridiculed and retaliated by the bureau. When Joseph Wilson reacted to the inaccurate sixteen words that President Bush incorporated in his State of the Union address, Wilson's Central Intelligent Agent wife, Valerie Plame, was outed--by who exactly is still being determined. After being with the FBI for twenty-four years, Jane Turner was escorted from her office for complaining about various wrongdoings of her agency. Of course these people knew the risk having this type of career, but it is unlikely that they thought their own government agency, characterized by the heraldry of the aforementioned seal, would be the one to turn against them.

Unlike the previous names, Martin Kaiser III was not an agent but a businessman who had a successful career in electronic surveillance. His clients included the CIA, DEA, Secret Service, Army, Navy, Air Force Intelligence and the FBI. Kaiser's business was lucrative until his 1975 testimony before the House of Representatives proved to nearly ruin his life and career.

In ODYSSEY OF AN EAVESDROPPER: My Life in Electronic Countermeasures and My Battle Against the FBI, (Carroll & Graf, January 10, 2006) Kaiser, along with co-author Robert S. Stokes, details how he was subjected to one court appearance after another with all sorts of harassments in between after he had exposed certain pricing invoice irregularities for his equipment and the services he provided for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After his testimony, FBI agents attempted to get Kaiser to repudiate what he'd said under oath. There was also the sudden appearance of an auditor who interrogated Kaiser, making the timing seem less like a coincidence and more like instigation on someone's behalf. There were also unsuccessful attempts to set Kaiser up for violations of wiretapping.

Due to his knowledge of state-of-the-art gadgets, Kaiser served as a technical adviser for the movies The Conversation and Enemy of the State. That said, this fascinating memoir is filled with details in electronic surveillance that will certainly intrigue James Bond aficionados. However, unlike the resilient Ian Fleming character, even though he was vindicated, Kaiser, who was known in the industry as the Michelangelo of Electronic Surveillance, did suffer damage due to the vendetta against him. Besides having to spend years to clear his reputation, which drastically hurt his career, his family life also took some major hits. His story begs the question, how can this happen when the FBI's motto states: Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity?

One of the more alarming elements in Odyssey of an Eavesdropper is the final chapter titled The Future of Privacy in America-Or What's Left of It. Kaiser warns that we need to look more closely at some of the technological wonders that can palliate some of life's everyday annoyances. Perhaps we should be more concerned and less amazed that a security system miles away is able to open a locked car door. And, even though those identification tags that are embedded in clothing can track the shipment, they may also be able to track the person eventually wearing the garment. With these ostensible conveniences, we are rapidly forfeiting our privacy. Granted, we are long past 1984, but Orwell's protagonist, Winston Smith with his fear of Big Brother, is no longer just a cautionary tale. There's really no turning back in today's computer age, and Kaiser's very real account should be the reminder.

Michael German resigned from the FBI in June 2004. Valerie Plame, who recently retired from the CIA, is now a household name. And Jane Turner has taken legal action to make the FBI accountable for its misconduct. Martin Kaiser is now the president of his own electronics company, as well as the author of an extremely relevant memoir, published by Carroll & Graf, which also happened to be the publisher for Joseph Wilson's The Politics of Truth. Bravo for bringing these stories to print, but the questions remain: Is it because of these patriotic symbols that our own court system is hesitant to protect the whistleblowers? If so, will it be only a matter of time when these stories are kept from publication due to so-called lack of patriotism?