Ruse: Undercover with FBI Counterintelligence [Hardcover]

Robert Eringer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2008

For nearly ten years beginning in 1993, Robert Eringer lived a clandestine life of intrigue, conducting a spectrum of covert operations for the FBI’s foreign counterintelligence division. His primary assignment: to lure American traitor Edward Lee Howard to capture. About to be arrested by the FBI for spying for Moscow, CIA officer Howard defected to the Soviet Union in 1985. But then he wanted to tell his story to the world. Utilizing cover as a book publishing consultant, the author gained Howard’s trust as his editor and confidant. As Eringer’s skillfully orchestrated ruse progressed, he pierced not only Howard’s inner circle of KGB cronies—including the KGB’s former chairman, making him an unwitting intelligence asset—but also Howard’s Cuban intelligence contact network in Havana. Only at the eleventh hour did a highly politicized Justice Department order Howard’s “extraordinary rendition” scrapped; he died mysteriously under ominous circumstances in Moscow in 2002. Nonetheless, the secrets Eringer gathered shed light on such sensitive espionage cases as the treachery of senior CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames and FBI traitor Robert Hanssen. In addition to his counter-espionage docket, Eringer undertook assignments for the FBI’s criminal division, including a ruse he devised to hasten the extradition from France of notorious convicted murderer Ira Einhorn. Ruse tells the unknown side of a significant piece of U.S. intelligence history, an unvarnished insider’s view of the FBI between the end of the Cold War and the events of 9/11.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Eringer has had a wide-ranging career as a private intelligence consultant, undercover operative, journalist, novelist, editor, and literary agent. Before going undercover for the FBI, he was an investigative reporter, once infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan. Since parting with the Bureau, Eringer has created and directed an intelligence service for Prince Albert II of Monaco. He divides his time among London, Monte Carlo, Washington, D.C., and Santa Barbara. His website is www.roberteringer.com.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc. (March 31, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597971898
• ISBN-13: 978-1597971898
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,130,031 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile, Irreverent, March 23, 2008

By 

John Cawley (Perrysburg Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ruse: Undercover with FBI Counterintelligence (Hardcover)

It's a first person narrative of the author's various stings and counterintelligence gambits working with, but outside of, the FBI. An interesting and worthwhile story in most respects.

It's a quick, easy read, and it is immediately clear the author doesn't take himself too seriously. When it comes to the task at hand, however, the sting, or ruse, is pursued with a serious, inward diligence as he sets up the likes of Edward Lee Howard, Vladimir Kryuchkov and others without diplomatic immunity.

I have a hard time not liking anyone who refers to Vladimir Kryuchkov as "Uncle Vlad"--wry, irreverent and metaphorically accurate.

For readers of the intelligence/espionage genre, there are several takeaways.

1. It contains new information, if not in huge quantities, certainly from the original perspective as a freelancer outside of (but loyal to) the U.S. and its intelligence community. It begs the question of the future role of commercial intelligence providers. Give me Stratfor or give me death.

2. The author's anecdotes sum up the adage: "Counter-intelligence with penetration is like shooting fish in a barrel; counter-intelligence without it is like knife fighting in the dark." -JJA.

3. The onset of paralyzing, initiative and spirit crushing bureaucracy in the FBI's middle management is fatal. One hopes a copy of the book is sent to Robert Mueller, his Directors and Deputy Directors on down through the ranks of Division Five. And maybe a senator or three.

Two last points.

The story, by its nature, is hard to corroborate. The man whose cover and lure was a book publisher now publishes his own book...a last ruse? The editors can help by including a foreword or pithy endorsement on the jacket, perhaps by Former Spymaster or some such. Something to vouchsafe character and credibility. Trust but verify.

Sadly, there is no index.

- Note to Editors: it was Russian journalist Artyom Borovik, not Borovin, that died under suspicious circumstances (referenced in the epilogue). RIP.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ruse, March 16, 2008

By 

Helene F. Bidwell (Santa Barbara, CA.,USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ruse: Undercover with FBI Counterintelligence (Hardcover)

Fighting the good fight, writer warrior Robert Eringer has served his country well not only pursuing and gaining the confidence of the CIA traitor, Edward Lee Howard, who defected to the Soviet Union in 1985 giving up important US secrets to the KGB, but Eringer also managed to wind his way through the tangled bureaucracy of the FBI , to bring to American justice psychopath Ira Einhorn, who had been hiding out in a small town in France after murdering his wife,Holly Maddux, and, on top of that, to achieve his goals in his own wry way which included traveling first class,staying in the finest hotels, enjoying great wines and good food and laughs no matter that he sometimes faced the devil himself. His book RUSE, due out in April is a great read with a couple of laugh out loud moments and it proves once again that truth can be stranger than fiction.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read!, March 30, 2008

By 

M. Van Stein (Santa Barbara, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ruse: Undercover with FBI Counterintelligence (Hardcover)

Ruse is fascinating! A page turner to the end. The author's keen intellect and abundant patience in setting up and orchestrating the various scenarios is intriguing and enlightening. There are several amusing, irreverent and even laugh-out-loud moments in the book. It is interesting to note that I have known the author personally for 7 years and knew very little about this part of his life. He lives the mystery that he is so practiced at masterminding.