Customer Reviews

Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer: The True Story of the Man Who Recruited Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cherkashin was a senior KGB figure in numerous Soviet outposts all over the world during the 1970s and 80s. He had a very important stint in Washington DC where he "handled" Aldrich Ames, one of the most damaging spies in the history of the United States. The tone of this interesting book is neither adversarial nor arrogant; Cherkashin certainly didn't write this memoir in order to make himself look like the most important KGB operative in the history of the USSR, and for that we should all be thankful.

Cherkashin worked his way up through the ranks of the KGB and along the way we are exposed to the different units of the KGB, what their roles were, and the figures that led them. Sometimes the terminology and names can get a little overwhelming to those like me who aren't fully versed in the language of the spy game. Then again, I doubt there are many people, outside of ex-CIA and FBI personnel, who wouldn't have any difficulty.

Brushing aside the frequent but not too distracting names and titles, this book could easily be called "Spycatching for Dummies". Cherkashin talks candidly about the methods of recruiting a spy (hint: blackmail works wonders), handling a spy (hint: stroke their ego), and what to do when something goes wrong (hint: find a scapegoat). Machiavelli would have been proud.

That said, I really liked Cherkashin's style, everything is delivered very matter-of-factly and one is left with the distinct impression that he is telling the truth about a lot of things. He talks about the information that Ames and Hansen handed over to the Soviets and the damage that it did to US intelligence collection. What is even more amazing is that Ames and Hansen both forked over secrets for so long a period.

If you're a fan of LeCarre or James Bond films, you'll definitely enjoy this book.

In the words of Victor Cherkashin, "Aldrich Ames (CIA) was worth every penny of the $2.7 million he was paid." Moreover, Ames was indeed the "deadliest" KGB spy because he unmasked the CIA's intelligence network in the Soviet Union. However, Robert Hanssen (FBI) "was much more important (to the KGB) because he allowed the KGB to penetrate U.S. intelligence to such a degree that the KGB came to regard him as the greatest asset, surpassing Aldrich Ames," according to the author. Ironically, both Americans were "walk-ins," and were never actively recruited to betray the United States.

"Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer," by Victor Cherkashin is an outstanding narrative of how former CIA agent Ames and how former FBI agent Hanssen gave the KGB the "mother lode" of information on the United States intelligence efforts against the former Soviet Union. To America, Ames and Hanssen were monsters...but the author demonstrates how in the eyes of the KGB both men were heroes. Interestingly enough, Ames declares he cooperated with the KGB because, "he worked for an agency that deliberately overestimated Soviet Union capabilities to wrangle more money for its own operations." Hanssen basically cooperated with the KGB because he loved the danger of it and truly thought he was much too smart to get caught.

This book covers much territory. The author reports the unmasking of Soviet spies Ronald Pelton, the NSA cryptologist, former Navy sailor John Walker, and Edward Lee Howard. Cherkashin makes mention of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard but only in his description of 1985 as the "year of the spy." In conclusion, the author does an excellent job of describing how a series of lucky breaks dramatically altered the landscape of U.S. - Soviet espionage. He also does a professional job of explaining the Soviet spy strategy of observation, orientation, decision and action. Highly recommended.

Bert Ruiz

There is a large number of books dealing with Ames and Hanssen, and Cherkashin is the latest in a long line of former intelligence officers to write his memoirs. However, of all the accounts I have read, this one stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Many of these books are very dry. Here, the writing style is engaging and accessible, and allows Cherkashin's personality to show through. There's a lot of interesting background as to how Cherkashin got started with the KGB, and some of the operations he was involved in to entrap foreign businessmen in Russia during the late 1950s and 1960s, prior to moving into foreign intelligence in Beirut.

It seems one of Cherkashin's motives in writing this book was to set the record straight. In another memoir, not available in English, another KGB officer named him as the one who gave Aldrich Ames up to the Americans for money. Cherkashin goes to some lengths to reject this accusation and establish his loyalty to his former service and country.

There are some mysteries he discusses. Was Vitaly Yurchenko a real defector or was he sent to confuse the CIA by giving up Ron Pelton and Ed Howard in order to draw attention away from Hanssen, Ames and a suspected (but as yet undiscovered) fifth mole? In the main text, Cherkashin gives the impression Yurchenko was a real defector who changed his mind. But he also mentions that Yurchenko "kept the Americans guessing for years" which, possibly, was the whole point. Interestingly to this day Yurchenko refuses all interview requests and has remained in Russia.

Cherkashin also claims that on a visit to the US, after being taken ill with stomach pains at a conference and taken to hospital, he was given truth drugs by the FBI in an attempt to find out what he knew - presumably about undiscovered moles in US intelligence. I find that claim a little difficult to believe; he states that his suspicious were aroused when the doctor gave him an injection without first examining him. Given his background, and that he was not completely incapacitated, why would he have allowed this?

The memoir has obviously been in production a long time - possibly awaiting clearance from the KGB's successor agencies. Although the book was published in 2005 Cherkashin refers to Ed Howard as "living in Moscow and running a small insurance business". Howard was found dead in unexplained circumstances in July 2002.

There is also a great deal on the vicious internal politics of the KGB. Despite successfully running (from the KGB's point of view), the most productive agents since the Cambridge Five, upon his return to Moscow, Cherkashin was treated with suspicion, because these agents had revealed the extent of CIA and FBI penetration of the KGB. In the end he was unfairly pushed out of foreign intelligence.

Cherkashin touches on his experiences subsequent to the fall of the Soviet Union. It's impossible not to feel for the guy when he finds that after his forty-year career, due to rampant inflation, his pension does not cover the cost of the gas required to drive to Yasenevo to sign for it. However, the upper ranks of the KGB - and particularly foreign intelligence - were staffed by the best and brightest of Soviet society, and Cherkashin is obviously no different. After a few false starts, he ends up with his own security company employing ex-KGB special forces to protect all the new banks which sprang up to handle the profits of the 1990s privatizations in Russia.

If you buy any book about the final years of the cold war and focusing on the events of 1985, the "year of the spy", buy this one.

This is a very disturbing book on many levels, except from the view of someone like the writer---a patriotic Soviet. Not Russian, mind you, but Soviet. Vladimir Putin told us infamously, on the sixtieth anniversary of VE day, that "the collapse of the Soviet Union was one of the great tragedies of the Twentieth Century." I'm sure Vladimir Vladovich and the author get along quite well (assuming the two former KGB officers are acquainted).

What is even more disturbing is that the "Spies" Victor Cherkashin"Handled" revealed many Russians and Americans helping the CIA. Cherkashin knew they would be assasinated without trial (or at best with a mock trial). On one occasion, Cherkashin, who'd been given information from both American spies Robert Hannsen and Aldrich Ames fingering Valery Martynov as a double agent must think of a way to get him to Moscow without fleeing. With well-written detail that truly helps us get to know Martynov in a sparse half a page, we are told of how well Cherkashin knows this very young man, his wife, and two children, on whom he dotes. Cherkashin convinces Martynov he is to receive a reward in Moscow, in order to get him on the plane that will instead take him to his execution.

So why the four stars? The book is well written, but that is a minor point, unless you hate non-fiction, in which case the writing will certainly help you through it. There's a co-author, Gregory Feifer, so I don't know if Cherkashin deserves credit for that particular fact. But the dramatis personae truly come to life in a way that increases your empathy for them (if not Cherkashin). My favorite characteristic of the book, however, was the amount of detail in it. About all the aspects of the author's life. Life growing up in the Soviet Union during the "Great Patriotic War" (World War II for all non-ex-Soviets). Life in the KGB. And of course, life in the CIA, because, after all, the KGB were very good at finding that out.

Spy handler is an inside look at how the Russians engaged in Cold War espionage, and how luck and skill were equally important in trying to outwit their adversaries. It shows how spies were recruited and how some volunteered, and the lenghts taken to figure out if they were legitimate or indeed double or even triple agents. Anyone who has read any of the books on either Aldrich Ames or Robert Hannsen should consider this book a must read.

There are three sides to every story...your side, my side and the truth. Victor Cherkashin delivers a well written, fascinating and almost "folksy" version of the KGB side of the cold war. While his biases are clear, so are those of the people who have written the CIA version of events such as Antonio Mendez. In fact, part of what makes this book so fascinating is comparing the various authors' views of the same events. This memoir is a "must have" for the collections of those looking to find that mysterious "third side" of the story of the cold war.

This book is excellent. It reads like an Ian Flemming story but only better. The better part for me is that it was real. This book almost seems like a movie. The author, Victor Cherkashin is sort of like the Forest Gump of the spy world. I say that only because he seems to be in on every major case of US people spying against US. This guy saw it all, the Ames Case, Richard Hansen of the FBI, and several other cases he writes about in the book. The big and the small cases are covered. He was even in on the Clayton Lonetree case. (Marine Embassy Guard in the 80s). It was spell bounding to hear about those cases from the other side. In the book he does detail some of the information that these US spys gave up. This is information that US sources has not reported on. He goes into detail about what Ames and Hansen did to the United States. After reading the book the reader might be a death penality supporter. Those guys gave up some very, very damaging information. You also get to hear about some of the good things the CIA did in the book. You learn about the vast numbers of spies that they collected in Russia. Also he talks about some of the innovative techniques the CIA employed which the KGB caught. These are things that either the press here in the US doesn't want to talk about or the CIA won't talk about in the interest of secrecy. You also get a good does of background knowledge on how spying is conducted today. It isn't James Bond stuff but it isn't normal duties either. If you read this plan on reading it all at once. You won't be able to put the book down.

SPY HANDLER reveals a career officer's unique perspective, his experiences and insights. Often pithy, the anecdotes are charming and well-told, and the author remains remarkably objective throughout.

SPY HANDLER reminds us that ultimately the most effective spying is not mechanical but human, known as HUMINT (Human Resource Intelligence). The current market is swamped with a plethora of books on the technical side of gathering intelligence, that is, SIGINT, or Signals Intelligence. Like the obsession with forensics in law enforcement, this focus on technical expertise is only a portion of the story.

However, HUMINT is a necessary but double-edged blade. As SPY HANDLER demonstrates, HUMINT is necessary because of the "old school" value of impressions, manipulation, and the wisdom of an officer with years of experience; double-edged because most security leaks--indeed, the most notorious cases from the Soviet Union and the United States--have always involved all-too-human spies.

In a genre filled with posturing, pontificating and self-aggrandizement, SPY HANDLER stands above the rest as an excellent personal history of a significant period in recent history. Recommended for fans of intelligence books and modern history.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters are easy to identify and it isn't just a long list of KGB players during the Cold War (like the Sword & the Shield). The author isn't boastful or cynical, just straight forward.

If you're accustomed to the fantastic, fluff filled world of fiction and want to grow up then this is a good start. But don't mistake the genre of history with fiction, it's just degrading to history.

This is a fascinating account of day to day operations in the spy game - not a shoot-em-up, but searing reality of the "behind the scenes" in the espionage trade. A great read for anyone interested in Russia, the cold war, and or spies and their trade. Highly recommended.