Mrs. Thatcher’s Spy
It is not for nothing that John Le Carre
noted in a front cover blurb “the best true spy story I have ever read.” Ben
Macintyre’s biography of KGB Colonel and MI6 spy Oleg Gordievsky reads like a
novel. His description of Gordievsky’s exfiltration from Moscow by MI6 under
the watchful eyes of the KGB has all the hallmarks of a tension-packed
Hollywood spy drama and that alone is worth the price of the book.
The story begins with Gordievsky growing
up as the son of a KGB general who becomes disillusioned with life under Soviet
communism. He follows in his father’s footsteps and is recruited by the KGB. He
is initially stationed in Denmark and there he is willingly recruited by
MI6. As he rises in the KGB bureaucracy
he become ever more important to the British. Along the way he marries,
divorces remarries and has two daughters.
Where Gordievsky enters history is when
he becomes a senior political officer in the KGB’s London rezindentura in the
early 1980s. While there he reports to his MI6 handlers that the Soviets
actually believed that the United States was going to launch a first strike on
the Soviet Union. So paranoid is KGB head and future general secretary Yuri Andropov
that he sets up Operation RYaN to find evidence of plans for a first strike. As
in most bureaucracies the KGB spies produce such evidence thereby exacerbating
his paranoia. The same thing happened with the CIA when it was ordered to look
for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq twenty years later.
Compounding the problem was that at
about the same time in 1983 NATO ordered up its massive Able Archer exercise which
was a practice drill to deter a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. To the
Russians it looked like a precursor to war. It was Gordievsky who tells the
British of the Russian fears who then relay that information to the CIA. Several
authors have noted that had not both sides deescalated, nuclear war was on the
table. Gordievsky’s information to both Thatcher and Reagan was influential in bringing about from the de-escalation.
As the Soviet heir apparent, Gorbachev
met with Margaret Thatcher in London in 1984. Here Gordievsky’s role is crucial
because be briefed both Thatcher and
Gorbachev as MI6 spy and KGB political officer on negotiating strategy. The
meeting was a big success and Thatcher noted that Gorbachev was a man she could
do business with. The end of the Cold War was now more than a pipe dream. Later,
after his exfiltration, Gordievsky meets with Reagan to advise him on
negotiating strategy for an upcoming meeting with Gorbachev.
But wait, what caused Gordievsky to be exfiltrated
from Moscow, especially after he was made the Rezident of the KGB’s London
office? In very short form the CIA is jealous of MI6 and wants to know who
their source is. They soon find out and his name ends up on the desk of Aldrich
Ames who was selling secrets to KGB officers in Washington. His betrayal leads
to the death of scores of CIA operatives and sources in Russia and ultimately
to the KGB investigation of Gordievsky. In Macintyre’s view Ames is a traitor
who sold out his country for big bucks and Gordievsky is an honorable spy
seeking to better his country.
This is a great book that I couldn’t put
down and I highly recommend it. As an added plus you learn quite a bit of
trade craft.
For the full Amazon URL see: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1DYCZTEAIL4ZH/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv
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