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Wilderness of Mirrors: Intrigue, Deception, and the Secrets that Destroyed Two of the Cold War's... |
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Sales Rank: 188999
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Since its establishment in 1947, CIA has enjoyed some modest successes as an agent for regime change, but does not to appear to have been a very effective intelligence agency. Yet during the first 25 years of its existence under the freewheeling influence of the many WWII Office of Strategic Services (OSS) veterans who formed its original cadre, it certainly seems to have been an interesting place to work. Indeed its halls were apparently filled with interesting and colorful characters who may or may not have been very good intelligence officers, but who were never boring. This very good book provides the story of two such characters who were at the heart of the CIA counterintelligence program.
James Jesus Angleton was clearly CIA material with his WWII OSS experience, Ivy League education, and international background. Yet he was also by all accounts one the strangest intelligence officers CIA ever recruited. An orchid growing intellectual, Angleton began his long involvement with counterintelligence with the OSS under the tutorship of Kim Philby, who even then was a Soviet mole. He appeared to thrive on the intellectual challenges presented by convoluted and complex work that was counterintelligence. From the first he applied himself to seeking out Soviet agents within CIA with the passion and zealotry of a Jesuit converting a heretic. In the end his efforts failed to find real evidence of Soviet penetration of CIA, but in the notorious `mole' search he initiated succeeded in virtually destroying its ability to run clandestine operations against the Soviets. Ironically for all his zeal, Angleton was unable to recognize that his mentor and friend Philby was a Soviet plant in heart of the delicate U.S. and UK intelligence relationship.
William King Harvey was Angleton's complete opposite in every respect. He was a small town lawyer turned FBI agent who was sacked because his behavior came too close to breaking the number one rule of the FBI in the post war period, don't embarrasses Mr. Hoover. Somewhat like Angleton however, Harvey had developed a passion for counterintelligence work and when he was sacked was probably the FBI's leading expert in this arcane subject. The newly created CIA was struggling to create a counterintelligence program and was happy to take Harvey on board. He and Angleton quickly learned to loathe each other. The hard drinking, womanizing Harvey tended to shoot from the hip, while the aesthetic Angleton tended to move carefully and intellectually. Fortunately Harvey decided that he would like the rough and tumble of overseas work and got a plume assignment in the then divided city of Berlin where he was clearly at home. Prior to taking this assignment however, Harvey presented CIA with what in the end was an accurate argument that Philby was indeed a Soviet plant.
In the end the careers of both men were destroyed by the very things that made them effective counterintelligence agents and the sea changes that shook CIA in the 1970's
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