The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal

This is the review from CIA Studies in Intelligence Volume 60 No.1 Unclassified EditionThe Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal David E. Hoffman. (Doubleday, 2015), 312 pp., index, endnotes.Reviewed by Nicholas Dujmovic (CIA Staff Historian)The title of David Hoffman’s excellent new book, The Billion Dollar Spy, unintentionally (I think) evokes a famous item from Studies in Intelligence many years ago, “The Million Dollar Photograph.”[1] According to the late Dino Brugioni, CIA director Allen Dulles was impressed by the ability of the U-2 spy plane to dispel the Eisenhower administration’s fear that the Soviet bomber force was large enough to pose an existential threat to the United States—the so-called “bomber gap” of the mid-1950s. The key photograph, in Brugioni’s telling, was a U-2 shot of the Saratov-Engels airfield, which showed fewer bombers than had been estimated. The “bomber gap” disappeared. Dulles was said to have asked Frank Wisner, his chief of espionage and covert operations, “How much would you have paid for the information in this photography?” After a moment, Wisner answered, “About a million dollars.”Whether or not the Dulles-Wisner exchange took place,[2] the greater point is valid—that intelligence activities, though difficult and often expensive, can be extremely valuable for the national security and even, in a cost-benefit sense, a profitable economic investment. President Eisenhower in his memoir praised the U-2 program for depriving the Soviets of the capability to use “international blackmail,” and intelligence historian Christopher Andrew has claimed that the U-2 “saved the American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and spared the world a major escalation in the arms race.”[3]Hoffman’s narrative concerns the Cold War espionage case of Adolf Tolkachev, a Soviet electronics engineer who wanted to inflict the greatest possible harm on the Soviet Union by giving the United States highly classified information on sensitive military projects. Tolkachev worked as a valuable CIA asset for seven years, from 1978 to 1985. Just how valuable was he? The US Air Force estimated that Tolkachev’s intelligence saved roughly $2 billion in research and development (121)—and this was in mid-1980, just two years into Tolkachev’s run of espionage. Moreover, as Hoffman makes clear later in the book, the overall benefit to the United States went far beyond this dollar figure.As is the style of histories published these days, The Billion Dollar Spy opens not at the beginning of the story but with a dramatic event briefly recounted—in this case, a CIA officer’s attempt in December 1982 to recontact Tolkachev, who had not been able to communicate for several months. This anachronistic approach works—the vignette is gripping and very effectively draws the reader into the stressful, high-stakes business of clandestine intelligence operations.There is much to like about this book. Almost every chapter is a gem. Hoffman begins the narrative proper with a superb summary of the Cold War espionage context, including the challenges CIA faced in trying to gather intelligence from the Soviet Union. Some of those challenges came not from the powerful efficiency of Soviet counterintelligence but from the US government itself. Former Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Richard Helms recalls that the pressure from US policymakers “ranged from repeated instructions to do ‘something’ to exasperated demands to try ‘anything’” (7). Even so, for many years CIA operations against the Soviet Union were hamstrung by excessive caution.That began to change in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when a younger generation of operations officers, chafing under the prevailing institutional caution, developed new operational methods they argued would enable them to operate in the so-called “denied areas.” In chapter two, Hoffman introduces the Tolkachev operation as a turning point for Moscow Station, as one prize case ends (that of TRIGON, Aleksander Ogorodnik, a valuable CIA asset who was caught and committed suicide) and an uncertain one begins, as Tolkachev makes the first of several attempts to contact CIA. Chapter three details Moscow Station’s frustration at having to maintain an operational “stand-down” by a CIA leadership (DCI Stansfield Turner) that discounted the value of human spies and that wanted no “flaps.”Hoffman relates Tolkachev’s persistence in trying to make contact, the unwillingness of Headquarters to pursue a potential KGB set-up that would result in the expulsion of CIA officers, and Moscow Station chief Gus Hathaway’s arguments to Headquarters that the potential intelligence was worth the risk. Tipping the balance in early 1978 was a timely Pentagon request to CIA for any intelligence about Soviet avionics and weapons systems—precisely the information Tolkachev was offering. Contact was approved.In describing Moscow Station’s first approaches to Tolkachev, Hoffman emphasizes the care taken with every espionage case: “Running a spy was undertaken with the concentration and attention to detail of a moon shot”—nothing was left to chance. “Photographs and maps were prepared of each site; surveillance detection runs plotted; scenarios scripted and rehearsed; and the question was asked again and again: What could go wrong?” (69).Hoffman has an insider’s feel for how the spying business is conducted. His description of dialogues between the field and Headquarters (59–63) illustrates the inherent and eternal tension in that relationship. Chapter 11 (“Going Black”) is the best primer on the hows and whys of SDRs—surveillance detection routines or routes—I have seen anywhere, and it is must-reading for any would-be case officer. “On a surveillance detection run, the case officer had to be as agile as a ballet dancer, as confounding as a magician, and as attentive as an air traffic controller” (140). Hoffman covers innovation in operational technology with a passage on the Discus agent communications system—CIA essentially invented text messaging in the late 1970s—and relates the operational pros and cons of using it (111–14).At the same time, Hoffman is very good about the personal side of espionage. Chapters 12 and 13 delve into Tolkachev’s background and motivations for betraying the Soviet system and also highlight the importance for CIA of treating a spy as a human being with personal considerations, not just “a robot with a Pentax [camera].” Likewise, Hoffman’s portrayals of the CIA officers handling Tolkachev are sensitive and personal. When Tolkachev is finally caught—as a result of the treason of former CIA officer Edward Lee Howard (a well-told sub-story)—Hoffman’s straightforward and unsentimental descriptions of Tolkachev’s arrest (235–39) and sentencing, along with that of his last meeting with his son (246–47) are nonetheless almost heartbreaking.Was running such a spy worth the risk? In addition to the $2 billion estimate by the US Air Force in 1982, Hoffman points to the one-sided scorecard of its fighter jets against Iraq’s Soviet MiGs in 1991—39 to zero—and when aerial engagements in the Balkans are counted, the score becomes US Air Force 48, Soviet built fighters zero (254). All this, Hoffman persuasively argues, was the result of many factors, but one of them was the intelligence provided by a brave electronics engineer who wanted to help the West.Others have written about the Tolkachev case in shorter, more focused accounts, including former CIA officers Barry Royden, Bob Wallace, and Milt Bearden.[4] Royden emphasized the operational tradecraft used, while Wallace’s narrative is mostly about the technical means to facilitate Tolkachev’s espionage. Bearden’s treatment is episodic and after-the-fact, focusing on the counterintelligence aspects of this case among many other cases compromised in 1985 during the “Year of the Spy.” All these have value; indeed, Hoffman is aware of these sources and cites them all. Hoffman’s achievement is to integrate these threads into an impressive tapestry that includes much new information from his access to newly declassified CIA documents (remarkably including declassified cables between CIA Headquarters and Moscow Station) as well as from his contacts with Tolkachev family members and from extensive interviews with CIA participants in the operation.[5] It helps that Hoffman previously served (1995–2001) as Moscow bureau chief for the Washington Post; The Billion Dollar Spy benefits both from his knowledge of the city and from his ability to tell a compelling story that brings out the human factor in espionage operations.[6]After 10 years of reading and reviewing intelligence books as a CIA historian, I’ve seen the gamut. A few are poisonous—Legacy of Ashes comes to mind—but most are at least satisfactory, with good points as well as flaws. Very few are nearly flawless, demonstrating the author’s mastery of the subject: factual accuracy; insight into the atmospherics of the business, i.e., what it is like; and a fair assessment of what it all means. I would put Hoffman’s Billion Dollar Spy into this category of the best intelligence books available.[7] Every intelligence officer should read it.Footnotes[1]Dino Brugioni, “The Million Dollar Photograph,” Studies in Intelligence 23, no. 2 (Summer 1979): 32–33.[2]The photograph in the Studies piece was taken by a British U-2 mission in late 1959, more than three years after U-2 imagery had dispelled the “bomber gap” and during the period when CIA was trying to resolve the “missile gap”—alleged Soviet superiority in strategic nuclear-armed missiles.[3]Dwight D. Eisenhower, The White House Years, vol. II, Waging Peace: 1956–1961 (Doubleday, 1965), 547. Christopher Andrew, For the President’s Eyes Only (Harper Collins, 1995), 243.[4]Barry Royden, “Tolkachev: A Worthy Successor to Penkovskiy,” Studies in Intelligence 47 no. 3 (2003): 5–33. Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton, Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA’s Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda (Penguin, 2008), 119–37. Milt Bearden and James Risen, The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA’s Final Showdown with the KGB (Random House, 2003), passim.[5]Hoffman makes a few of the cables available on his website, [...]. All told, CIA declassified 944 pages of mostly operational material. Curiously, none of it is posted on CIA’s public website.[6]A former CIA historian, Ben Fischer, has written a speculative article dismissing Tolkachev as a KGB deception operation; one of Fischer’s few factual statements is that Tolkachev’s workplace was too far from his home to photograph documents during the day as he claimed. Without citing Fischer or his theory, Hoffman nevertheless uses his knowledge of Moscow to demonstrate that Tolkachev could easily go home from work on his lunch break and photograph documents. Benjamin B. Fischer, “The Spy Who Came in for the Gold: A Skeptical View of the GTVANQUISH Case,” The Journal of Intelligence History 18, no. 1 (Summer 2008): 29-54.[7]My only quibble—and it takes nothing away from what Hoffman has achieved with his book—is his recounting of the Soviet gas pipeline sabotage story. CIA allegedly modified pipeline technology bound for the Soviet Union, creating conditions in 1982 that resulted in a spectacular explosion and fire. Though at least one such gas pipeline disaster occurred in 1982, CIA apparently had nothing to do with it. Policy discussions about such covert action went on for years, into 1986, but no decisions were made or findings signed, in large part because of the ethical implications. Yet it remains a persistent myth.

There are a lot of James Bond films and George Smiley stories but just how much spying actually went on in the cold war? Quite a lot apparently! This is the story of how the CIA began to run agents in one of the most hostile cities in the world; Moscow. They were eventually able to run an agent called Adolf Tolkachev who gave the US information about current and future Soviet radar systems. This doesn't sound too exciting but this information conservatively saved the US a billion dollars in development cost and possibly made the F-15 the successful fighter it is. Hoffman skillfully combines narrative and quotes from actual documents from the archives. He builds an impression of the tension, constant paranoia and careful spycraft required to run agents in Moscow and the toll this took on agents, spy runners, and spy masters. This is a great introduction to the world of agents and counter-agents, dead letter drops and other tricks and with its excellent footnotes gives a good idea of what to read next.

I read "The Billion Dollar Spy" (BDS) on my Amazon Kindle, so first, some comments on the ebook quality. The formatting was fine, and I did not notice any typos. There are a number of very interesting black and white photos in the back of the book, and I suggest the reader start with those. There are also two maps in the front, but they were very small, and virtually impossible for me to read - but this was not a big deal. The pages were not numbered, and so the reader must rely on the unsatisfying percent read statistic, and in BDS this is somewhat deceiving. The text of the book ends at the 78% point; the balance is notes, acknowledgements, etc. This surprised me as the ending came on much sooner than expected. So, although there are some pluses here, I grade the ebook quality only FAIR due to the page numbering nonsense. This is a shame since the story that is told here by David E. Hoffman is so excellent.I have read much of all the fictional spy novelist biggies - Littell, Deighton, Cumming, Le Carre (when he was fun to read, e.g. "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"), Ignatius, McCarry, and not one of their stories is as exciting as Hoffman's real-life tale of Adolf Tolkachev, a Soviet radar specialist. The story takes place mostly in Moscow from the late 70s until the mid 80s. It begins when Tolkachev slips a note to a U.S. embassy official sitting in his car, offering to turn over highly classified technical info to the U.S. on an on-going basis. This presents a bit of a quandary for all the experts back at Langley - is this offer legitimate or is it a ruse to ensnare one of our "diplomats" in an embarrassing trap? And so for the next several months it is left to Tolkachev to convince the CIA that his offer is genuine. And so begins a high stakes four player chess game - Tolkachev, CIA agents assigned to the embassy in Moscow, CIA Langley headquarters, and the ever present but frequently bumbling KGB.Hoffman discloses in exciting yet painstaking step by step detail the efforts that ensued during a pre-personal computer, pre-cell phone time. It was an age of miniature cameras, dead drops, disguises, fake building passes, marks left on buildings, signals as simple as a kitchen light left on at the noon hour. I was most surprised by the active participation of many 'diplomat' wives - driving cars through the dark of Moscow to drop their husbands near meet points, replacing his silhouette with a wigged blow up doll. Many times meetings were called off at the last seconds due to a suspicious presence in the shadows. Such postponements might mean delays of months before the next exchange could take place.Why did Tolkachev do it? What was his primary motivation? Initially, it was thought to be money. He kept pressing for more money. Stacks and stacks of rubels. Tolkachev';s information was proving priceless - Hoffman does an excellent job of showing why from a big picture perspective throughout the story. The CIA was reluctant, not only because of the obvious budgetary issue, but for security reasons. If Tolkachev were to be caught with hundreds of thousands of rubles he would not be able to explain it, given his monthly salary of less than 500 rubles. Secondly, if he were to spend it, neighbors and others would question his new found wealth and perhaps betray him to the KGB. Hoffman also explains what it was like to live in Moscow during those days, a time of incredible shortages and long lines. So there was a Catch-22 here......what would he do with the money if he would have difficulty spending it?Another issue surfaced. From the very beginning, Tolkachev wanted a carefully disguised, yet easily accessible suicide pill in the event he was caught. Again, the CIA had reservations for a number of reasons. The back and forth on this issue goes on for years and the arguments as well as some history, are very fascinating.And than there's the ending. It's incredible, and I will leave it at that.Hoffman was a journalist, and spent some time with the Washington Post. He is an excellent story teller and I doubt anyone else could have done a better job with this material. The tension is very high throughout (not true of some classic spy novels) and in addition to all the intriguing stuff I mention above, Hoffman also weaves in some history about other cases that gives the reader a sense of total immersion with the subject matter.Excellent, highly recommended.

The real deal --- true story, reads like fiction, well told. A very good read...

Published in 2015, The Billion Dollar Spy is an immersive nonfiction thriller that tells the incredible true story of the CIA’s most valuable Soviet asset of the Cold War era. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David E. Hoffman, this page-turning spy biography brings to light classified details of one of the most important intelligence coups in US history.Hoffman gained unprecedented access to declassified documents and key figures involved to reconstruct the riveting saga of Adolf Tolkachev, a Soviet scientist who spied for the United States from the 1970s until his death in 1986. Tolkachev was an engineer who worked in a top-secret design laboratory. He was an expert in airborne radar and worked very deep inside the Soviet military apparatus. Through meticulous research and vivid storytelling, Hoffman transports readers back in time to experience the high-stakes cat-and-mouse game that Tolkachev played with the KGB as he risked everything to provide top-secret information to the CIA.The book opens by introducing Tolkachev, an electronic engineer working at a top-secret Soviet military installation outside Moscow in the 1970s. Driven by discontent with the oppressive Soviet system and desire to promote world peace, he makes contact with the CIA through anonymous letters. Thus begins a years-long covert relationship that yields a treasure trove of intelligence on Soviet weapons technology, some of which the KGB was unaware had been compromised.Hoffman skillfully captures the nuanced psychology of Tolkachev, portraying him as a complex figure motivated by idealism yet also ambition and desire for prestige in spying. Through documents and firsthand accounts, the reader gains insight into what drove Tolkachev to undertake the immense personal risks of being a mole, even as his actions remained mysterious to his family and coworkers. His motivations feel profoundly human despite the extreme stakes.Meanwhile, the CIA case officers who directed Tolkachev - collectively referred to as "Ramon" - receive in-depth examination. Hoffman reconstructs their ingenious spy craft methods for secretly meeting Tolkachev in dead-drops and brush passes, from disguise to handling one-time pads for encrypted messages. The operations were handled meticulously yet often nearly went wrong, keeping readers on the edge of their seats.Tolkachev’s rolls of microfilm provided America with invaluable strategic advantage during the Cold War’s most perilous years, exposing everything from new Soviet bomber designs to weaknesses in their air defense systems. Using formerly classified documents, Hoffman explains the profound impacts on US policy and defense programs. At the same time, the KGB was always hunting for the mole, conducting surveillance on all CIA agents in search of the link.Woven throughout the geopolitical backdrop is the human drama. Tolkachev lived a constant double life, torn between family and fatherland yet unable to share his secret work even with his wife. Meanwhile, the CIA officers struggled with distance and secrecy from their handler roles. In one heart-wrenching scene, a case officer's attempt to visit Tolkachev's family without revealing their connection highlights the personal toll of their dangerous work.Tragically, in 1986 the KGB finally closes in on Tolkachev. In a nail-biting finale, Hoffman chronicles the spy's final risky dead-drops and the KGB's surveillance catch-up before they discover his identity. The epilogue explores the aftermath, from changed US-Russia diplomatic relations to the enduring secrecy surrounding Tolkachev even after the Cold War's end. Throughout, Hoffman handles potentially dry historical and technical subjects with pace and resonance.What makes The Billion Dollar Spy such a tour de force is Hoffman's uncanny ability to imbue true events with all the pulse-pounding suspense of a masterful novel. From first page to last, he commands rapt attention through intimate character portraits, globetrotting locales and propulsive tension that seems to defy the known conclusion. The book has set a new high bar for the nonfiction spy genre.In summary, David E. Hoffman has produced a nonfiction spy thriller that will enthrall intelligence aficionados and casual readers alike with its brilliant reconstruction of an espionage Cold War epic. Bringing to light secrets kept hidden for decades, The Billion Dollar Spy shines a revealing light on sacrifice, loyalty and geopolitical upheaval through the lens of one man's courageous betrayal. With its breakneck pacing, vivid storytelling and profound research, it stands out as a true tour de force of narrative nonfiction. This landmark work has ensured that Adolf Tolkachev's legacy will finally receive the recognition it deserves.

Very good reading, just shows how brave some people are and how they feel about their country. Well researched and we'll written.

Outstanding writing. I was pleasantly surprised by the subject matter's authenticity. If a writer hasn't taken the time to really understand this esoteric field, they can easily turn off folks in the industry. Great writing and storytelling and a hell of a true spy tale! Actual case officers like this book and the various legacy Moscow Station Chiefs are today internally regarded as icons. The only book I consider marginally better than BDS is MacIntyre's THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR. And not by much. But BDS is 10/10.

I found this a most informative and enthralling account of a Russsian KGB man who found the courage to spy for the West.