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Soviet and Nazi Defectors: Counter-Intelligence in WW2 and the Cold War

A well-informed defector is the most dangerous counter-intelligence commodity because it takes a spy to catch a spy. Very occasionally, an agent, especially a mole or an intelligence professional, will make a mistake and incriminate themselves, but usually it is a denunciation, a tip, or a vague clue from a defector that will provide the vital information required to expose the source of a leak. Relying on recently-declassified intelligence files and interviews with defectors, their handlers, their families, and their victims, Nigel West has analysed nine examples of wartime and postwar defections to shed new light on the phenomenon.

Classified!: The Adventures of a Molehunter

Over the past fifty years, Nigel West has been involved in almost every espionage-related investigation, breakthrough or revelation that you can think of. His molehunts have led to the unmasking of spies within MI5, MI6 and the CIA and the identification of numerous others – some of whom were crucial to the Allied victory in the Second World War and would have died without any public recognition if not for him.

Hitler's Trojan Horse

As the Second World War progressed and defeat for Hitler's Third Reich in all theatres became ever more certain, the tight Abwehr network, built so effectively by its head, Admiral Canaris, began to unravel. High-level defections to the Allies and bitter disputes with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) added to a collapse in morale.

Hitler's Nest of Vipers

Hitler's Nest of Vipers

Modern historians have consistently condemned the Abwehr, Germany's military intelligence service, and its SS equivalent, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), as incompetent and even corrupt organizations. However, newly declassified MI5, CIA and US Counterintelligence Corps files shed a very different light on the structure, control and capabilities of the German intelligence machine in Europe, South America, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Spies who changed history

Spies who changed history

Spies have made an extraordinary impact on the history of the 20th Century, but fourteen in particular can be said to have been demonstrably important. As one might expect, few are household names, and it is only with the benefit of recently declassified files that we can now fully appreciate the nature of their contribution.

Historical Dictionary of Cold War Intelligence

A new perspective on Cold War intelligence operations conducted by the principal protagonists, based on recently declassified American, British, NATO and Soviet documents.

The Kompromat Conspiracy: The Truth About the Trump Dossier

The Trump Dossier caused one of the great political scandals of the era, with a former MI6 officer revealing information from what he claimed was his network of sources inside the Kremlin. He duped the FBI, conned the media, wrecked careers and tarnished the Anglo-American "special relationship". How did he do it? Who else was involved? Why did the FBI attempt a cover-up?

MI5: British Security Service Operations 1909-45

The shadowy world of counter-intelligence is startlingly illuminated by this history of MI5. The true story of the most secret counter-espionage organisation in the world

Codeword Overlord

Codeword OVERLORD

Written by acclaimed espionage historian Nigel West, Codeword Overlord is a vital reassessment of Axis behaviour in one of the most dramatic episodes of the twentieth century.

Cold War Spymaster

Cold War Spymaster

Guy Liddell was the Director of MI5's counter-espionage B Division, and from September 1939 to May 1945 he maintained a personal diary. Within its pages, details of virtually every important event that had any intelligence significance during the Second World War were recorded. These diaries have recently been declassified and published, being edited by Nigel West.

Churchill's Spy Files

Churchill's Spy Files: MI5's Top-Secret Wartime Reports

Churchill's original spy files unravelled by intelligence expert Nigel West

Spycraft Secrets

Spycraft Secrets: An Espionage A-Z

Tradecraft is the term applied to techniques used by intelligence personnel to assist them in conducting their operations and, like many other professions, the espionage business has developed its own rich lexicon. In the real, sub rosa world of intelligence-gathering, each bit of jargon acts as a veil of secrecy over particular types of activity, and in this book acclaimed author Nigel West explains and give examples of the lingo in action.

Cold War Counterfeit Spies

Cold War Counterfeit Spies

The Cold War, with its air of mutual fear and distrust and the shadowy world of spies and secret agents, gave publishers the chance to produce countless stories of espionage, treachery and deception. What Nigel West has discovered is that the most egregious deceptions were in fact the stories themselves.

Double Cross in Cairo

Double Cross in Cairo

As part of the infamous Double Cross operation, Jewish double agent Renato Levi proved to be one of the Allies' most devastating weapons in World War Two. Double Cross in Cairo uncovers the heroic exploits of one of the Second World War's most closely guarded secrets.

MI5 in the Great War

MI5 in the Great War

In 1921, MI5 commissioned a comprehensive, top-secret review of the organisation's operations during the First World War. Never intended for circulation outside of the government, all seven volumes of this fascinating and unique document remained locked away in MI5's registry ... until now.

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