Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War
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Comrade J, written by the bestselling author of Family of Spies and The Hot House, is the the remarkable true story of the man who ran Russia's postcold war spy program in America. Spymaster, defector, double and triple agent, this is a direct account of what the man known only as Comrade J did in the United States after we all assumed the spying was over and of what Putin and Russia continue to do today. The Barnes & Noble Review Sergei Tretyakov, the Comrade J of this fascinating book's title, was Russia's top spy in America from 1995 to 2000. During his more than 120 hours speaking with author Peter Earley, the New York-based Tretyakov describes exactly how Russian intelligence (the SVR) successfully recruited intelligence sources inside the UN and the United States, and used this intelligence to undermine American interests. Tretyakov, for example, tells Earley exactly how the SVR infiltrated the UN's Oil-for-Food program, created to help the Iraqi people, and stole half a billion dollars from it, money that went directly to Russia's ruling oligarchy. Tretyakov also recruited UN diplomats from Germany, Turkey, and Sweden to garner secret intelligence that helped damage American interests. Tretyakov ultimately grew disillusioned serving Russia's corrupt, money-grubbing leadership. He felt his work no longer served the Russian people, but only undemocratic strongmen like Presidents Yeltsin and Putin: "it became immoral to serve them, and I didn't want to be associated with them." In 2000, Tretyakov defected to the US, offering thousands of secret Russian documents and the identities of hundreds of previously-unknown Russian intelligence sources. Comrade J's primary message is that Russia is not America's friend, and "is doing everything it can today to undermine and embarrass the US." Earley's gripping narrative may be the most absorbing, detailed account ever written about foreign intelligence activities on American soil; Comrade J also offers a stunning indictment of the present "thuggish" Russian regime under President Vladimir Putin. --Chuck Leddy
