The codename was “WALLFLOWER” and according to noted British military historian Nigel West, it was the “most treasured possession” of the British Security Service. When finally released to the world in 2007 after decades under lock and key in the MI-5 director – general’s office safe, World War II and Cold War historians around the […]
Main Content
Read Chapter One – 1st Book
Read the first chapter of The Origins of FBI Counterintelligence, which tells the story of Nazis spies operating in America, focusing on the case of Guenther Rumrich, his arrest by the FBI, and how the case changed the FBI. Read More
Read Chapter One – 2nd Book
Read the first chapter of Hoover's Secret War Against Axis Spies: FBI Counterespionage During World War II, which tells the story of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's moment-by-moment weekend when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Read More
Buy Ray Batvinis Books
FBI in Moscow
Read about FBI Agent Louis Beck who was sent undercover to the US Embassy in Moscow during WW2 to assess the security situation in the embassy. What he found was shockingly lax security attitudes that allowed the Soviet NKVD control of the place -- and of secret US codes. Read More
FBI in Honolulu
Relive the hour-to-hour experiences of the FBI field office in Honolulu as they respond to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Read More
Future of FBI CI
Read The Future of FBI Counterintelligence Through the Lens of the Past Hundred Years, an essay by Ray Batvinis which was published in The Oxford Handbook of National Security Intelligence.
FBI Studies Blog Posts
Message from FBI Director Wray re Bob Levinson
This was sent to the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI: Many of you may have seen yesterday’s news about Bob Levinson. I wanted to take a moment of your time to talk about Bob and this reporting. Along with some of our inter-agency partners, I recently had the opportunity to meet again […]
COVID 19 Message from the FBI
This message was given to members of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, Inc.: “The FBI is in regular contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Office of Personnel Management, and other federal agencies tracking the spread of COVID-19 and is taking a comprehensive approach to prepare for […]
A Morning to Remember
November 2, 2019 was a very special day for me. That morning, I served as one of the keynote speakers commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the founding of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. The event was held in the Charles Bonaparte Auditorium at FBI headquarters in Washington. Having worked under the umbrella of the Division for […]
The First Victory
Shortly before midnight on December 12, 1941, not yet a week since the surprise Japanese attack on America’s naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Judge Mortimer W. Byers asked jury foreman, Edward Logan, to rise and read the verdict. Only a day before, in Berlin’s Reichstag, Adolf Hitler had announced to the world that Germany […]
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The spies among us: More Chinese agents digging up secrets in Florida
I was interviewed by Mario Ariza, a reporter for the Florida Sun Sentinel, for an article about the growing concern of Chinese espionage in Florida, I think you will find his piece interesting. – They’ve been caught taking photos of military installations, arrested trespassing at Mar-a-Lago, convicted of illegally exporting critical technology, and sentenced for […]
IG Report and Message from Director Wray
Here is FBI Director Christopher Wray’s letter to the Society of Former FBI Agents regarding the IG Report. Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation (pdf) To All: Today, the Office of the Inspector General released its report on certain actions by DOJ and the FBI in an […]
Arne Treholt Espionage Case
What follows is a transcript of an interview I did with Nicholas Best, a correspondent, with Norwegian Public Radio. It was done in connection with a series of broadcasts he is producing on the Arne Treholt espionage case. The well-born Norwegian diplomat and government official, now almost seventy-six years old, was convicted of high treason […]
Facts and the new “Wall of Spies” re Koval and Weisband
Read this Washington Post article then read my letter below to the author of the article regarding the facts regarding what was said about George Koval and William Weisband: The ‘Wall of Spies’: A new museum you can’t visit dedicated to American turncoats (Washington Post) In November 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin raised a glass […]
Senate Caucus Room
Today, I had a special treat when I visited the Senator Richard Russell Senate Office Building and toured the beautiful Senate Caucus Room. I was accompanied by Dr. Kate Scott, an Associate Historian with the US Senate’s Office of the Historian. The reason for the walk-through had to do with some research for a book […]
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American Citizen Arrested for Acting as an Illegal Foreign Agent of the People’s Republic of China
This arrest highlights an interesting look at Chinese espionage tradecraft: (DOJ) The Department of Justice unsealed charges today in a criminal complaint charging Xuehua Peng, also known as Edward Peng, 56, for acting as an illegal foreign agent in delivering classified United States national security information to officials of the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry […]
North American Society for Intelligence History 2019 Conference
I will be the Discussant for a counterintelligence panel at the 2019 North American Society for Intelligence History conference which will be held at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC on October 20-21, 2019. The Panel 5A: Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism will be on Monday, October 21 from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm in the […]
What Was He Thinking?
“What was she thinking”? That was a question posed by former FBI director James Comey in his 2018 memoir, A Higher Loyalty. It refers to his bewilderment over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s decision to set up an unsecure email server in the basement of her New York home to conduct American foreign policy […]
The FBI’s Role in D-Day
“Tangle within, plot and counter-plot, ruse and treachery, cross and double cross, true agent, false agent, double agent, gold and steel, the bomb, the dagger and the firing party, were interwoven in many a texture so intricate as to be incredible yet true.” —Winston Churchill This month marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the surprise landings […]
VENONA: The Opening Moments
I spent a terrific few hours the morning of 10 May 2019 at the National Cryptologic Museum chatting with Tanya Cimonetti and her husband, Bill. The name is probably unrecognizable to you, but Tanya’s maiden name is Tanya Zubko. She is the daughter of the late Leonard Zubko. Still in the dark? Well, Lieutenant Leonard […]
