FBI Studies

Agent Link: The Spy Erased from History by Raymond Batvinis, PhD, is a biography of William Wolfe Weisband, who one colleague described as a “charter … [Continue Reading]
Chapter One from Agent Link: The Spy Erased from History by Raymond Batvinis Chapter 1 Lies The Weisband story began in Russia. Israel … [Continue Reading]
Hoover’s Secret War Against Axis Spies FBI Counterespionage During World War II By Raymond J. Batvinis April 2014 312 pages, 24 … [Continue Reading]
Chapter One from Hoover's Secret War against Axis Spies: FBI Counterespionage during World War II by Raymond J. Batvinis A Remarkable … [Continue Reading]
The Origins of FBI Counterintelligence By Raymond J. Batvinis, PhD Hardcover published in 2007 - Cloth ISBN 978-0-7006-1495-0 Paperback published … [Continue Reading]
Chapter One from "The Origins of FBI Counterintelligence" by Raymond J. Batvinis Rumrich He was a US Army deserter when he was arrested on … [Continue Reading]
About Author Raymond J. Batvinis, PhD Ph.D., American History, The Catholic University of America, 2002 M.A., History, The Catholic University … [Continue Reading]

“Mr. Batvinis’ book is a splendid account of the FBI’s contribution to victory in World War II. Five cloaks, five daggers.”

Joseph C. Goulden

Author of 18 nonfiction books, Reviewed in Washington Times

“A welcome addition to the literature on both the FBI and the World War II era, Batvinis’s book provides new information about how FBI counterintelligence and counterespionage operations against Nazi Germany during World War II transformed the FBI’s culture and capabilities.”

Athan Theoharis

Author, The FBI and American Democracy: A Brief Critical History

“This is a monumental book, breaking new ground in the field of secret intelligence. I strongly suspect Batvinis will write a third book, covering the early years of the Cold War. When complete, that body of work should stand alongside Rick Atkinson’s Liberation trilogy as an essential source for anyone interested in America’s soldiers and spies.”

Tim Weiner

Author, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize recipient

“A strong and compelling book on the FBI’s pre-World War II transformation.”

Katherine Sibley

Author, Red Spies in America: Stolen Secrets and the Dawn of the Cold War

“A richly detailed account of the FBI’s response to the world crisis of the 1930s and 1940s that overturns much accepted ‘wisdom’ about FBI intelligence failures and turf battles. Batvinis stays close to his sources while telling an engrossing story that should become the new standard account of FBI counterintelligence. A stimulating and fascinating work.”

Richard Gid Powers

Author, Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover

“Hoover’s Secret War goes beyond solid scholarship and provides an eminently readable, richly detailed narrative, which allows the reader to see the war through the eyes of counterespionage in the Allies’ camp. This book a must-read for both fledgling or old-hand intelligence professionals.”

Edward J. Appel, Sr.

Retired senior FBI Supervisory Special Agent and Director of Counterintelligence and Security Programs at the National Security Council

“Raymond Batvinis recounts equally thrilling stories of international intrigue as the FBI, working alongside other US government elements and allies, sought to overcome Germany’s efforts to disrupt and defeat its war effort in the US before and during the war. They will transfix the reader to the book’s pages much as the writings of the great spy novelists. However, unlike the novelists’ works, Batvinis’ accounts are not amusements, but discussions of real cases of a struggle between adversaries filled with lessons on counterintelligence (spycatching) as well as counterespionage (turning enemy agents against their spymasters).”

GreatCharlie.com

“Raymond J. Batvinis is one of our great authorities on American counterintelligence. But he is not merely a scholar. He is himself a former FBI Special Agent, a gifted investigator who learned how spies operate by catching them. With his new book, Agent Link, he has brought to light an espionage tale that has been unjustly forgotten. William Weisband was a roguish American who became perhaps the most valuable double agent ever to work in the service of the KGB. Batvinis lays out the full story in all its noirish glory, presenting the reader with a gripping narrative full of character and incident. Hollywood, are you listening?”

Peter Duffy

Author of Double Agent: The First Hero of World War II and How the FBI Outwitted and Destroyed a Nazi Spy Ring

“I’m pleased that my friend Ray has followed the Weisband case, a case that I worked on for many years to its conclusion.”

Robert Louis Benson

Former NSA historian

“I thought I knew the story of William Weisband, arguably the most damaging Russian spy in history, but it turns out I didn’t have a clue. Ray Batvinis has unearthed FBI files that reveal for the first time how the hard-drinking, high-living Weisband wormed his way into the inner sanctum of American code breaking and gave away its most closely guarded secrets. And for his crime, he served less than a year in prison. Incredible!”

David C. Martin

CBS News National Security Correspondent and author of Wilderness of Mirrors

“This is an extremely important book about a very, very damaging counterintelligence failure long (hidden or obscured whichever you would judge the better word) by NSA and written by an experienced FBI Special Agent who is also a trained historian. A must read for anyone left in the U.S. Government seriously interested in Counterintelligence.”

Paul Redmond

Chief of CIA Counterintelligence, Retired

“Agent Link is more than a spy story. Weisband almost disappeared from the attention of historians and the appreciation of his important role in world affairs. Fortunately, Batvinis has countered this neglect by writing his deeply-researched, well-written, colorful and valuable contribution to spy literature.”

Dr. David Charney

Author of NOIR: Proposing a New Policy for Improving National Security by Fixing the Problem of Insider Spies.

“Agent Link” Book Event at the International Spy Museum

I spoke about my new book, “Agent Link: The Spy Erased from History” at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC on October 17, 2024. John J. Quattrocki, retired FBI executive who also served on the National Security Council staff interviewed me for this presentation. Description: Retired FBI Counterintelligence Expert Raymond J. Batvinis reveals the […]

The Forgotten Soviet Spy: AGENT LINK

Ray Batvinis was recently on the Spycraft 101 podcast: Spycraft 101 host Justin talks with retired FBI Special Agent Raymond J. Batvinis. Ray served in the FBI from 1972 until 1997, working in counterterrorism and counterintelligence, including on the investigations into Ronald Pelton and the Walker spy ring. Shortly after 9/11, he returned to teach […]

Spy Valley: An Engineer’s Nuclear Betrayal

I was recently on a panel at the International Spy Museum that focused on the James Harper espionage case. Description: Silicon Valley is an innovation incubator, but not just for tech — hand in hand with its growth have been efforts to steal enticing secrets. Spy Valley: An Engineer’s Nuclear Betrayal, a new podcast series […]

Radio Cloak and Dagger

I was interviewed on the podcast, A New York Minute of History, about the FBI’s World War 2 Wading River Radio Station, now know as the Benson House. Listen: Radio Cloak and Dagger | A New York Minute in History On this episode, Devin and Lauren tell the recently declassified story of a covert radio […]

A Response To The Fourth Man by Robert Baer – By Richard Rita

Guest Post by Dr Richard A. Rita Retired CIA Senior Counterintelligence Officer Former Chief, Special Investigations Unit/CEG/CIC who wrote the official history of SIU This article first appeared in CIA”s Studies in Intelligence, March 2023: RITA-Response-to-The-Fourth-Man (pdf) The Fourth Man purports to tell the story of the CIA’s hunt in the mid-late 1990s for another highly […]

The Ghost of Angleton – By Paul Redmond

Guest Post by Paul J. Redmond Paul J. Redmond served 34 years in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)’s Clandestine Service, operating primarily against the Warsaw Pact/Eastern European countries and the Soviet Union. He served as Deputy Chief of the CIA’s Counterintelligence Center from 1991 to 1995, where he led the CIA’s investigation that identified Aldrich […]

Sometimes the story is about the spies who aren’t there

Kudos to David Ignatius for writing this column in the Washington Post. Baer should be rightly mortified being called out by such a journalistic heavy weight. Goes a long way to restoring Paul’s honor. By David Ignatius Columnist, Washington Post, Feb. 16, 2023 Every good spy thriller needs a “mole hunt” — a search for the […]

Former CIA Counterintelligence Chiefs Weigh in on The Fourth Man

By Michael Sulick, Cindy Webb and Mark Kelton (bios at the end) Robert Baer’s book The Fourth Man leads readers to conclude—falsely—that highly accomplished, retired CIA officer Paul Redmond was himself a long-time spy for the KGB. As former leaders of CIA Counterintelligence who were directly involved over decades in the Russian operations and investigations discussed […]

The Charles McGonigal Case

I was interviewed for this lengthy article concerning two former FBI officials in trouble with the law: Albanian Firm Ties Indicted Former FBI Official To Yet Another Disgraced Former Agent (TPM, January 27, 2023) Indicted former top FBI official Charles McGonigal is a partner in an Albanian firm along with another disgraced former FBI agent, […]

The Ghost of Angleton — Review of The Fourth Man

I wrote a book review in the summer of 2022 for the Fall 2022 issue of the Association of Former Intelligence Officer’s (AFIO) official publication, The Intelligencer: Journal of US Intelligence Studies. It was a review about The Fourth Man by Robert Baer: The Ghost of Angleton — Review of The Fourth Man (pdf) This […]

Spycraft 101 Podcast Interview

On the Spycraft 101 podcast, Justin Black interviewed me about my FBI career, the espionage cases I worked on, as well as my first book, The Origins FBI Counterintelligence. We had a good conversation and I hope you enjoy it. It’s available on your favorite podcast platform or you can listen here: – TRANSCRIPT Justin […]

Message from Director Wray Regarding Search at Mar-a-Lago, Florida

Public Statement from FBI Director Christopher A. Wray “Unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI erode respect for the rule of law and are a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect others. Violence and threats against law enforcement, including the FBI, are dangerous and should be deeply […]

World War II House of Secrets

I was interviewed for an article in Newsday about the Long Island house where the FBI ran a spy operation: The world was in a desperate battle with the Nazis when a German spy climbed to the third floor of a red-shingled home in Wading River to reveal the most closely guarded secret of World […]

Walking a Tightrope: FBI’s John Cimperman and the ULTRA Secret

The following article I wrote was published in the Winter-Spring 2022 issue of The Intelligencer: Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies. __ The morning gloom was no match for the gnawing anxiety that gripped him, as he stepped the door of the American embassy at 1 Grosvenor Square. Once a leafy park nestled in the heart […]

Watergate: Competing Fond Memories

My reviews of these two books: Melissa Graves: Nixon’s FBI: Hoover, Watergate, and a Bureau in Crisis. Lynne Rienner, Boulder, CO, 2020, 247 p. Shane O’Sullivan: Dirty Tricks: Nixon, Watergate, and the CIA. Hot Books, New York, 2018, 576 p., $12.76. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive.” This now […]

Main Content

Read Chapter One – Agent Link: The Spy Erased From History

Read Chapter One – Origins of FBI Counterintelligence

Read Chapter One – Hoover’s Secret War Against Axis Spies

Buy Ray Batvinis Books:

FBI in Moscow

FBI in Honolulu

Feedback about Ray’s Books: