This historical article by John Good about “ABSCAM” was recently published in the January/February 2015 issue of “The Grapevine,” a publication of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. Abscam …One of the FBI’s most famous political corruption cases did have was some of the finest undercover and investigative agents I have ever […]
(Sputnik) The FBI infiltrated into Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) facility in New York while investigating an alleged spy ring broken up this week and intentionally made it public, a former FBI counter-intelligence official told Sputnik after reviewing documents related to the case. “The remarkable detail contained in the document indicates the FBI had some […]
My latest book was reviewed by Hayden Peake in the December 2014 issue of Studies in Intelligence, a CIA publication: Hoover’s Secret War Against Axis Spies: FBI Counterespionage during World War II, by Raymond J. Batvinis (University Press of Kansas, 2014), 334 pp., endnotes, bibliography, photos, maps, index. During the 1930s, Nazi Germany recruited a number […]
More than four decades ago, under the cover of night, a group of eight individuals infiltrated an FBI office outside of Philadelphia and walked out with more than 1,000 documents, revealing closely guarded secrets—many about the FBI’s extensive surveillance programs. News of the burglary made the front page of The Washington Post, and although the […]
Ray Batvinis will give a talk on “FBI Counterespionage During World War II” at the New York Military Affairs Symposium on February 13, 2015 in New York City. The talk will be based on his latest book, “Hoover’s Secret War against Axis Spies: FBI Counterespionage during World War II.” The New York Military Affairs Symposium […]
(CSPAN) Peter Duffy talked about his book, Double Agent: The First Hero of World War II and How the FBI Outwitted and Destroyed a Nazi Spy Ring, in which he recounts the life of William Sebold, the first double agent in FBI history, who infiltrated a ring of Nazi spies in New York City. In his book, […]
(New York Times) In the decades after World War II, the C.I.A. and other United States agencies employed at least a thousand Nazis as Cold War spies and informants and, as recently as the 1990s, concealed the government’s ties to some still living in America, newly disclosed records and interviews show. At the height of […]
By Ray Batvinis In his fiery summation to the jury the defense counsel accused the witness of a most vile form of treachery charging that “any man who will testify against his own flesh and blood, his own sister, is repulsive, is revolting.” The chief prosecutor, in turn, calmly took an opposite view. The witness […]
(New York Times) In December 1945, four months after atomic bombs brought an end to World War II, the United States Army published a secret report on security surrounding the Manhattan Project, the vast government effort that developed them. Finally declassified last month by the Department of Energy, the report concludes that the project was […]
(Washington Post) David Greenglass, confessed member of the infamous Rosenberg atomic spy ring, died July 1 at 92, more than a half-century after his better-known sister, Ethel Rosenberg, went to the electric chair in part for what he later claimed was his false testimony against her. The death was confirmed by Sam Roberts, a New […]
Book review by John Stanchak in the October 2014 issue of “America in WWII” magazine of Hoover’s Secret War against Axis Spies: FBI Counterespionage During World War II: ALL THE COMBATANTS in World War II feared there were foreign agents within their ranks, so they sponsored and supported special intelligence organizations that rooted out enemy […]
Book Review by Tim Weiner in the November/December 2014 issue of “World War II” magazine: HOOVER’S SECRET WAR AGAINST AXIS SPIES: FBI Counterespionage during World War II By Raymond J. Batvinis. 312 pp. Kansas, 2014. $34.95. DOUBLE AGENT: The First Hero of World War II and How the FBI Outwitted and Destroyed a Nazi Spy […]
(Politico) . . . .The authors also revealed that Stalin had a spy in Congress, an exasperating character who once “blazed up very much, claiming that if we didn’t give him money he would break with us,” according to his Soviet contact. To this day, Sam Dickstein is the only known U.S. representative to have […]
Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending a talk at the International Spy Museum where my dear friend Peter Duffy spoke about his new book, Double Agent. Duffy, a talented writer who lives in New York City, recounts the story of an American citizen named William Gottlieb Sebold, a German who came to America […]
Last week I read with great interest two articles in The Washington Post. The first one appearing on Friday covering FBI director James Comey’s press conference was captioned “FBI Chief Slams Apple, Google over Encryption”. The second was Cyrus Vance’s September 28 Op-Ed piece entitled “Can you catch me now? Good.” Both officials voiced outrage […]
I would recommend Double Agent: The First Hero of World War II and How the FBI Outwitted and Destroyed a Nazi Spy Ring by Peter Duffy. He will be giving a book talk at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC on October 7, 2014 at noon: Double Agent: The First Hero of World War […]
(The Week Magazine) Chief Warrant Officer John A. Walker, who died in federal prison late last month at the age of 77, was the most consequential spy in American history. Over the course of seven years, from 1967 to 1975, he turned over some of the country’s most significant military secrets to the Soviet Union. […]
I will be part of a panel at the International Spy Museum on October 27, 2014 about the 1971 break-in of the FBI’s office in Media, Pennsylvania. Here’s all the details from the museum and how you can attend: – – – More than four decades ago, under the cover of night, a group of […]
On September 11, 2014, I had the honoring of speaking about my book, “Hoover’s Secret Wars Against Axis Spies: FBI Counterintelligence During World War II,”at the Ralph J. Bunch Library at the US State Department in Washington, DC. I talk about why I wrote the book, what is in it, the unique sources I tapped into and, because of […]
A first-person account of Watergate by Angelo Lano (FBI: 1960-1989) in The Grapevine, published by The Society of Former Agents of the FBI. Watergate: Forty Years Later (.pdf) The nature of an FBI agent’s work is anonymous. Usually it involves collecting facts, often with a team of agents whose names will disappear in a myriad of files over the […]
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