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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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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