Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010130292 | UB271.U5 R52 2006 | Open Access Book | Advance Management | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000010132800 | UB271.U5 R52 2006 | Open Access Book | Advance Management | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
'Spying on the Bomb' focuses on the past & present nuclear activities of various countries, intermingling what the US believed was happening with accounts of what actually occurred in each country's laboratories, test sites and decision-making councils.
Reviews 3
Publisher's Weekly Review
Richelson, a senior fellow at the National Security Archive and author of several books on American intelligence including The Wizards of Langley, has written an authoritative and definitive account of U.S. nuclear espionage from the earliest days of atomic research in WWII to the present. Drawing on prodigious research-including newly declassified material-Richelson details the efforts of the U.S. intelligence community to track the nuclear activities of other states. The results of all this spy craft were at best uneven. With abundant technology-aerial reconnaissance, signals intercepts, seismic detection-but few human intelligence resources (HUMINT), the U.S. was consistently surprised by nuclear events in the Soviet Union, China, India and elsewhere. And we're still getting it wrong. Richelson analyzes how American intelligence first underestimated Iraq's nuclear program in the 1980s and then overestimated it in 2003. It's instructive that after 1998, the U.S. did not have "a single HUMINT source" in Iraq. Considering the intelligence community's "mixed record" and the continuing nuclear ambitions of rogue states like North Korea and Iran, Richelson concludes chillingly, "Trouble Is Waiting to Happen." More than a comprehensive and often compelling history of nuclear espionage, this is an important contribution to the debate regarding American intelligence that began on 9/11. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Richelson traces the evolution of U.S. nuclear intelligence efforts--both successes and failures--from the early days of World War II to the twenty-first century. The book's focus, as the author indicates early on, is primarily placed on the early nuclear programs of 15 nations and the U.S. effort to determine if they were trying to acquire nuclear weapons, how far they had gotten, and their attempts to improve those capabilities. Thus, the book examines the work of the CIA and other intelligence agencies in identifying and providing the details about those nuclear programs as well as the agencies' efforts to monitor and evaluate nuclear testing--rather than their efforts to gather information on the nuclear arsenals. Each of the 14 chapters focuses on the nuclear activities of one or a small number of nations, Richelson drawing on recently declassified documents and interviews with scientists and spies involved in nuclear espionage. This searching and informed analysis of our nation's nuclear espionage includes spy-satellite photographs from the national archives. --George Cohen Copyright 2006 Booklist
Choice Review
Since the dawn of the atomic age, the US has sought to determine the status of foreign nuclear weapons programs. The reason is obvious: they are a danger to US strategic interests. The public is oblivious to how US intelligence monitors nuclear activities from satellites and U-2 overflights and shares the information with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Richelson (National Security Archive; The Wizards of Langley, CH, Jan'02, 39-2772; A Century of Spies, 1995) offers here the best single volume concerning US nuclear intelligence. The author takes readers through the complex history of nuclear intelligence from the US Army's attempt to determine whether Hitler had an atomic bomb to the CIA's venture to establish whether Iran or North Korea have nuclear stockpiles. The subject does not have the panache of traditional espionage, and the heroes are not James Bonds. Instead, they are academics, photo interpreters, and nuclear scientists who read kryptonite-85 levels and analyze satellite photography. If readers are seeking answers to the failure of US intelligence in Iraq and the nuclear standoff involving Iran and North Korea, they will not be disappointed with this work. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. C. C. Lovett Emporia State University
