Barron, John. KGB Today: The Hidden Hand. New York: Berkley Books, 1983.
425 pages.
In 1974 John Barron, a former intelligence officer and a senior editor
of Reader's Digest, received money and researchers from his bosses to
write "KGB: The Secret Work of Secret Agents." Most of the book relates
the ugly exploits of KGB assassins and disinformationists in typical
Digest idiom, based on the debriefings of various defectors. This material
was not indexed in NameBase. Of more interest was the appendix of 1,600
names of alleged KGB and GRU officers posted abroad under diplomatic cover.
This appendix was a retaliation for "Who's Who in CIA," published in East
Germany in 1968 by Julius Mader. Barron told the New York Times (1977-12-25,
p. 12) that he received "quite a bit of help" from the CIA.
After 11 printings of the 1974 book, Barron followed up with "KGB
Today" in 1983. The Digest knows a mass market when it sees one. This new
volume had an appendix of 200 names of Soviets expelled from foreign
countries for espionage activities.
As with most transliterated names, several variations of spelling are
probably in current use. This requires the use of the phonetic or leading
letters search in NameBase to find every citation.
ISBN 0-425-10408-7
This book was recently listed at UsedBookCentral.com
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