Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War by Pete Earley, Michael Prichard

The Barnes & Noble Review

Sergei Tretyakov, the Comrade J of this fascinating book's title, was Russia's top spy in America from 1995 to 2000. During his more than 120 hours speaking with author Peter Earley, the New York-based Tretyakov describes exactly how Russian intelligence (the SVR) successfully recruited intelligence sources inside the UN and the United States, and used this intelligence to undermine American interests. Tretyakov, for example, tells Earley exactly how the SVR infiltrated the UN's Oil-for-Food program, created to help the Iraqi people, and stole half a billion dollars from it, money that went directly to Russia's ruling oligarchy. Tretyakov also recruited UN diplomats from Germany, Turkey, and Sweden to garner secret intelligence that helped damage American interests. Tretyakov ultimately grew disillusioned serving Russia's corrupt, money-grubbing leadership. He felt his work no longer served the Russian people, but only undemocratic strongmen like Presidents Yeltsin and Putin: "it became immoral to serve them, and I didn't want to be associated with them." In 2000, Tretyakov defected to the US, offering thousands of secret Russian documents and the identities of hundreds of previously-unknown Russian intelligence sources. Comrade J's primary message is that Russia is not America's friend, and "is doing everything it can today to undermine and embarrass the US." Earley's gripping narrative may be the most absorbing, detailed account ever written about foreign intelligence activities on American soil; Comrade J also offers a stunning indictment of the present "thuggish" Russian regime under President Vladimir Putin. --Chuck Leddy

From the Publisher

Comrade J, written by the bestselling author of Family of Spies and The Hot House, is the the remarkable true story of the man who ran Russia's posta "cold war spy program in America. Spymaster, defector, double and triple agent, this is a direct account of what the man known only as Comrade J did in the United States after we all assumed the spying was over and of what Putin and Russia continue to do today.

The Washington Post - David Wise

The real value of Sergei Tretyakov's saga lies less in his scattershot claims and innuendoes than in his sharp eye and gossipy insider's view of the KGB/SVR's training, methods, foibles and tricks.

Publishers Weekly

Former journalist and bestselling author Earley (Family of Spies) tells the story of Russian spymaster and defector Sergei Tretyakov-code-named Comrade J-in an exposé with few surprises. A career intelligence officer, Tretyakov was Russia's deputy resident in New York City from 1995 to 2000, responsible for all covert operations there. But as the political and economic situation in Russia deteriorated under presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, Tretyakov began to consider defecting. Disgusted by the spy agency's shoddy standards and the "corrupt political system" in Moscow and seeking "a better future" for his teenage daughter Ksenia, Tretyakov became a double agent for the FBI before finally defecting in 2000. He claims that he is now breaking his silence because he hopes to warn America that Russia is not a friend and "is trying to destroy the U.S. even today." Among his more controversial assertions, in 126 hours of interviews with the author, is that former deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott was considered a "Special Unofficial Contact" by Russian intelligence-a claim that Talbott adamantly denies. While many of Tretyakov's claims are impossible to verify, Earley mounts a spirited defense of his veracity in this workmanlike account. (Jan.)

Ed Goedeken - Library Journal

Spies exist because governments exist and governments have secrets. We may naively believe that the ending of the Cold War meant that the United States and Russia no longer spied on each other. Earley's new book on the remarkable career of top Soviet spy, Sergie Tretyakov, should dispel any thoughts that the "new" Russia under Yeltsin and now Putin is really any different from the one that existed under Stalin, Khrushchev, or their successors. Earley (Confessions of a Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames), a former journalist who has written both fiction and nonfiction about the post-Cold War world, was contacted by the FBI and CIA to meet Tretyakov in 2001, soon after he had defected to the United States. This is Tretyakov's story as told to Earley, who admits that he has very little evidence to corroborate Tretyakov's tale. News accounts and interviews (off the record, of course) do seem to offer supporting evidence that much of Tretyakov's story is true. This is a fascinating account of Tretyakov's activities first as a Soviet spy in New York in the 1980s and early 1990s and then as a double agent providing extensive information to the CIA and the FBI during the Clinton presidency. Earley has solid credentials as a former Washington Postwriter, which lends credence to this amazing story. For larger collections.

Kirkus Reviews

More outrageous espionage scandal, but this time the CIA and FBI look good. From 1995 to 2000, Sergei Tretyakov ran Russia's day-to-day intelligence operations in New York and personally directed every covert operation launched in the city against the United States. At the end of 2000 he defected, then later sat down with investigative journalist and novelist Earley (The Apocalypse Stone, 2006, etc.) to tell this story. Recruited in the 1980s, Tretyakov reveals intriguing behind-the-scenes mechanics of KGB politics, personalities and nuts-and-bolts operation techniques. The foreign-intelligence section did not persecute dissidents inside the USSR, so readers will identify with Tretyakov as he works hard, rises through the ranks and is rewarded with plum assignments in Canada and the United States. Most engrossing are the details of intelligence gathering which he describes, even naming names. Spies were essential, but so were "informational contacts," academics and bureaucrats who enjoyed chatting and could be manipulated to reveal more than they should. More disturbing is the fact that America's increasing unpopularity persuaded many foreign officials who don't consider themselves traitors to pass on damaging secrets simply because they disliked the United States. Earley presents a vivid picture of the shambles that followed the USSR's 1991 collapse. Tretyakov portrays the leaders as wildly corrupt kleptocrats who were looting the nation to enrich their cronies. An elite force, the intelligence service escaped the general impoverishment but suffered a massive exodus of talent anxious to share the booty. Disgusted at his government and the increasing venality of superiors, Tretyakov beganconsidering his options, but readers will learn few details of his defection, which he was forbidden to discuss. Earley reminds us that Tretyakov is no objective observer-he leans over backward to say nasty things about Russia while flattering America and himself. Keeping this in mind, readers will encounter plenty of juicy details about Russian intelligence, which still considers America the enemy. Agent: John Silbersack/Trident Media Group

Product Details

• ISBN: 1400155525
  
• ISBN-13: 9781400155521
• Format: Compact Disc
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.
• Pub. Date: January 2008
• Edition Description: Unabridged
• Sales Rank: 570,730