The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB

Christopher Andrew

Basic Books, Aug 29, 2000 - History - 736 pages

The Sword and the Shieldis based on one of the most extraordinary intelligence coups of recent times: a secret archive of top-level KGB documents smuggled out of the Soviet Union which the FBI has described, after close examination, as the "most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source." Its presence in the West represents a catastrophic hemorrhage of the KGB's secrets and reveals for the first time the full extent of its worldwide network.Vasili Mitrokhin, a secret dissident who worked in the KGB archive, smuggled out copies of its most highly classified files every day for twelve years. In 1992, a U.S. ally succeeded in exfiltrating the KGB officer and his entire archive out of Moscow. The archive covers the entire period from the Bolshevik Revolution to the 1980s and includes revelations concerning almost every country in the world. But the KGB's main target, of course, was the United States.Though there is top-secret material on almost every country in the world, the United States is at the top of the list. As well as containing many fascinating revelations, this is a major contribution to the secret history of the twentieth century.Among the topics and revelations explored are: The KGB's covert operations in the United States and throughout the West, some of which remain dangerous today. KGB files on Oswald and the JFK assassination that Boris Yeltsin almost certainly has no intention of showing President Clinton. The KGB's attempts to discredit civil rights leader in the 1960s, including its infiltration of the inner circle of a key leader. The KGB's use of radio intercept posts in New York and Washington, D.C., in the 1970s to intercept high-level U.S. government communications. The KGB's attempts to steal technological secrets from major U.S. aerospace and technology corporations. KGB covert operations against former President Ronald Reagan, which began five years before he became president. KGB spies who successfully posed as U.S. citizens under a series of ingenious disguises, including several who attained access to the upper echelons of New York society.

What people are saying

Review: The Sword & the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive & the Secret History of the KGB

User Review  - Kartikeya Date - Goodreads

The author's point about the potential influence of intelligence work on international policy is a reasonable one, but the book itself reads more like a catalogue than a history.

Review: The Sword & the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive & the Secret History of the KGB

User Review  - Eddy Allen - Goodreads

The Sword and the Shield is based on one of the most extraordinary intelligence coups of recent times: a secret archive of top-level KGB documents smuggled out of the Soviet Union which the FBI has ...

About the author

Christopher Andrew is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Cambridge University, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, former Visiting Professor of National Security at Harvard University, and guest lecturer at numerous American universities and the CIA. His writings, translated into many languages, have established him as one of the world's leading authorities in intelligence history. Professor Andrew is also a frequent host of BBC TV and radio programs on history and world affairs.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB
• Author: Christopher Andrew
• Publisher: Basic Books, 2000
• ISBN: 0465010032, 9780465010035
• Length: 736 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Russia & the Former Soviet Union