Todor Boyadjiev ed.
(2000).
THE INTELLIGENCE
Forewords by Markus Wolf & Viacheslav Trubnikov
Sofia:
Trud Books Publishing House. pp. 464.
Hardcover and paperback.
ISBN 954-528-168-5
"The
Intelligence" is a unique book - and not just for the
Bulgarian book publishing industry - which can be divided
into two complementary parts.
In the
first part, covering 382 pages, the autobiographies and
ideas of renowned professionals and former heads of intelligence
services, who had actively worked against each other during
the Cold War, have been collected for the first time.
The
authors of the first part are Admiral Pierre Lacoste - head
of the French Intelligence; General Leonid Shebarshin -
the last head of the USSR's intelligence service and KGB's
First Deputy Chairman till 1991; Richard Kerr - Deputy Director
of the Central Intelligence (the US intelligence community)
till 1992, Acting Deputy for the CIA Director, Central Intelligence
Agency's Deputy Director and Head of the Intelligence Directorate
(the CIA directorate for information and analysis); Richard
Stolz - CIA's First Deputy-Director until 1991; General
Nikolay Leonov - long-standing Deputy-Head of the Soviet
intelligence and head of the KGB's Information & Analysis
Directorate; Professor Dr. Miroslav Tudjman - one of the
creators and Director of the National Intelligence Service
of the Republic of Croatia until 2000; General Brigo Asparuchov,
who was the head of the Bulgarian National Intelligence
Service during the period when this service was reformed
- 1991 - 1997; Gen. Todor Boyadjiev - initiator, compiler
and leading author of the book, former deputy head of Bulgarian
intelligence, General Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior,
1990-1992, member of the Great National Assembly (Bulgarian
Parlament), 1990-91, President of the Bulgarian Euro-Atlantic
Intelligence Forum (BEAIF) since its foundation in 1993.
To the
authors' panel should be added, although posthumously, "the
20th century spy" Kim Philby, who appears in two thus
far unpublished items - a lecture read before the senior
executive staff of the Bulgarian special services, and a
paper entitled "Confession Is A Mistake".
Each
autobiography answers four principal questions: "How
and why did I join the intelligence service?"; "What
was I doing in intelligence?"; "How did I leave
intelligence?", and "What am I doing now?".
This
approach allows for a collection and comparison of individual
fates, preserving at the same time their individuality.
The conclusion, reached quite unostentatiously, is that
intelligence is a profession with a human face, and that
people who work in intelligence are individuals of high
motivation and morals, patriots, professionals with a strong
intellect and a comprehensive, encyclopedic knowledge, ethical
and tolerant, ready to look beyond the framework of their
special services and to assess the qualities of those who
were their opponents and even ideological enemies. From
these assumptions, the contributions of Admiral Pierre Lacoste
and Professor Miroslav Tudjman have emerged.
Using
an historical parallel between US, Russian, and French intelligence,
Admiral Lacoste examines in an interesting manner the changes
which developed after the end of the Cold War, and the future
of one of the most ancient professions.
The
compiler aptly entitled the paper of Professor Tudjman "A
Biography of An Intelligence." This paper offers a
first-hand, detailed and thorough investigation of the process
of the origin, the establishment, and the strengthening
of a new intelligence service, called upon to defend the
national interests of a new independent and sovereign democratic
state.
The
paper of each individual author offers an open, fascinating,
and easily read vision of this worthy, though high-stress
profession "on the edge".
The
second part of the book covers 75 pages, and begins with
some interesting reflections by the US Central Intelligence
Agency Director George Tenet. Although these reflections
are addressed to the rhetorical question "Does America
need the CIA?", they extend far outside the national
parameters of an intelligence service and present, rather,
a serious and profound general view on the future of this
profession under new conditions.
What
follows is a virtual "round table". Seven independent
sections present the subjects for discussion - how do intelligence
agents come into being, or education for intelligence; women
in intelligence; in what way is control exercised over intelligence;
what does "friendly" intelligence mean, or how
to steal economic, financial, and technological secrets
of allies, partners, competitors and opponents, and is there
any room for cooperation between state and private intelligence;
has intelligence become a part of the new business culture,
and how to make it smarter; cooperation in "the game
without rules" and whether there will finally be rules
for this game. Of course, in the discussion there is also
the question of "are there really ex-agents in intelligence?"
and what do intelligence veterans do after they cease their
active work.
The
"round table" participants do not know each other
personally; do not meet face to face, do not answer questions
at the same time, but with a time delay of several months.
Physically they are separated by a distance of thousands
of miles and by an ocean; nevertheless they are united by
their common interest in the topics of this discussion and
by the organizer, Gen. Todor Boyadjiev, who is the only
one who knows all the others, asks the questions, and uses
an authentic part of the answers obtained.
Seated
at the virtual round table are the chairman and 38 well-known
politicians, legislators, professors, journalists, publishers,
businessmen and, of course, intelligence officers - retired
and active - from the United States and the Russian Federation.
Discussions are held in New York, Moscow and Washington,
but the excellent editing work of the author, Gen. Boyadjiev,
creates the feeling of a simultaneous physical presence
of all participants.
An indisputable
contribution to the book "The Intelligence" are
the forewords by Gen. Markus Wolf - one of the doyens of
this profession with his long years of experience as head
of the non-existent intelligence of an already non-existent
state - the German Democratic Republic (DDR) - and by General
Viacheslav Trubnikov - Director of the Foreign Intelligence
Service of the Russian Federation until the spring of 2000.
Reading
the book "THE INTELLIGENCE", readers will be able
to draw conclusions of their own on this profession, its
past, present, and future, and to share the thought of the
former CIA Director and United States President George Bush
that "patriotism is not a frenzied burst of emotion,
but rather the quiet and steady dedication of a lifetime."
Gen. G.
Grozev