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authors' panel should be added, although posthumously, "the 20th century spy" Kim Philby, who appears in two thus far unpublished items - a lecture read before the senior executive staff of the Bulgarian special services, and a paper entitled "Confession Is A Mistake".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