The Intelligence Game: Illusions and Delusions of International Espionage - Softcover

James Rusbridger worked for many years as a commodities broker and he was involved in British intelligence operations in the course of his frequent visits to Eastern Europe. He now lies in Cornwall, where he does research and writing on many aspects of the intelligence game for newspapers and television. He has also written Betrayal at Pearl Harbor.

British author Rusbridger questions the claims of the major intelligence services (CIA, MI5, KGB, Mossad et al.), arguing that espionage has never been as threatening as they want us to believe. Nor are they much good at catching spies, he maintains. What they're good at is scaremongering, and in his view intelligence directorates never hesitate to invent windmills to tilt at in order to justify their hugely expensive peacetime programs. MI5's claim of foiling an "attempted IRA attack" at the Prince Andrew-Sarah Ferguson wedding is one of the bogus planted tales he cites. Beyond seeing them as essentially useless, Rusbridger points out that pervasive lawbreaking is part and parcel of the security services. He claims that the British government's vindictiveness over Peter Wright's Spycatcher stemmed from the book's revelations of burgling and bug-planting by the British secret service. Rusbridger argues persuasively that much of the activity carried on by the worldwide intelligence community--especially the collection of information readily available in technical journals and the compiling of dossiers on "potentially subversive" individuals--is pointless. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.