State Department Counterintelligence

Robert David Booth's memoir

State Department Counterintelligence by Robert David Booth, published in 2014, has lingered in my reading queue for several months. This book is a recounting of notable counterintelligence cases he worked doing his long career with the Diplomatic Security Service. Normally I’d post a screen shot of the table of contents, but this book’s format is not amenable to that. There are fifteen chapters divided into four areas.

• The hunt for Cuban moles.

• A Taiwanese “honey trap” for a senior staff member.

• Dealing with leaks and losses, in general.

• An SVR (former KGB) penetration of Foggy Bottom.

These are all dramatic, high stakes cases, but it’s a good read for someone who is still within earshot of the front line. If you do read it you’ll get a sense of the little slips that add up to the compromise of a foreign agent.

This one goes on my Past & Future shelf, but in terms of feel, it’s like Carol Leonnig’s Zero Fail or Geoffrey Berman’s Holding The Line. If you like this genre, this book is an easy, colorful read.