Spying on the Nuclear Bear ─ Anglo-American Intelligence and the Soviet Bomb

They had to rely on each others' brains rather than on technology. They were collectively unearthing the delicate secrets of hidden labs in an era in which intelligence-gathering was geared toward troop movements and the artillery. Taking his cues from those in the UK and US who sought out the deepest secrets of the former USSR, Goodman (war studies, King's College, London) consults a wide range of eyewitnesses and official documents and changes what we thought we knew about intelligence efforts to track the progress of the Soviets' nuclear bomb program from 1945 to 1958. He shows how the UK, with cooperation from the US, used every scrap of data from defectors and aerial reconnaissance, along with innovative techniques that included an element of guile to stay under the regulatory radar. Especially interesting are his assessments of how the collaboration worked in the 1950s, when missiles became possible delivery systems. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)