What is it about?
Blum's book follows the process that led to the decryption and exploitation of Soviet intelligence operational communications under the U.S. program labeled Venona. It focuses on the two main characters in that story: Robert (Bob) Lamphere, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent; and Meredith Gardner, a cryptologist at the Army Security Agency (ASA). These two individuals, who were opposites in personality but similar in drive, formed the unlikely team that combined their talents and the capabilities of their agencies to identify the real people behind the codenames in intercepted Soviet communications.
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Why is it important?
The book’s opening and closing scenes relate to the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and they expose Blum’s underlying agenda for writing his book: to advocate for the claim that, while Julius Rosenberg’s execution was warranted, Ethel Rosenberg’s was not. Nevertheless, the book superbly demonstrates the evolution of the FBI’s investigations of atomic espionage subjects, like the Rosenbergs, that derived from the Venona materials.
Perspectives
While Blum’s book adds little to existing scholarship on Venona, it is an easy read for someone seeking an accessible summary of FBI-ASA and U.S.-British collaboration in the late 1940s and early 1950s that led to multiple prosecutions related to atomic espionage. It also portrays in an understandable manner the intricate process of conducting a complex counterintelligence investigation.
Kevin Riehle
King's College London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: In the enemy’s house: the secret Saga of the FBI agent and the code breaker who caught the Russian spies, Intelligence & National Security, March 2019, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/02684527.2019.1589034.
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