Soviet Defectors: Revelations of Renegade Intelligence Officers, 1924-1954

Soviet Defectors: Revelations of Renegade Intelligence Officers, 1924-1954

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Author/Contributor(s): Riehle, Kevin
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Date: 05/31/2022
Binding: Paperback
Condition: NEW

An analysis of the insider information and insights that over eighty Soviet intelligence officer defectors revealed during the first half of the Soviet period

  • Identifies 88 Soviet intelligence officer defectors for the period 1917 to 1954, representing a variety of specializations; the most comprehensive list of Soviet intelligence officer defectors compiled to date.
  • Shows the evolution of Soviet threat perceptions and the development of the "main enemy" concept in the Soviet national security system.
  • Shows fluctuations in the Soviet recruitment and vetting of personnel for sensitive national security positions, corresponding with fluctuations in the stability of the Soviet government.
  • Compiles for the first time corroborative primary sources in English, Russian, French, German, Finnish, Japanese, Latvian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.


    • When intelligence officers defect, they take with them privileged information and often communicate it to the receiving state. This book identifies a group of those defectors from the Soviet elite - intelligence officers - and provides an aggregate analysis of their information to uncover Stalin's strategic priorities and concerns, thus to open a window into Stalin's impenetrable national security decision making. This book uses their information to define Soviet threat perceptions and national security anxieties during Stalin's time as Soviet leader.