The New Spymasters: Inside the Modern World of Espionage from the Cold War to Global Terror

In this highly detailed survey of intelligence gathering, Grey, widely celebrated for Ghost Plane, his expos%C3%A9 on the CIA's top secret rendition and torture program, updates the methods and tactics of modern spying. Grey moves the discussion beyond the "human factor" to technically superior spy satellites and computerized communication intercepts. He calls spying "the world's second oldest profession," one that has evolved steadily since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Warsaw Pact, 9/11, the Iraqi War, and the rise of drones in the early 21st Century. Grey also examines the historical collapse of the French and British empires in the wake of wars of independence, the bitter aftermath of the late 20th Century mujahedeen struggle, and various contemporary terror cells in Europe and America. Readers of Ian Fleming and John LeCarr%C3%A9 will delight in the lively anecdotes about bold British agents, including the infamous Kim Philby, the "Cambridge Five" recruited by the Soviets during the Cold War, and the aggressive operations against the IRA to prolong English rule in Ulster. In this current age of al-Qaeda and ISIS, Grey's engrossing, chilling read reveals to readers the fluidity with which the intelligence world must operate. (July)