Operation Solo: The FBI's Man in the Kremlin

As one who knew both Eva and Morris Childs prior to their deaths, I was pleased to see John Barron's published, for it finally provided exposure to one of the great spy stories of all times. I was the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Miami FBI office when I met the Childs in 1986, and maintained contact with them for the remainder of their lives. In particular, after the death of Morris, the FBI became the defacto family of Eva, and even, was at her bedside at the time of her death. The interesting thing about the Childs was they did not cooperate with the FBI for money, but due to a sense of betrayal by the Communists after they had devoted considerable time and energy to the utopian idea of the perfect Soviet society. But Morris went to great lengths one day to explain how his early conversion to communism did not mean he was anti USA. But after he saw the hypocrisy of world communism from an intimate insiders view, he then showed the same zeal in working for the FBI as he did for the early communists. I can attest to the fact Barron is accurate with his account, and even, has shown restraint at times. Operation Solo was the single greatest source of human source reporting available to the US during the time of the Cold War, and Barron's account of this incredible story is not only worthy reading for those with an interest in espionage, etc, but is a great reference source for historians with an interest in the Cole War.

This book starts out incredibly strong. The first 100+ pages are captivating in hearing about how a Russian emigrant was indoctrinated into the communist party, the training they pursued, and then the factors that began to chip away at his communist belief. However, I feel Barron fails to truly bring to life the danger and harrowing experiences endured by the spies, as well as the tole that takes on the people involved.While this is still an interesting story, Barron writes it more through the lens of a timeline of events vs. leaning into the people involved in the story. I would have loved more input from Morris' wife Eva on her experiences, her feelings and emotions during this time. More use of diary entries from parties involved to evoke the human element of this story. How did the Politiburo wives treat Eva on visits? What did they discuss? What happened in between missions? What did family members think? Did they have friends or lives outside of work?After a few missions, the book becomes redundant of repeating the gathering of intelligence, copying it down. There are few moments where I feel Barron effectively captured the danger and peril of situations - he almost glosses over them, and then leans into menial details that overall don't do justice to the potential of this story.I almost exclusively read non-fiction, and this feels like a story that had it been paired with a better storytelling writer vs. chronographer, it would have been one of my favorite books, and likely a perennial best-seller.

Probably one of the most significant and successful counter-intelligence, as well as positive intelligence, operations ever run by any American agency. It lasted 27 years and covered Moscow, Beijing and Havana and was most secret, with only a few in the government being aware that it existed. White House, State Department, and the CIA received private briefings from the FBI on the information which was not even disseminated in written form. The book could only be written years after the principals had died. After reading, one can now understand the power of J. Edgar Hoover for most of those years, as no President wanted to inhibit a clandestine operation which yielded such a phenomenal trove of incredible positive intelligence that would impact the development of a very substantive foreign policy so valuable to the national security of this country. Fascinating read!!!

This book is an important piece in that it's real, and interesting in that it dives into some topics of the Cold War that you wouldn't read in more general books (like the relations between the Soviets and the Chinese). The writing is honest and without much flowery tangents that you see in some historical works, easily accessible to most readers.I would caution though that this book is perhaps not for readers who are knowledgeable about the Cold War (beyond required school texts), and especially not for those knowledgeable about intelligent or counter-intelligence. While certainly not expecting James Bond or technical details of the craft, this book really doesn't say much of anything. The book describes how the main character went to the USSR, had meetings with important people, then went home and regurgitated the discussions to his handlers. That's it. His upbringing is interesting, and you get to see a little of how the US intelligence services struggled to form during that period - but not much else.The book is valuable because it's true, but doesn't have much in the way of details or of being "gripping." And not that it's a knock on the author, but the editing is poor - at least on the printing I read. Messy punctuation and word choice such that I had to re-read many sentences because the meaning was actually confusing.The soft cover is inexpensive and for that perhaps a good read for those cold, quiet winter evenings. Just don't expect too much from it.

I was amazed that Morris and Eva and Jack were never found out. All the Soviets had to do was follow them when they landed in the USA and they would eventually have seen them in the company of the FBI agents. And then to not be exposed by the few politicians who knew is even more amazing. All those potentials leakers and nothing. A good read. As one commenter pointed out, it might be a bit obscure to people who do not know much about the Cold War but those who understand that era well will easily fill in the blanks.

"Solo" and the "Spy & the Traitor" are accounts of US & UK successes in the continuing battle against totalitarianism. Essential education by all who want to keep informed. The events are historic but the beneficial consequences are with us today.

This is not a widely reported story. At one level it is an amazing account of penetration At another level I suspect it was heavily ghosted by the FBI who project it as a flawless project to enhance their reputation It is a pity that it wasn't a more objective record of such a very significant project.

I wish that the Kindle version contained the photographs in the original.