On the Front Lines of the Cold War; Documents on the Intelligence War in Berlin, 1946 to 1961
Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2000. Second Edition [stated]. Presumed first printing thus. Trade paperback. xvi, 575, [1] pages. Oversized Book (measuring 10-3/4 inches by 8-1/2 inches). Minor black marks on bottom edge. Includes Preface, Introduction, Footnotes. Illustrations, and Index to documents. Topics covered include The Opening of the Intelligence War; The March Crisis and the Berlin Airlift; June 1953; Alltagsgeschichte: Day to Day in the Intelligence War; The Berlin Tunnel; The Berlin Crisis; The Wall; and a Glossary of Abbreviations. Donald P. Steury is a Historian for the National Declassification Center in the National Archives and Records Administration. In the summer of 1945, the Allied powers--the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union--began what was to be a temporary, joint occupation of the city of Berlin. Despite an optimistic beginning, by 1948 Cold War pressures had created two separate cities, East Berlin and West Berlin. In 1948 the Soviet Union blockaded Berlin, cutting off deliveries of coal, food, and supplies. The Western Allies responded with the Berlin Airlift, in which Allied air crews flew 4,000 tons of supplies a day into the city. In May 1949 the blockade came to an end, as the Soviets permitted the Western Allies to resupply Berlin by land. Berlin, however, was to remain a divided city with two governments until the end of the Cold War.
For nearly 50 years the German city of Berlin was the living symbol of the Cold War. The setting for innumerable films and novels about spies and Cold War espionage, Berlin was, in truth, at the heart of the intelligence war between the United States and the Soviet bloc. For the United States and its allies, Berlin was a base for strategic intelligence collection that provided unequaled access to Soviet-controlled territory. For the Soviet Union and the captive nations of the Warsaw Pact, the presence of Western intelligence services in occupied Berlin was a constant security threat, but also an opportunity to observe their opponents in action, and possibly to penetrate their operations. Perhaps nowhere else did the Soviet and Western intelligence services confront each other so directly, or so continuously. It thus seems appropriate to refer to this situation as an "Intelligence War"; not because the conflict between the opposing services regularly erupted into organized violence, but because it was a sustained, direct confrontation that otherwise had many of the characteristics of a war. For the early Cold War period at least, "Berlin Operations Base" may be said to have been one of the most active and productive postings for CIA intelligence officers in Europe. Its first Chief of Base was Allen W. Dulles. Richard Helms succeeded Dulles in October 1945. Following in the shoes of these two future Directors of Central Intelligence were some of the most successful intelligence officers in the Agency--most of whom must remain anonymous even today. CIA Berlin was never an independent entity, however, but always was subordinate to the Senior Agency Representative in Germany. Moreover, the CIA mission in Berlin was never more than a very small part of the much larger Allied presence. What follows is a sampling of CIA intelligence documents dealing with Cold War Berlin from the beginning of the Allied occupation in the summer of 1945 until the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. This might be regarded as the classical period of the intelligence war in Berlin, when the relatively unrestricted access permitted between the eastern and western halves of the city facilitated the intelligence operations of both sides. It was during this period that Berlin earned its reputation as a "den of espionage," a reputation that at least partly lived up to the romantic image created over the years by novelists and screenwriters. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Cold War, East Berlin, West Berlin, Berlin Airlift, CIA, Espionage, Berlin Wall, Military Occupation, Berlin Crisis, Intelligence Operations, Clandestine Operations
ISBN: 1929667019
[Book #79332]
Price: $75.00