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| READING THE NEWS
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The Chinese Connection
by
Andrew Duncan
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Former FBI
agent James J. Smith was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday,
May 7, for charges relating to his 20-year sexual affair with alleged
double-agent Katrina Leung. Smith faces 40 years in prison if convicted
of all charges, which include failing to inform the FBI about information
pertaining to Leung; gross negligence and mishandling of classified national
defense material; having an improper sexual relationship; and wire fraud.
Smith's
prosecutors also contend he continued to use Leung as an informant after
a San Francisco-based FBI agent warned Smith in 1991 that Leung was potentially
a spy for the Chinese. The San Francisco agent also claims to have had
a long-term sexual affair with Leung.
Smith, once
the head of U.S. counterintelligence on China at the FBI's Los Angeles
bureau, initially recruited prominent Chinese-American businesswoman Leung
in the early 1980s because of her connections to several top Chinese leaders.
Their romantic relationship began soon after she was hired.
Suspected
of handing inside information obtained from Smith and classified U.S.
national defense documents over to China's Ministry of State Security,
Leung -- who was paid $1.7 million by the U.S. for her "services" -- was
arrested last month and remains in jail. Her lawyers claim she was handed
information by the FBI, and told to give it to the Chinese government
in order to obtain their trust.
Secrets,
double agents, sexual affairs, classified documents, mysterious foreign
governments, and back-stabbing…sounds like a story ripped out of the latest
best-selling spy thriller! Enjoy more tales of those crafty G-Men and
their sneaky sneaking (and other spy stuff, too!) in the following selections!
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The
FBI: Inside the World's Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency
By Ronald
Kessler
 Granted
open access to formerly unattainable files and sources, award-winning Washington
Post and Wall Street Journal reporter Kessler gives a comprehensive
and fascinating account of the agency's dealings in the post-Hoover era.
While discussing the agency's various methods and techniques, Kessler examines
some of the FBI's most notorious contemporary successes and scandals, including
the Patty Hearst kidnapping; the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing; the Branch Davidian
standoff in Waco, Texas; and the first World Trade Center bombing. |
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A
G-Man's Journal: A Legendary Career Inside the FBI from the Kennedy Assassination
to the Oklahoma City Bombing
By Oliver
Revell
 Former
FBI Associate Deputy Director Revell was involved in most of the agency's
major investigations from 1964 to 1994. The JFK assassination, Watergate,
the Mafia, the Iran hostage crisis, various anti-terrorist operations: Revell's
autobiography compellingly tells the story of his long tenure. Although
some critics and conspiracy theorists decry some of Revell's actions, his
book makes for an irresistibly juicy insider's view of the infamous Federal
Bureau of Investigation. |
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Mindhunter:
Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit
By John
Douglas
 A
major inspiration for Thomas Harris' Silence
of the Lambs, Douglas' riveting memoir/true crime saga compellingly
describes the history of "profiling": the investigative process used by
the FBI to catch serial killers. One of the minds behind profiling, Douglas
interviewed, studied and/or hunted many of the 20th century's most notorious
criminals over the course of his 25-year career, including Charles Manson,
Ed Gein, Ted Bundy, the Green River killer, and the Atlanta child-murderer.
His confrontations with these murderers and how they shaped his ideas for
serial killer investigation makes for captivating and unsettling reading.
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The
Day of the Jackal
By Frederick
Forsyth
 A
classic thriller of international espionage! Dangerous, skilled, elusive,
and mysterious, the Jackal is the world's foremost assassin. His latest
contract is to kill Charles de Gaulle, the most heavily guarded man on the
planet. Will the Jackal change history? Or will he be stopped in time? The
manhunt for the Jackal will quicken your pulse and give you sleepless nights!
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Tinker,
Tailor, Soldier, Spy
By John
Le Carre
 Any
list of spy books wouldn't be complete without an offering from the master
of the spy novel: John Le Carre. A mole has been planted by the Soviets
into the British Intelligence community and has lingered there for decades,
ruining countless operations and networks. Ace spy George Smiley doesn't
know who the mole is, but he knows it's one of his own…and that they must
be destroyed. Psychologically gritty, bleak, and entirely unpredictable,
Le Carre's novels transport the reader into a unique secret world. |
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Bannerman's
Ghosts
By John
R. Maxim
 Maxim's
latest action-packed extravaganza is the next in the author's popular series
featuring the gritty U.S. government operative Paul Bannerman. African diamond
smuggler and all-around bad guy Artemus Bourne just received a package in
the mail containing the heads of three men who were working on biological
weapons for the arch-villain. Bourne immediately starts seeking revenge
on the man who did it, Bannerman colleague Martin Kessler. To trap Kessler,
Bourne goes after Kessler's lover, Elizabeth Stride, a deadly assassin who,
along with the rest of Bannerman's team, is retired and living in the town
of Westport, Connecticut. Now, Bannerman has to stop Bourne before everyone
he cares about -- and the town they live in -- is wiped from the face of
the earth! |
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