Operation Rollback: America's Secret War Behind the Iron Curtain

Rating:
Summary: Kennan the diplomat or Kennan the spy?
Review: Grose's effort is sharp and to the point. On the one hand it is not really surprising: Who really believed that the Bay of Pigs was America's only rollback attempt?! On the other hand, this book was downright shocking, revealing that Rollback's chief architect was none other than Mr. Spyphobia himself, George F. Kennan. The great diplomat obviously packed two lines of sharply-contradictory reasoning.

Rating:
Summary: A spy thriller, cloak & dagger novel based on real life.
Review: If you enjoy spy thrillers, cloak and dagger novels, and James Bond movies, you will want to read this true life account of early American espionage efforts in post-war Europe and the Soviet Union. .....>This account, drawn from now declassified source material, makes for a fascinating read. Author Peter Grose expertly weaves together detailed information in a riveting style that will keep you turning the pages.

Rating:
Summary: Secret Disasters and Modest Successes
Review: In early 1946, Averill Harriman became personna non grata with Stalin and left Moscow as ambassador to the Soviet Union. His temporary replacement was George Kennan who soon sent the famous "long telegram" that espoused a foreign policy of attempting to overthrow communist regimes. This policy was soon printed in public by Kennan after he temporarily left the State Department as Mr. X.

Based on this argument, the Truman administration took up a dual position of "containment of communism" in public and a private approach of using propaganda, secret operations, and establishing spies behind the Iron Curtain. All of this private approach was unknown to Congress and to the American public. As Truman was publicly lambasted by those who wanted to overthrow communism for the policy of containment, these pro-overthrow policies were already in active implementation. In this book the hitherto unpublished full story of those operations is revealed.

Primarily funded from the Marshall Plan, these operations included some successes. For example, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty transmitted into communist countries and helped establish an alternative to communist propaganda. Both were secretly subsidized by the U.S.

But for the most part, the operations were unsuccessful. A very large percentage of the agents introduced behind the Iron Curtain were quickly rounded up, and many were executed. The reasons seem to be twofold: Kim Philby (the British spy for the Soviets) was aware of the details of many of these operations and passed the information along to his Soviet masters, and the Americans had waited too long to get started. The resistance movements they hoped to help were being systematically crushed by communist regimes right after World War II, and the emigre populations were soon filled with Soviet agents who could compromise insurgent operations. In fact, the most successful Soviet resistance movement was one that avoided connection with the U.S.

These disasters were kept secret by both the Americans (out of embarrassment about their lack of success) and by the Soviets (out of a desire to avoid people knowing about internal resistance movements). With the end of the Cold War, the author had access to many documents and people who were able to tell this story.

Readers will find a variety of things to condemn about this operation by the U.S. In many cases, Nazi war criminals were knowingly recruited. In other cases, the operations were done very amateurishly. So those who favor this type of activity will condemn its effectiveness. In almost all cases, there seemed to be a basic disregard for the lives of the agents. Also, how far should a democracy be going to affect the governments of other countries? The Eisenhower administration quickly concluded that Operation Rollback had gone too far, and pulled back its interference in many cases. Further, establishing and encouraging civil wars and guerilla wars in other countries certainly can harm the lives of those in those countries. What is the humanitarian thing to do? In both the Hungarian (1956) and Czech (1968) revolutions, the U.S. stood to the side. Humanitarian aid to striking East German workers after World War II, on the other hand, was well received. A particularly interesting question is whether one should only use the tools of one's own ideology to advance that ideology? In the case of the U.S., this would mean relying more on free speech and free competition than covert military action. Ultimately, the downfall of the Soviet Union came from its inability to compete economically, worsened by the overt military competition of the arms race.

The book is well-written and detailed enough to allow you to make your own evaluation of Operation Rollback and the policies behind it. You will also get new perspectives on famous Americans like President Truman, John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Joe McCarthy.

Reasonable people will differ on their answers to these questions, but Operation Rollback should be evaluated and understood for its lessons concerning future U.S. policies. Certainly, the Bay of Pigs repeated many of the mistakes of Operation Rollback. Although the intelligence community has long ago done this evaluation, this book should inspire some good debate in the general public.

This is a cautionary tale in many ways that should cause us to reexamine our own assumptions about when the ends justify the means. For example, in your life, how far should you go to avoid paying taxes? How far should you go to protect your family? What are the limits to protecting your own life?

Be cautious in implementing your idealism and your self-interest!

Rating:
Summary: Secret Disasters and Modest Successes
Review: In early 1946, Averill Harriman became personna non grata with Stalin and left Moscow as ambassador to the Soviet Union. His temporary replacement was George Kennan who soon sent the famous "long telegram" that espoused a foreign policy of attempting to overthrow communist regimes. This policy was soon printed in public by Kennan after he temporarily left the State Department as Mr. X.

Based on this argument, the Truman administration took up a dual position of "containment of communism" in public and a private approach of using propaganda, secret operations, and establishing spies behind the Iron Curtain. All of this private approach was unknown to Congress and to the American public. As Truman was publicly lambasted by those who wanted to overthrow communism for the policy of containment, these pro-overthrow policies were already in active implementation. In this book the hitherto unpublished full story of those operations is revealed.

Primarily funded from the Marshall Plan, these operations included some successes. For example, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty transmitted into communist countries and helped establish an alternative to communist propaganda. Both were secretly subsidized by the U.S.

But for the most part, the operations were unsuccessful. A very large percentage of the agents introduced behind the Iron Curtain were quickly rounded up, and many were executed. The reasons seem to be twofold: Kim Philby (the British spy for the Soviets) was aware of the details of many of these operations and passed the information along to his Soviet masters, and the Americans had waited too long to get started. The resistance movements they hoped to help were being systematically crushed by communist regimes right after World War II, and the emigre populations were soon filled with Soviet agents who could compromise insurgent operations. In fact, the most successful Soviet resistance movement was one that avoided connection with the U.S.

These disasters were kept secret by both the Americans (out of embarrassment about their lack of success) and by the Soviets (out of a desire to avoid people knowing about internal resistance movements). With the end of the Cold War, the author had access to many documents and people who were able to tell this story.

Readers will find a variety of things to condemn about this operation by the U.S. In many cases, Nazi war criminals were knowingly recruited. In other cases, the operations were done very amateurishly. So those who favor this type of activity will condemn its effectiveness. In almost all cases, there seemed to be a basic disregard for the lives of the agents. Also, how far should a democracy be going to affect the governments of other countries? The Eisenhower administration quickly concluded that Operation Rollback had gone too far, and pulled back its interference in many cases. Further, establishing and encouraging civil wars and guerilla wars in other countries certainly can harm the lives of those in those countries. What is the humanitarian thing to do? In both the Hungarian (1956) and Czech (1968) revolutions, the U.S. stood to the side. Humanitarian aid to striking East German workers after World War II, on the other hand, was well received. A particularly interesting question is whether one should only use the tools of one's own ideology to advance that ideology? In the case of the U.S., this would mean relying more on free speech and free competition than covert military action. Ultimately, the downfall of the Soviet Union came from its inability to compete economically, worsened by the overt military competition of the arms race.

The book is well-written and detailed enough to allow you to make your own evaluation of Operation Rollback and the policies behind it. You will also get new perspectives on famous Americans like President Truman, John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Joe McCarthy.

Reasonable people will differ on their answers to these questions, but Operation Rollback should be evaluated and understood for its lessons concerning future U.S. policies. Certainly, the Bay of Pigs repeated many of the mistakes of Operation Rollback. Although the intelligence community has long ago done this evaluation, this book should inspire some good debate in the general public.

This is a cautionary tale in many ways that should cause us to reexamine our own assumptions about when the ends justify the means. For example, in your life, how far should you go to avoid paying taxes? How far should you go to protect your family? What are the limits to protecting your own life?

Be cautious in implementing your idealism and your self-interest!

Rating:
Summary: The real Story of early Covert Operations
Review: In January 1946, George F. Kennon, a career diplomat trained in Soviet Affairs, became the ambassador to the U.S.S.R. when Averell Harriman returned to the United States. Kennon wrote many dispatches about the turmoil within the Soviet Union, but they were largely ignored. When asked to write an "Interpretive Analysis" of Soviet statements regarding international institutions, Kennon let loose with both barrels. This paper became the basis for future American policies towards the Soviet Union.

This is a fine account of the people and early (if inept) efforts by the U.S. to subvert the Soviet control of Eastern Europe just after WWII. The book traces the political background and the maneuvering of the World Powers and is instructive as to the current environments in Albania, Hungary, Romania, Poland, and the emerging Balkan States.

The early efforts of the OPC (Office of Policy Coordination), that were mostly thwarted by the infamous spy Kim Philby (British Liaison Officer), are covered in some depth. The OPC was later absorbed by the CIA. Also discussed are the secret ways the OPC was financed and its existence kept hidden from the American public. I had never heard of the OPC, but these guys were responsible for covert operations. They tried to stir up trouble within the Soviet sphere of influence, including the Soviet Union itself. They trained operators recruited from Eastern European Refugees, arranged and carried out parachute drops of agents behind the Iron Curtain, smuggled weapons, and dispersed money to agents and sympathizers. They also carried out propaganda campaigns and started Radio Free Europe.

It is interesting that the Soviets had so penetrated the political parties and intelligence agencies of the U.S. and Great Britain long before World War II started. What is also fascinating is that we knew about much of their spying efforts and for a long time chose to ignore them. There were a lot of sympathizers in the U.S. that were rooting for the socialist experiment.

This is a fine book for students of Political Science, Post WWII History, and fans of the history of covert operations. I have read many novels and seen many movies about secret operations, but they pale compared to the real stuff!

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Account Spoiled by Political Bias
Review: While this book is a fascinating account of early attempt to combat the Soviet Empire, the narrative is somewhat spoiled by the author's obvious political bias. The author gives the impression that he doesn't think Soviet tyranny was worthy of much concern and that people who were concerned about it were ill-advised. President Truman's anti-communism is at one point called "petulence." Even so the book is an invaluable piece of history about a little known subject. One of the most fascinating revelations is the fact that one of the figures of the radical sixties, one Reverand William Sloan Coffin, was a participant in Operation Rollback.