Code Warriors
NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union
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Narrated by:
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Mark Deakins
About this listen
A sweeping, in-depth history of NSA, whose famous "cult of silence" has left the agency shrouded in mystery for decades.
The National Security Agency was born out of the legendary codebreaking programs of World War II that cracked the famed Enigma machine and other German and Japanese codes, thereby turning the tide of Allied victory. In the postwar years, as the United States developed a new enemy in the Soviet Union, our intelligence community found itself targeting not soldiers on the battlefield, but suspected spies, foreign leaders, and even American citizens. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, NSA played a vital, often fraught and controversial role in the major events of the Cold War, from the Korean War to the Cuban Missile Crisis to Vietnam and beyond.
In Code Warriors, Stephen Budiansky - a longtime expert in cryptology - tells the fascinating story of how NSA came to be, from its roots in World War II through the fall of the Berlin Wall. Along the way, he guides us through the fascinating challenges faced by cryptanalysts, and how they broke some of the most complicated codes of the 20th century. With access to new documents, Budiansky shows where the agency succeeded and failed during the Cold War, but his account also offers crucial perspective for assessing NSA today in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations. Budiansky shows how NSA's obsession with recording every bit of data and decoding every signal is far from a new development; throughout its history the depth and breadth of the agency's reach has resulted in both remarkable successes and destructive failures.
Featuring a series of appendixes that explain the technical details of Soviet codes and how they were broken, this is a rich and riveting history of the underbelly of the Cold War, and an essential and timely read for all who seek to understand the origins of the modern NSA.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2016 Stephen Budiansky (P)2016 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Spycraft
- The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda
- By: Robert Wallace, Henry Robert Schelsinger
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Now, in the first book ever written about this ultrasecretive department, the former director of OTS teams up with an internationally renowned intelligence historian to give listeners an unprecedented look at the devices and operations deemed "inappropriate for public disclosure" by the CIA just two years ago.
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Unique, informative history of the CIA
- By Richard on 07-29-08
By: Robert Wallace, and others
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Racing for the Bomb
- The True Story of General Leslie R. Groves, the Man Behind the Birth of the Atomic Age
- By: Robert S. Norris
- Narrated by: Peter Johnson
- Length: 23 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Revealed for the first time in Racing for the Bomb, Groves played a crucial and decisive role in the planning, timing, and targeting of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions. Norris offers new insights into the complex and controversial questions surrounding the decision to drop the bomb in Japan and Groves' actions during World War II, which had a lasting imprint on the nuclear age and the Cold War that followed.
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 04-22-15
By: Robert S. Norris
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The Perfect Weapon
- War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age
- By: David E. Sanger
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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The Perfect Weapon is the startling inside story of how the rise of cyberweapons transformed geopolitics like nothing since the invention of the atomic bomb. Cheap to acquire, easy to deny, and usable for a variety of malicious purposes, cyber is now the weapon of choice for democracies, dictators, and terrorists. Two presidents - Bush and Obama - drew first blood with Operation Olympic Games, which used malicious code to blow up Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, and yet America proved remarkably unprepared when its own weapons were stolen from its arsenal.
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mix of information and propaganda
- By Inthego on 06-14-19
By: David E. Sanger
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The Secret War
- Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939-1945
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 30 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Spies, codes, and guerrillas played unprecedentedly critical roles in the Second World War, exploited by every nation in the struggle to gain secret knowledge of its foes, and to sow havoc behind the fronts. In The Secret War, Max Hastings presents a worldwide cast of characters and some extraordinary sagas of intelligence and resistance, to create a new perspective on the greatest conflict in history.
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Better read than listened to
- By B. In -t Veld on 03-25-17
By: Max Hastings
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Day of Deceit
- The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor
- By: Robert B. Stinnett
- Narrated by: Rafael Ferrer
- Length: 3 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
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This great question of Pearl Harbor - what did we know and when did we know it? - has been argued for years. But no investigator has ever been able to prove that foreknowledge of the attack existed at the highest levels. Until now.
If you like Day of Deceit, try Trapped at Pearl Harbor and vintage audio of FDR's Day of Infamy Speech.
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Another View Of An Historic Event To Consider
- By Kindle Customer on 03-26-13
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1983
- Reagan, Andropov, and a World on the Brink
- By: Taylor Downing
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting, real-life thriller about 1983 - the year tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union nearly brought the world to the point of nuclear Armageddon. The year 1983 was an extremely dangerous one - more dangerous than 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the United States, President Reagan vastly increased defense spending, described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," and launched the "Star Wars" Strategic Defense Initiative to shield the country from incoming missiles.
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Great story, poor narration choices.
- By John Gray on 02-11-19
By: Taylor Downing
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Your Government Failed You
- Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters
- By: Richard A. Clarke
- Narrated by: Richard A. Clarke
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
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In Your Government Failed You, Clarke looks at why failures have continued and how America and the world can succeed against the terrorists. But Clarke goes beyond terrorism to examine the recurring U.S. government disasters. Despite the lessons of Vietnam, we've gotten involved in Iraq. Drawing on his 30 years in the White House, Pentagon, State Department, and Intelligence Community, Clarke discovers patterns in the failure and suggests ways to stop the cycle.
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Stellar Criticism
- By Tim on 04-01-09
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Good Hunting
- An American Spymaster's Story
- By: Jack Devine
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story is the spellbinding memoir of Devine's time in the CIA, where he served for more than 30 years, rising to become the acting deputy director of operations, responsible for all of the agency's spying operations. This is a story of intrigue and high-stakes maneuvering - all the more gripping when the fate of our geopolitical order hangs in the balance. But this audiobook also sounds a warning to our nation's decision makers.
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Fascinating, An education on spying
- By Anthony on 12-13-15
By: Jack Devine
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GCHQ
- Centenary Edition
- By: Richard Aldrich
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 25 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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GCHQ is the largest and most secretive intelligence organisation in the UK, and has existed for 100 years - but we still know next to nothing about it. In this ground-breaking book - the first and most definitive history of the organisation ever published - intelligence expert Richard Aldrich traces GCHQ’s development from a wartime code-breaking operation based in the Bedfordshire countryside into one of the world leading espionage organisations.
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Absolutely fascinating
- By philstopford on 04-01-24
By: Richard Aldrich
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The Pentagon's Brain
- An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Discover the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, in this Pulitzer Prize finalist from the author of the New York Times best seller Area 51. No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain".
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Scientia Est Potentia/Knowledge is Power
- By Cynthia on 10-08-15
By: Annie Jacobsen
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For more than 40 years, the US government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the navy, air force, and army - and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now, for the first time, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs.
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Phenomenally mediocre narration of a good book
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The Enigma Story
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The Enigma cipher was supposed to be the German's impenetrable defence for its military communications against prying eyes during World War II. All manner of secrets were entrusted to it. When the Allies finally managed to crack the code, it heralded a turning point in the war.
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I loved it
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What listeners say about Code Warriors
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-19-23
Great historical insight into intel gathering!
I served in ASA in the 70’s, through the transition to the US Army Intel Command. An interesting time to serve and this book is a great recap of that history.
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- Frank Rodriguez
- 01-10-17
great eye opening
it was very intriguing and history eye opening to the real events that has happened in this nation struggle for information.
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- Jeffrey Check
- 07-17-18
ultimate historical study of the NSA
Excellent book on the cryptography and history of the NSA and the politics related to it
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- Spencer La Placa, MSLM
- 10-08-19
intel history
awesome historical insight on how intel plays a role in each countries strategy to stay ahead.
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- christopher herrington
- 09-17-20
Quite an interesting read
The book was pretty interesting when talking about the actual ciphers. Some of the stories about the NSA/CIA officers sounded extremely close to several other books ive read so there is that.
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- david
- 08-03-16
Good book on NSA
Good complement to the WWII spy books I've been reading. However it goes to present day ... as much as could be told. It doesn't paint a pretty face of NSA ... just tells it like it was.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Cynthia
- 12-01-16
Did Vladimir Putin Steal the American Election?
The Cold War started at the end of World War II and nominally ended on December 26, 1991, when the Soviet Union officially dissolved. I was Army enlisted from 1982-1986, during Ronald Reagan's first term, when he was getting ready to tell Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." Basic training was a mix of chain of command and military protocol reinforced by push-ups; pride in learning how to fire an M-16A1 really well and delight at being able to use a Light Anti-Tank Weapon and Claymore mine, even just once; physical training followed by utter physical exhaustion; and training film after film about the evils of the Soviet Bloc. Basic training indoctrinated us to think that the Russians were using their considerable resources and talents just to ensnare guileless and gullible GIs and destroy America.
"Code Warriors: NSA's Code Beakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union" (June 14, 2016) affirms that what seemed like post-Vietnam over caution by a military looking for a new enemy wasn't paranoia at all. Author Stephen Budiansky talks about spying and decryption from Allan Turing's brilliant mechanical decryption of the German Army's Enigma traffic through code breaking into the late 1970's and early 1980's. The discussion of the development and use of computers at the National Security Agency, from recognizing the potential with ENIAC to purchasing Cray Supercomputers decades later was fascinating. NSA's use of punch cards on an IBM for code breaking was tedious, repetitive and resourceful.
I thought the description of signals intelligence analysis as contrasted with traffic analysis was informative. It's a nuanced discussion of the differences.
Budiansky's discussion of the personalities involved in the whole operation made the book lively. There was President Lyndon Johnson, who thought he could analyze raw data better than a cryptanalyst. Various heads of NSA ranged from renegade to inspired to hopelessly unqualified. Section chiefs jealously guarded turf and followed rules, sometimes at the cost of lives. Apparently low level analysts like John Walker managed to spy for the Soviet Union for a quarter century, delivering monthly encryption keys, until he was undone not by the obvious "he's got way too much money" flags but by a vengeful ex-wife.
Budiansky also discusses electronic warfare, like deliberately provoking an opposing force to activate a missile communication system, just so spy collection planes can gather intelligence about those units. That's a special kind of daring. There's also some discussion of what has developed into cyber warfare. "Code Breakers" covers a pre-internet, pre-personal computer era, so the book seems to be presaging how it's developed. I would love to hear Budiansky's take on former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden's disclosures in "Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror" (2016).
As I write this, the question so much on the minds of the country (because there's going to be at least a partial vote recount of the presidential vote): did Russia interfere with the presidential campaign, and did they interfere with the vote? After listening to "Code Warriors", I'm convinced that the Russian FSB and SVR, successors to the KGB, should have people and intelligence operations with the talent. Did they? Army basic training during the Cold War and a few books on Russian Military History and Espionage have thoroughly convinced me that I am not remotely qualified to even offer an opinion.
The last chapter of the Audible is the appendix. I recommend listening to it as Budiansky references it, rather than waiting until the end. There's also a 19 page .pdf that's got, among other things, a schematic of Enigma. Is that cool or what?
Mark Deakins was a good narrator, but sounded a little robotic in places - and to be fair, some of the stuff on computers and codes was pretty dense.
This book passes my highest author test: I'll find other books by Budiansky and read/listen to them.
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36 people found this helpful
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- R. C. Kahrl
- 12-31-17
I didn't finish this
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
I wouldn't recommend this -- not as an audio book.. it had too much detail for a book to be listened to. You have to have the book and its appendices in front of you, and study the material carefully, to get the content of this book.
Would you ever listen to anything by Stephen Budiansky again?
I would consider listening to a book with a less esoteric topic.
Which character – as performed by Mark Deakins – was your favorite?
None.
Was Code Warriors worth the listening time?
As I said, I got lost and missed much of the meaning that could have been gleaned from having a printed copy and studying carefully the explanations of how codes and codebreaking work. I have read printed books on this topic in the past, and enjoyed them. But there is so much math and formal logic in this book that cannot be absorbed by ear.
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- Nick H.
- 04-05-17
Interesting but better as text book than audiobook
I found this book to be very interesting. The history of the NSA during the first part of the Cold War (1946-1965) was in particular interesting.
The narrator would go through and explain how certain cipher techniques worked, but this was for me a bit confusing by not having any text to look at. This title would be a better text read I believe rather than an audiobook but it was still quite enjoyable.
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-22-16
Period Specific
I was expecting something more which this book did not go into details of. Present day code breaking was not discussed at all.
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