Nuclear Spies

Why did the US intelligence services fail so spectacularly to know about the Soviet Union's nuclear capabilities following World War II? As Vince Houghton, historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, shows us, that disastrous failure came just a few years after the Manhattan Project's intelligence team had penetrated the Third Reich and knew every detail of the Nazi's plan for an atomic bomb. What changed and what went wrong?

Every generation, a journalist has looked deep into the heart of the nuclear military establishment: the technologies, the safeguards, the plans, and the risks. These investigations are vital to how we understand the world we really live in—where one nuclear missile will beget one in return, and where the choreography of the world’s end requires massive decisions made on seconds’ notice with information that is only as good as the intelligence we have. Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario explores this ticking-clock scenario.

The Shinkolobwe Mine in the Belgian Congo was described by a 1943 Manhattan Project intelligence report as the "most important deposit of uranium yet discovered in the world". So long as the United States remained in control of this mine and its supply, it had a world monopoly on the primary material needed to build an atomic bomb. The uranium from this mine was used to build the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States is an exciting piece of "speculative fiction." The novel posits that there was a nuclear attack against the US on March 21, 2020 by North Korea, and that a national bipartisan commission was created to investigate what and how it happened. It's pretty scary stuff.

Nathan Tyler is an unassuming professor at a middling American university with a rather obscure specialty in mathematics—in short, a nobody from nowhere. So why is the White House calling? Summoned to Washington, DC, for a top-secret briefing, Nathan discovers that he’s the key to a massive foreign intelligence breakthrough. Reading between the lines of a cryptic series of equations, he could open a door straight into the heart of the Kremlin and change the global balance of power forever.

Terrorists obtain a nuclear bomb ...and it’s heading for America. Green Beret operative George Ferrar faces his nemesis in a dark cave in Afghanistan…then learns that a loose nuke is heading to America's heartland. But who will believe him? Everybody from the CIA to the FBI to Congress thinks he has turned against America. Ferrar is resourceful, knowledgeable, and deadly, but must take his game to a whole new level to stay alive, track down the bomb, and save the nation. He races against time as the bomb slips through the hands of numerous countries, from Pakistan to Bahrain to Canada ...

Connor Kane is a seasoned INTERPOL agent, trained for danger, deception, and high-stakes missions. But nothing could prepare him for the explosive mission that brings him face-to-face with a team of international operatives, each with their own secrets, their own scars—and their own undeniable allure. As Connor navigates the world of covert ops and political intrigue, he finds himself caught between a rogue arms dealer, the deadly weapons that could change the balance of power, and the men he comes to trust—and desire. Rafael Santoro, the enigmatic former lover who never truly let go, ...

In a world on the brink of nuclear war, one man stands between peace and global chaos. Following the devastating aftermath of a nuclear detonation in the Panama Canal, the world teeters on the edge of war. The Russian president's claims about a hidden Soviet weapons depot in Georgia escalate tensions, pushing the globe closer to the abyss of conflict. Acting U.S. President Jordan Stratton faces a nation in turmoil, grappling with the shadows of recent terrorist attacks and the critical condition of President Maggie Trousdale.

This is more than the story of nuclear conflict. It’s about the devastating effects wrought by nuclear winter. Our possible future is seen through the eyes of the Albright family. Hank Albright, a widower and proprietor of the Driftwood Key Inn, is the epitome of the laid-back islander inhabiting the Keys. His brother, Mike, is a homicide detective for the Monroe County Sheriff’s department. Along with his wife, Jessica, a paramedic and member of the sheriff’s department's water emergency team, they become involved in the investigation of a sadistic serial killer.

As Egypt comes closer and closer to developing a nuclear bomb, the Mossad’s number one Israeli agent is given an impossible mission: to beat the Arabs in the nuclear arms race by finding and stealing two hundred tons of uranium. The world’s balance of power will shift. And the Mossad, the KGB, the Egyptians, and Fedayeen terrorists will play out the final, violent moves in this devastating game where the price of failure is a nuclear holocaust....

Who were the three men the American and Soviet superpowers exchanged at Berlin’s Glienicke Bridge and Checkpoint Charlie in the first prisoner exchange of the nuclear age? Bridge of Spies vividly traces their paths to that electrifying moment on February 10, 1962, when their fates helped to define the conflicts and lethal undercurrents of the most dangerous years of the cold war.

If, like Kane, you’re a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA, then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again—by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide—and when to shoot. But some places don’t play by the rules. Some places are too dangerous, even for a man of Kane’s experience. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan meet are such a place—a place where violence is the only way to survive.

In 2015, a major story broke exposing Hillary Clinton's role in approving the sale of an American uranium company to the Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom. An indispensable guide to the hidden background of recent events, Fallout shows how Putin's bid for nuclear dominance produced a series of political scandals that ultimately posed one of the greatest threats to our democracy in modern American history.

In a narrative that moves like a thriller, Rhodes sheds light on the Reagan administration's unprecedented arms buildup in the early 1980s, as well as the arms-reduction campaign that followed, and Reagan's famous 1986 summit meeting with Gorbachev. Rhodes' detailed exploration of events of this time constitutes a prehistory of the neoconservatives. The story is new, compelling, and continually surprising - a revelatory re-creation of a hugely important era of our recent history.

Maggie Hope has come a long way since she was Mr. Churchill’s secretary. In the face of tremendous danger, she’s learned espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance. But things are different now that she has so much to lose, including the possibility of a family with John Sterling, the man who’s long held her heart.

One spy holds the world’s nuclear balance of power. The Germans want him back. The Russians want him dead. When a deep-cover German agent inside the FSB is exposed, panic erupts in Berlin. He knows too much—secrets that could shift global power. Now, Major Sophie Decker and her ruthless Department 89 unit are ordered to infiltrate Russia, extract him… or eliminate him. Failure isn’t an option. Survival isn’t guaranteed. And this time, even victory comes at a devastating price. Praise for the Department 89 series★★★★★ "Sophie Decker is my newest favorite heroine". ★★...

A satirical retro thriller that blends over-the-top comedy and adrenaline-pumping action to explore the absurdity of nuclear weapons. But be warned: this novel isn’t afraid to push THE BUTTON. Wannabe journalist Steven Leonard thinks he’s found his big break: uncovering the world’s most dangerous secret agent, Hunter Gunne. Once a legendary badass, Hunter is now a disillusioned recluse, questioning whether the world is even worth saving. But Steven’s unexpected visit brings more than questions—he’s unwittingly led a team of mercenaries straight to her door. Now, Steven and ...

In Washington, D.C., a CIA analyst traces the sale of black market plutonium. As the pieces fit together, he realizes that a terrorist attack is under way on a valuable, and vulnerable, American target. He also sees that the Sojourner Truth is sailing right into the attack, putting his estranged wife, the second in command on the Sojourner, at the heart of an international crisis.

Dale Brown is the author of 14 New York Times best sellers, and now in Plan of Attack, he provocatively turns our attention to the threat of a nuclear attack that is beyond our imaginings.

The first rule of nuclear war is that there are no rules. Up to now, no one outside of official circles has known exactly what would happen if a rogue state launched a nuclear missile at the Pentagon. Second by second and minute by minute, these are the real-life protocols that choreograph the end of civilisation as we know it. Because the plans for General Nuclear War are among the most classified secrets held by the United States government, this book takes the listener up to the razor’s edge of what can legally be known.