New York Times bestseller • From the author of “The Spy and the Traitor” comes the ultimate true Cold War thriller: “A tireless masterpiece” (The Guardian) of a Russian double agent with a desperate secret - and the key to stopping a nuclear catastrophe.
This book presents a journalistic and investigative reading of the secret documentary and archival content that is being revealed for the first time, dismantling the prevailing media narrative that reduces intelligence work to individual adventures or imagined espionage novels.McIntyre draws on newly published official documents and exclusive interviews to trace the path of the agent codenamed “Redwood,” revealing how his information leaks have reshaped geopolitical balances and directly impacted the decisions of Western and Eastern intelligence service leaders alike.The work focuses on dismantling the structural contradiction between the rigid security structures of major states and their fragility in the face of internal penetration mechanisms and tactical deception. The report traces how this agent managed a complex network of disinformation and duplicitous information in light of an ideological and institutional conflict. The writer reviews the behind-the-scenes conflict between counter-espionage devices, explaining how Operation Redwood revealed structural gaps in intelligence assessment methods and human asset management in times of existential crises.The investigation falls within the literature of military history, intelligence studies, and international relations directed at journalists, geopolitical analysts, and researchers in political and security history, as it provides an investigative document that unravels the structural origins of the mysteries of the Cold War and reveals the impact of secret operations in shaping contemporary history.
