Summary of Spyfail By James Bamford: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America’s Counterintelligence

By Willie M. Joseph

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This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

Summary of Spyfail By James Bamford: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America's Counterintelligence

 

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James Bamford's SPYFAIL uncoversies a hidden cabal of foreign powers that have spied against America to reveal the incredible spygames, secrets, and cyberweapons they've hatched, unlocked, and stolen. U.S. intelligence has utterly failed to stop them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Willie M. Joseph
• Release date: Jan 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215834213

Willie M. Joseph

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INTRODUCTION

Jay Bratt was the chief of the counterintelligence section of the Justice Department. His office was located in a nondescript building in downtown Washington, DC. The search warrant indicated probable cause that the occupant was committing a crime under the Espionage Act by refusing to return classified documents. Under Obama and Trump, the U.S. became flooded with spies and covert operators, writes Risen. In the 2016 election season, foreign moles went undetected and penetrated the highest levels of both the Trump and Clinton campaigns. In SpyFail, I investigate how foreign countries target Americans at home, and how ill equipped the United States is to stop them. SpyFail is intended simply to explore the failures and reasons behind them, not lay out a detailed prescription for how to repair the system.

THE SABOTEURS

The Dinner

James Clapper is director of the Office of National Intelligence. James Yong Chol is head of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau. The two men began their espionage careers in the late 1960s and worked their way up to the top ranks of their respective countries' intelligence services. Clapper traveled to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, to brief the president on Kim Jong-un's decision to nuke North Korea. Within hours, Clapper had packed his suitcase, assembled a small staff, and was on his way back to Washington with the president's ear.

Former director of national intelligence Dan Coats put it simply: If you had nukes, never give them up. If you don't have them, get them. Clapper's Air Force Boeing 737 landed at Pyongyang's Sunan Shuofang International Airport. Among crew detailed to stay on board the 737 were intelligence officers. Clapper was given a spacious two-room suite with a French provincial–style bed.

He was simply an old man in a chain motel for the night, espionage equivalent of Willy Loman. It is the only U.S. Navy ship in foreign hands, and Lieutenant Kim wanted it back. Clapper's dinner with Kim Jong-un was an intelligence blunder of enormous proportions. At the same time, Kim was conducting the largest cyberattack in history against a U.S. corporation. Harsh retaliation against the United States for perceived threats was not only in Kim's bloodstream, it was in his bloodline.

The Studio

Sony's film empire is spread out over forty-four acres of soundstages, streetfronts, and back lots. In its MGM heyday it was the lair of Leo the Lion and his famous roar. The Thalberg Building still contained the twelve Best Picture Academy Awards won by MGM/Columbia between 1934 and 1987. Pascal had been president of Columbia Pictures since 1996; Lynton was an outsider who ran AOL Europe. They attended the same synagogue, their children went to the same schools, and even had sleepovers.

Michael Lynton's daughter Maisie wanted to attend Brown University in 2014. He decided on a scheme involving a $1 million scholarship in the name of an old friend, Nathaniel Chapman. Chapman only discovered the scholarship by accident while touring the school with one of her daughters. Lynton was an alumnus of both the college and the business school and a major donor. He blew her off, saying he didn't know anyone at Brown or how to get her in.

White House Down lost the studio more than $50 million, and After Earth another $25 million. Kim Jong Un satirized a bloody CIA-ordered assassination of the leader of a potentially hostile country, followed by the violent overthrow of his government. By naming names, they had turned a mindless movie into a deep personal insult demanding a response. They promised to lay off hundreds of employees and shift focus from film to television. In reality, they were still paying their personal assistants a quarter million dollars a year.

Pascal and Scott Rudin were emailing racist jokes at Obama's expense. It is little wonder why The Interview was so repulsively racist and filled with Asian stereotypes, writes national security expert. The North Korean ambassador to the United Nations filed a formal complaint with the UN Security Council. To allow the production and distribution of such a film on the assassination of an incumbent Head of a sovereign State should be regarded as an act of terrorism, said the Foreign Ministry.

Pyongyang

The secretive office of the supreme leader was expansive, windowless, and had the airy appearance of a grad school library. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lined the mahogany walls end to end. The only openings were for two large flat-screen TVs, one on each side of the room. Kim Jong Un's anger about The Interview was at a roiling boil, and he ordered preparations for an immense cyberattack against Sony. Park Jin Hyok opened several Facebook accounts under assumed identities, established a number of phony Twitter accounts.

George Clooney sent Amy Pascal an email Knowing this email is being hacked. George Clooney's email