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The Unending Game: A Former R&AW Chief’s Insights into Espionage
In God we trust, the rest we monitor . . .A former chief of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, deconstructs the shadowy world of spies, from the Cold War era to the age of global jihad, from surveillance states to psy-war and cyberwarfare, from gathering information to turning it into credible intelligence. Vikram Sood provides a panoramic view of the rarely understood profession of spying to serve a country's strategic and security interests.As a country's stature and reach grow, so do its intelligence needs. This is especially true for one like India that has ambitions of being a global player even as it remains embattled in its own neighbourhood. The Unending Game tackles these questions while providing a national and international perspective on gathering external intelligence, its relevance in securing and advancing national interests, and why intelligence is the first playground in the game of nations.
285 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 16, 2018
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August 31, 2019
“A king shall have his agents in the courts of the enemy, the ally, the middle and the neutral kings to spy on the kings as well as eighteen types of high officials”
– Kautilya’s Arthashastra, ancient Indian text on statecraft
In God we trust, the rest we monitor…
The Unending Game has been penned by Vikram Sood, former chief of India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). In the author’s words, “It is not a personal memoir, nor is it about the organization for which I worked. Instead, it seeks to familiarize those who are interested in the intricacies of espionage and intelligence collection and, hopefully, to help prepare our systems for the turbulence that lies ahead.”
The book is well researched and well written, and concentrates on twentieth century espionage starting from the Cold War era to the current global jihad.
The reader would gain an overview on the art and science of espionage. There are many interesting stories and facts about espionage carried out by nations; the secret societies formed by the powerful with intentions of influencing world affairs to serve their vested interests (Bilderberg, Pinay Circle etc.); the Deep State; the triangle between terrorists, criminals and spies. The author has also cautioned about the profligate consumption of wastage resources and the dire consequences, and the potential ill effects of AI and smart weapons. I am not delving into the details here.
The author has shed some light on RAW as well. It would have been better if he had elaborated a bit more on the organization.
I enjoyed reading the book, and particularly liked the many references to popular culture – novels, movies, perceptions. By the way, the author seems to be an admirer of John Le Carre novles. I added quite a few books and movies to my TBR and watch list respectively. The author has also quoted statesmen, spymasters and authors multiple times, which added to the reading experience.
As an incorrigible mystery and thriller lover, I have read many novels around spies – from the outlandish adventures of James Bond to the world of moral ambiguity inhabited by John Le Carre’s characters. But, this is one of the very few non-fiction books I have read on spycraft. Thus, I don’t have a clear benchmark on which to evaluate this book. My rating is based on the satisfaction I had from reading this book.
There are certainly more insightful books on espionage out there. As a starting point, this book is pretty good.
– Kautilya’s Arthashastra, ancient Indian text on statecraft
In God we trust, the rest we monitor…
The Unending Game has been penned by Vikram Sood, former chief of India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). In the author’s words, “It is not a personal memoir, nor is it about the organization for which I worked. Instead, it seeks to familiarize those who are interested in the intricacies of espionage and intelligence collection and, hopefully, to help prepare our systems for the turbulence that lies ahead.”
The book is well researched and well written, and concentrates on twentieth century espionage starting from the Cold War era to the current global jihad.
The reader would gain an overview on the art and science of espionage. There are many interesting stories and facts about espionage carried out by nations; the secret societies formed by the powerful with intentions of influencing world affairs to serve their vested interests (Bilderberg, Pinay Circle etc.); the Deep State; the triangle between terrorists, criminals and spies. The author has also cautioned about the profligate consumption of wastage resources and the dire consequences, and the potential ill effects of AI and smart weapons. I am not delving into the details here.
The author has shed some light on RAW as well. It would have been better if he had elaborated a bit more on the organization.
I enjoyed reading the book, and particularly liked the many references to popular culture – novels, movies, perceptions. By the way, the author seems to be an admirer of John Le Carre novles. I added quite a few books and movies to my TBR and watch list respectively. The author has also quoted statesmen, spymasters and authors multiple times, which added to the reading experience.
As an incorrigible mystery and thriller lover, I have read many novels around spies – from the outlandish adventures of James Bond to the world of moral ambiguity inhabited by John Le Carre’s characters. But, this is one of the very few non-fiction books I have read on spycraft. Thus, I don’t have a clear benchmark on which to evaluate this book. My rating is based on the satisfaction I had from reading this book.
There are certainly more insightful books on espionage out there. As a starting point, this book is pretty good.
March 15, 2019
This is a very good book on espionage, more like a research paper or thesis. The author is a former intelligence chief of RAW and exploits his vast experience on the technicalities of the espionage profession.
The book gives us an insight into the CIA and the KGB too. However, if you are looking at how the RAW functions, you will be disappointed. The author has not revealed anything about the RAW or its secrets.Being an ex-intelligence chief, you expect some kind of revelations on the workings of the agency. But, I suppose it would not be prudent for the author unlike other professions. Detailed facts on terrorist events in India like 26/11 and USA like 9/11 find its way into the book but all are documented facts and can be found easily in the public domain. There are some interesting anecdotes sprinkled all over. For example, a frightening titbit was about a cabinet minister in Indira Gandhi government offered to sell secrets to KGB and the same minister later became the prime minister of India ! Or how about the fact that USA was in possession of evidence from a terrorist that there would be terrorist attack on a huge scale as early as 1998 but chose to ignore this resulting in a catastrophe of gigantic proportions !
Recommended for people with an interest in espionage or politics. There were places where the writing became a drag but one can ignore it.
The book gives us an insight into the CIA and the KGB too. However, if you are looking at how the RAW functions, you will be disappointed. The author has not revealed anything about the RAW or its secrets.Being an ex-intelligence chief, you expect some kind of revelations on the workings of the agency. But, I suppose it would not be prudent for the author unlike other professions. Detailed facts on terrorist events in India like 26/11 and USA like 9/11 find its way into the book but all are documented facts and can be found easily in the public domain. There are some interesting anecdotes sprinkled all over. For example, a frightening titbit was about a cabinet minister in Indira Gandhi government offered to sell secrets to KGB and the same minister later became the prime minister of India ! Or how about the fact that USA was in possession of evidence from a terrorist that there would be terrorist attack on a huge scale as early as 1998 but chose to ignore this resulting in a catastrophe of gigantic proportions !
Recommended for people with an interest in espionage or politics. There were places where the writing became a drag but one can ignore it.
September 1, 2018
An excellent, excellent book. I must admit, I had my misgivings. Quite uncharitably, I felt that Sh. Vikram Sood Sir is trying to hitch his wagon to the Dulat Saab train. Nevertheless, courtesy a few good reviews, I decided to pick this up.
This is book is a big deviation from earlier books by intelligence chiefs - Dulat Saab's two titles, B. Raman's "Kaoboys", the excruticatingly-difficult-to-find trilogy by the legendary Mullick Saab: these were all memories & collections of anecdotes.
What Sood Sir has written is a textbook.
Read this, to understand some of the intricacies of intelligence work. It's a fascinating read and will provide great insights. What I have particularly remarkable is the last chapter, where Sood Sir discusses the issues pertaining to HR management issues that are peculiar to R&AW. I suppose this is a natural outgrowth of the author's own credentials.
This is book is a big deviation from earlier books by intelligence chiefs - Dulat Saab's two titles, B. Raman's "Kaoboys", the excruticatingly-difficult-to-find trilogy by the legendary Mullick Saab: these were all memories & collections of anecdotes.
What Sood Sir has written is a textbook.
Read this, to understand some of the intricacies of intelligence work. It's a fascinating read and will provide great insights. What I have particularly remarkable is the last chapter, where Sood Sir discusses the issues pertaining to HR management issues that are peculiar to R&AW. I suppose this is a natural outgrowth of the author's own credentials.
November 6, 2018
I learnt a great deal about the history and practice of spycraft but all this information was so scattered, repetitive and disorganized that it didn't add up to a coherent whole. Also, most of the spy accounts are drawn from second-hand Western sources, with precious little original material about the exploits and inner workings of R&AW. On the whole, a disappointment.
December 21, 2018
The need for a state to keep track of what its neighbours are up to was recognized in the ancient world itself, as crystallized in Kautilya’s Arthashastra and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. At least in this regard, India need not go anywhere for directions, we may think. This is too far from the truth. The drastic changes that are coming in each year, the apathy of the political establishment and the suffocation generally felt in a bureaucratic setup are affecting our intelligence infrastructure in a corrosive manner. The greatest threat in international relations is the emergence of non-state actors, like Islamic terrorism which gets clandestine support from rogue states like Pakistan. Espionage is indispensable in such a scenario to get information on the targets and plans of the terrorists while it is still on the drawing board. This requires planting moles in those organizations and monitoring communications between them. In a democracy, this is easier said than done as the state have to mind the voice of civil society while putting up surveillance measures on telephone conversations and intercepting internet data. The painful question of how much is enough is not going to be settled any time soon. All of these create immense challenges to the intelligence-gathering machinery. This book is an attempt to codify the effort used in the past and needed in the future to smoothen the path of India into the league of world powers in the next few decades to come. Vikram Sood is elegantly suited for this job, since he was a former boss of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW – though it commonly goes by an acronym without the ampersand), India’s equivalent of the CIA. He was a career intelligence officer for 31 years and is currently serving as adviser at the Observer Research Foundation, a public policy think tank based in New Delhi. He writes regularly on security, foreign relations and strategic issues.
The US is undoubtedly the fulcrum of the uni-polar world. It reached this pivotal position not by its financial muscle alone. Economic supremacy needed other kinds of domination to protect its interests. This may percolate to the ideological, military, technological and psychological fields too. All are to be accompanied by heightened espionage activities, which involve collection of data of different kinds, its conversion into useful information, processing it into knowledge and the final honing as intelligence to the consumers, which is often the political leadership. Sood makes a fine case for the requirement of intelligence gathering – or espionage, if you are so particular. The targets are to be identified first. Probably judging from experience, he asserts that the targets are easier to penetrate in a state entity than a terrorist organization, because those entities are more easily identifiable and definable and are also loosely controlled.
Having established the need for spying, the author makes an analysis of the tools of the trade, always watchful not to make a complete show of the cards for obvious reasons. The semantic differences between covert, special and clandestine operations are elucidated. The reliability of the sources of information makes or mars the whole operation. Sources which work for money are the steadiest as compared to ideologically motivated ones. The handlers should be careful in dealing with them. Tight purse strings are unattractive, bargaining is ugly but misplaced generosity is a cardinal sin. The book includes many such statements combining several criteria with increasingly strident tone of the adjectives! Deception is a major part of the intelligence game. It is neither ugly nor immoral. By this, the author seems to mean that it is applicable to the public also. They never get to know of a good spy and reads only about botched operations. He who performs invaluable work assigned to him in a hostile country and then retires gracefully to live a quiet, normal life is the perfect spy.
A survey of the premier spy agencies in the global arena is made in the book, which includes those of the US, Russia and China. As in the Cold War era, the leaders manage things so cleverly that a direct confrontation between them does not take place and espionage battles will be waged in neutral countries. Their modus operandi overlaps into domestic monitoring as well, to detect impending threats. The Department of Homeland Security in the US has massively invested in infrastructure for eavesdropping. It was a great blow to them when the exposures of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden came to light. Privacy advocates were stung into action on the realization of the scale of monitoring that was taking place. However, the author makes a note of warning here that the debates about privacy and freedom should be counterbalanced by the dire needs for security and surveillance in view of terror attacks as brutal as 9/11 in the US and 26/11 in Mumbai.
The book presents a skewed picture of things when it attempts to discuss about non-state international groups of industrialists, academics and politicians who are influential in swaying state policy of their respective nations. Sood assigns them great powers and finds them responsible in shaping events that changed the course of history such as the collapse of communism. One such organization is the Piney Circle. Hope you have not heard of it before? Neither do I. It is a right-wing group of politicians and secret agents linked to the Catholic Opus Dei. Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Konrad Adenauer and many other heads of state were its members. It worked from 1951 to 1991, battling communism. He claims that Comte Alexandre de Marenches, head of the French secret service and a member of the Piney Circle, advised Reagan in 1980 on how to dismantle the Soviet Union within eight years! There are other organisations that share the credit, such as the Bilderbergers who conceived of a world containing only the rich and the poor by obliterating the middle class. It proposed to do this by birth control through famines and wars. This chapter is an unfortunate one as it looked something amateurish. Secret societies possessing powers to change regimes are what we encounter in a Dan Brown novel, rather than in a non-fiction work by a former chief of the nation’s secret service.
The Russian and American spy agencies vied with each other for space in India during the cold war. Sood mentions a few facts in which Indian politicians received favours from them. Morarji Desai, former prime minister, is said to have accepted a sum of $20,000 each year. Kabir, an organisation run by Aam Admi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, is alleged to have received $400,000 from the Ford Foundation which is a cover for the CIA. The veracity of these claims cannot be verified, in view of the R&AW’s hostility towards Desai who tried to clip its wings when he was the premier. Kalugin, a former heavyweight of the KGB who defected, had written that it looked as if India was for sale during the Indira-Rajiv era. As a result, neither the Soviets nor the Americans were enthusiastic on entrusting sensitive information to Indians.
The book assumes a categorically hostile position against Pakistan. It has always been an enemy and will continue to remain so in the foreseeable future. It plots and supports extremist activity with an eye on provoking violence and anarchy in India. Glib talk about a joint fight with Pakistan against terror is meaningless. It is as ridiculous as investigating a murder with the help of the murderer. Even if the Pakistani government by any chance decides to stop its support for terrorists, the country would still be most attractive to the extremists on account of the lack of good governance, weak regulations, absence of rule of law and weak financial institutions and legislation. This makes it a fertile ground for production and export of terrorists to all parts of the world. It is to be remembered that Pakistan appeared in one form or the other in the investigations on each and every terrorist attack that killed innocent people in Europe, America and India.
Readers expecting interesting anecdotes and tasteful case studies from the author’s rich repertoire as the chief of the apex spy body of India are in for a rude shock and disappointment. Probably because of non-disclosure rules, Sood remains mute on them. If secrecy demands silence from the author, he could have stopped from bringing out this book too. ‘No book’ seems to be a better option than an uninspiring one, which does not contribute anything to the reader’s awareness that cannot be gleaned from newspaper columns or current magazine articles. This book is a long collection of platitudes and homilies on the urgent need to change the priorities and practices of a spy organisation to meet the challenges posed by a technologically advanced world.
The book is recommended only to serious readers of international relations.
The US is undoubtedly the fulcrum of the uni-polar world. It reached this pivotal position not by its financial muscle alone. Economic supremacy needed other kinds of domination to protect its interests. This may percolate to the ideological, military, technological and psychological fields too. All are to be accompanied by heightened espionage activities, which involve collection of data of different kinds, its conversion into useful information, processing it into knowledge and the final honing as intelligence to the consumers, which is often the political leadership. Sood makes a fine case for the requirement of intelligence gathering – or espionage, if you are so particular. The targets are to be identified first. Probably judging from experience, he asserts that the targets are easier to penetrate in a state entity than a terrorist organization, because those entities are more easily identifiable and definable and are also loosely controlled.
Having established the need for spying, the author makes an analysis of the tools of the trade, always watchful not to make a complete show of the cards for obvious reasons. The semantic differences between covert, special and clandestine operations are elucidated. The reliability of the sources of information makes or mars the whole operation. Sources which work for money are the steadiest as compared to ideologically motivated ones. The handlers should be careful in dealing with them. Tight purse strings are unattractive, bargaining is ugly but misplaced generosity is a cardinal sin. The book includes many such statements combining several criteria with increasingly strident tone of the adjectives! Deception is a major part of the intelligence game. It is neither ugly nor immoral. By this, the author seems to mean that it is applicable to the public also. They never get to know of a good spy and reads only about botched operations. He who performs invaluable work assigned to him in a hostile country and then retires gracefully to live a quiet, normal life is the perfect spy.
A survey of the premier spy agencies in the global arena is made in the book, which includes those of the US, Russia and China. As in the Cold War era, the leaders manage things so cleverly that a direct confrontation between them does not take place and espionage battles will be waged in neutral countries. Their modus operandi overlaps into domestic monitoring as well, to detect impending threats. The Department of Homeland Security in the US has massively invested in infrastructure for eavesdropping. It was a great blow to them when the exposures of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden came to light. Privacy advocates were stung into action on the realization of the scale of monitoring that was taking place. However, the author makes a note of warning here that the debates about privacy and freedom should be counterbalanced by the dire needs for security and surveillance in view of terror attacks as brutal as 9/11 in the US and 26/11 in Mumbai.
The book presents a skewed picture of things when it attempts to discuss about non-state international groups of industrialists, academics and politicians who are influential in swaying state policy of their respective nations. Sood assigns them great powers and finds them responsible in shaping events that changed the course of history such as the collapse of communism. One such organization is the Piney Circle. Hope you have not heard of it before? Neither do I. It is a right-wing group of politicians and secret agents linked to the Catholic Opus Dei. Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Konrad Adenauer and many other heads of state were its members. It worked from 1951 to 1991, battling communism. He claims that Comte Alexandre de Marenches, head of the French secret service and a member of the Piney Circle, advised Reagan in 1980 on how to dismantle the Soviet Union within eight years! There are other organisations that share the credit, such as the Bilderbergers who conceived of a world containing only the rich and the poor by obliterating the middle class. It proposed to do this by birth control through famines and wars. This chapter is an unfortunate one as it looked something amateurish. Secret societies possessing powers to change regimes are what we encounter in a Dan Brown novel, rather than in a non-fiction work by a former chief of the nation’s secret service.
The Russian and American spy agencies vied with each other for space in India during the cold war. Sood mentions a few facts in which Indian politicians received favours from them. Morarji Desai, former prime minister, is said to have accepted a sum of $20,000 each year. Kabir, an organisation run by Aam Admi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, is alleged to have received $400,000 from the Ford Foundation which is a cover for the CIA. The veracity of these claims cannot be verified, in view of the R&AW’s hostility towards Desai who tried to clip its wings when he was the premier. Kalugin, a former heavyweight of the KGB who defected, had written that it looked as if India was for sale during the Indira-Rajiv era. As a result, neither the Soviets nor the Americans were enthusiastic on entrusting sensitive information to Indians.
The book assumes a categorically hostile position against Pakistan. It has always been an enemy and will continue to remain so in the foreseeable future. It plots and supports extremist activity with an eye on provoking violence and anarchy in India. Glib talk about a joint fight with Pakistan against terror is meaningless. It is as ridiculous as investigating a murder with the help of the murderer. Even if the Pakistani government by any chance decides to stop its support for terrorists, the country would still be most attractive to the extremists on account of the lack of good governance, weak regulations, absence of rule of law and weak financial institutions and legislation. This makes it a fertile ground for production and export of terrorists to all parts of the world. It is to be remembered that Pakistan appeared in one form or the other in the investigations on each and every terrorist attack that killed innocent people in Europe, America and India.
Readers expecting interesting anecdotes and tasteful case studies from the author’s rich repertoire as the chief of the apex spy body of India are in for a rude shock and disappointment. Probably because of non-disclosure rules, Sood remains mute on them. If secrecy demands silence from the author, he could have stopped from bringing out this book too. ‘No book’ seems to be a better option than an uninspiring one, which does not contribute anything to the reader’s awareness that cannot be gleaned from newspaper columns or current magazine articles. This book is a long collection of platitudes and homilies on the urgent need to change the priorities and practices of a spy organisation to meet the challenges posed by a technologically advanced world.
The book is recommended only to serious readers of international relations.
November 27, 2018
I wanted to read this book ever since it was published and it was really enlightening for me. I got to know many aspects of espionage and how the world of intelligence works. The author, Vikram Sood is an authority on the subject having been the head of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing or the R&AW from 2000 to 2003. Hardly anything is known about the R&AW and its operations and activities are kept strictly under wraps. The organisation is answerable only and only to the Prime Minister of India. Having said that, if you think that this book is about how the R&AW operates, then you are wrong.
This book isn't about how the R&AW operates. Rather, it is about how the world of espionage has evolved from World War-II to the present day, how the nature of threats have changed, and how technology has brought about innumerable changes to the field of intelligence. The author has described all these aspects very well and the narrative is divided neatly into various time periods such as the Cold War era, the unipolar world, and the current era which is full of uncertanities and challenges that were never seen before. The author presents his point of view on the matter.
The R&AW does feature in the book, starting from how it came into existence in 1968 and the challenges it soon faced when Morarji Desai was the Prime Minister following Indira Gandhi's fall from grace after the emergency. It is really important to note that whenever, the government at the centre has been unstable, particularly in the period between 1990 and 1999, R&AW has found it difficult to operate. The author stresses the importance of the external intelligence agency particularly if India wants to been seen as a global power and the importance of intelligence is advanced due to the rise of China which poses a direct challenge to India.
The author has suggested some reforms as to ensure that the R&AW can cope with the changing times and perform its primary duty of keeping India safe from external threats. Overall, I feel that this book is a must read and I hope that Mr Sood writes more such books which are informative and help the common folk understand the field of intelligence better. The motto of R&AW is "धर्मो रक्षति रक्षित:" which means the law protects when it is protected and for a stronger India, we need a stronger R&AW.
This book isn't about how the R&AW operates. Rather, it is about how the world of espionage has evolved from World War-II to the present day, how the nature of threats have changed, and how technology has brought about innumerable changes to the field of intelligence. The author has described all these aspects very well and the narrative is divided neatly into various time periods such as the Cold War era, the unipolar world, and the current era which is full of uncertanities and challenges that were never seen before. The author presents his point of view on the matter.
The R&AW does feature in the book, starting from how it came into existence in 1968 and the challenges it soon faced when Morarji Desai was the Prime Minister following Indira Gandhi's fall from grace after the emergency. It is really important to note that whenever, the government at the centre has been unstable, particularly in the period between 1990 and 1999, R&AW has found it difficult to operate. The author stresses the importance of the external intelligence agency particularly if India wants to been seen as a global power and the importance of intelligence is advanced due to the rise of China which poses a direct challenge to India.
The author has suggested some reforms as to ensure that the R&AW can cope with the changing times and perform its primary duty of keeping India safe from external threats. Overall, I feel that this book is a must read and I hope that Mr Sood writes more such books which are informative and help the common folk understand the field of intelligence better. The motto of R&AW is "धर्मो रक्षति रक्षित:" which means the law protects when it is protected and for a stronger India, we need a stronger R&AW.
April 19, 2023
The book is not a former spy’s personal memoir, nor is it merely about the R&AW. It is an enthralling book on the history and problems of intelligence collection, interpretation and follow-ups. Collection of such facts has resulted in the book having elements of mystery.
The book is really good, some of the chapters about insurgency in Kargil by Pakistanis, How India beats CIA in its own game after conducting Nuclear Tests in 1998.
Vikram Sood's work is valuable. The book is a must-read for those who are interested in knowing about the real side of the world of espionage. It is full of action & drama. But the facts are facts, and they need not to be dramatic.
The book is really good, some of the chapters about insurgency in Kargil by Pakistanis, How India beats CIA in its own game after conducting Nuclear Tests in 1998.
Vikram Sood's work is valuable. The book is a must-read for those who are interested in knowing about the real side of the world of espionage. It is full of action & drama. But the facts are facts, and they need not to be dramatic.
January 28, 2023
One can't expect a sleuth, even if a retired one, to reveal organisational secrets. Rightly so, Vikram Sood didn't reveal anything which can't be known through OSINT(read the book to know it or maybe just google it). But, the book gives a peek into the functioning of intelligence agencies, R&AW in particular. The first few chapters delving into the basics of intelligence can serve as a good primer for the newcomer spooks. Writing is engaging enough to keep the reader latched on to the book.
March 7, 2022
This is a nice book filled with many interesting anecdotes and bits of analysis.
June 5, 2021
The world of espionage is a fascinating one. Even though it's a parallel world that coexists with our own mundane lives, we never see a glimpse of it. The mysterious nature of it has given rise to myths and outlandish (albeit entertaining) stories via pop culture. If there is one good thing the book does, it's that it provides a great introduction to spycraft for readers whose knowledge is only limited to movies or a few news reports.
Each chapter is an engaging read because it's filled with plenty of substantial examples from the US, UK, erstwhile USSR, China etc. The author explains some key concepts and goes through a timeline of important events that indicate how enmeshed espionage is with international politics. He also provides his own take on how nations, especially India, would have to act in order to protect national interests.
Though it's an intriguing book due to its subject matter, there a few things that need to be said. First, the editing wasn't the best. I think there was a lot of scope for the chapters to have a better structure. Second, the book leaves you wanting for more. As it's written by a former R&AW Chief, one did expect more anecdotes from the Indian subcontinent. But we don't get enough of that and most of what he mentions are in public domain.
Now, I understand that the author might be under an oath of secrecy and hence, he cannot divulge much. But this also brings me to a larger point of security studies. If you've ever spoken to scholars in the field, they will tell you how difficult it is to do any research on India because most information is classified and inaccessible. On one hand, it's understandable why governments would want to keep secrets for the sake of national security. But on the other hand, not declassifying decades-old files and not creating a conducive environment for further research on intelligence, area studies (something that Sood mentions) etc., might just limit our capabilities or even be detrimental to our understanding of the ever-changing world of intelligence and global politics.
Coming back to the review, I would say that the book only reflects how complicated things will get in this Age of Information. Nations will have to leverage technology for tackling emerging problems because even the foes will have access to the same. Understanding each situation thoroughly with context and reimagining approaches will be more important than ever.
The book came in at the right time. Maybe common citizens like us won't have all our questions answered, but if there's one thing we know, it's that intelligence services sure have challenging times ahead of them.
Each chapter is an engaging read because it's filled with plenty of substantial examples from the US, UK, erstwhile USSR, China etc. The author explains some key concepts and goes through a timeline of important events that indicate how enmeshed espionage is with international politics. He also provides his own take on how nations, especially India, would have to act in order to protect national interests.
Though it's an intriguing book due to its subject matter, there a few things that need to be said. First, the editing wasn't the best. I think there was a lot of scope for the chapters to have a better structure. Second, the book leaves you wanting for more. As it's written by a former R&AW Chief, one did expect more anecdotes from the Indian subcontinent. But we don't get enough of that and most of what he mentions are in public domain.
Now, I understand that the author might be under an oath of secrecy and hence, he cannot divulge much. But this also brings me to a larger point of security studies. If you've ever spoken to scholars in the field, they will tell you how difficult it is to do any research on India because most information is classified and inaccessible. On one hand, it's understandable why governments would want to keep secrets for the sake of national security. But on the other hand, not declassifying decades-old files and not creating a conducive environment for further research on intelligence, area studies (something that Sood mentions) etc., might just limit our capabilities or even be detrimental to our understanding of the ever-changing world of intelligence and global politics.
Coming back to the review, I would say that the book only reflects how complicated things will get in this Age of Information. Nations will have to leverage technology for tackling emerging problems because even the foes will have access to the same. Understanding each situation thoroughly with context and reimagining approaches will be more important than ever.
The book came in at the right time. Maybe common citizens like us won't have all our questions answered, but if there's one thing we know, it's that intelligence services sure have challenging times ahead of them.
October 10, 2020
“James Bond is fantasy, George Smiley is reality.” – The Unending Game by Vikram Sood
We have implanted our minds with an idea of how a successful spy looks like. In most of the films, they portray spy as an officer who wears flashy clothes, drive a fancy car. On the contrary, the work of a spy is drab but hair-raising. However, Ian Fleming’s James Bond is to woo an audience.
.
Read my article on www.theliberalwing.com
We have implanted our minds with an idea of how a successful spy looks like. In most of the films, they portray spy as an officer who wears flashy clothes, drive a fancy car. On the contrary, the work of a spy is drab but hair-raising. However, Ian Fleming’s James Bond is to woo an audience.
.
Read my article on www.theliberalwing.com
September 8, 2018
The title of this book "The Unending Game" in itself is the best summary of this book. At various stages in the history of the world, in its most watershed moments, it was thought that the world has changed forever and that the elements we had defeated would not rise again. Nothing of that sort has ever happened if we look from the perspective of intelligence. The book examines this through the examples of World War II and fall of the Soviet Union and makes extremely good arguments on why that is the case.
The book goes into great lengths to describe the inner workings of a spy agency; how they handle different situations and what are the consequences of the decisions they take. The biggest intelligence was took place in the era of Cold War when the CIA and KGB engaged in endless spy games and this was what forms the firm base of this book. The author has brought in all facets of the intelligence game: planting a mole, finding a mole, preparing a good agent, sharing intelligence with other agencies, extracting information from available intel and spreading propaganda to try to win the game.
One of the most fascinating parts of the book was understanding the spy game in the modern world. In the Cold War, it was known more or less who the enemy was and what was it that a spy agency was looking for. Since the 1990's and especially after the 9/11 attack, the intelligence agencies have faced challenges not known to them before. Infiltrating a terrorist organization is even more difficult than planting a mole in some state agency of your enemy. Gathering credible intel has become much more difficult.
Invariably linked to the above is the rise of technology and the use it has been put to by both intelligence agencies and the terrorist organizations. Mass surveillance programs have raised ethical questions in democratic societies. With the amount of data available on the internet, it has become tough to find relevant information that can be acted upon. Following the money trail in the future would become difficult due to the use of Blockchain. AI is set to play a big role in the future and cyberspace is where the wars of the future will be fought.
Author also talks in detail about the India's external intelligence agency R&AW. He talks about its history, successes, failures and the urgent need of changes required to fight the twin threat of China and Pakistan. India also needs to prepare for the future wars to be fought in the Cyberspace.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in knowing the spy game. This book not only talks about espionage but also gives a glimpse into the grim reality facing this world in the coming years if we do not buck up and do something.
The book goes into great lengths to describe the inner workings of a spy agency; how they handle different situations and what are the consequences of the decisions they take. The biggest intelligence was took place in the era of Cold War when the CIA and KGB engaged in endless spy games and this was what forms the firm base of this book. The author has brought in all facets of the intelligence game: planting a mole, finding a mole, preparing a good agent, sharing intelligence with other agencies, extracting information from available intel and spreading propaganda to try to win the game.
One of the most fascinating parts of the book was understanding the spy game in the modern world. In the Cold War, it was known more or less who the enemy was and what was it that a spy agency was looking for. Since the 1990's and especially after the 9/11 attack, the intelligence agencies have faced challenges not known to them before. Infiltrating a terrorist organization is even more difficult than planting a mole in some state agency of your enemy. Gathering credible intel has become much more difficult.
Invariably linked to the above is the rise of technology and the use it has been put to by both intelligence agencies and the terrorist organizations. Mass surveillance programs have raised ethical questions in democratic societies. With the amount of data available on the internet, it has become tough to find relevant information that can be acted upon. Following the money trail in the future would become difficult due to the use of Blockchain. AI is set to play a big role in the future and cyberspace is where the wars of the future will be fought.
Author also talks in detail about the India's external intelligence agency R&AW. He talks about its history, successes, failures and the urgent need of changes required to fight the twin threat of China and Pakistan. India also needs to prepare for the future wars to be fought in the Cyberspace.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in knowing the spy game. This book not only talks about espionage but also gives a glimpse into the grim reality facing this world in the coming years if we do not buck up and do something.
October 10, 2019
Nothing revelatory in this book. A compilation of espionage trivia that is common knowledge to anyone reading newspapers. Facts are liberally mixed with fiction fromRobert Ludlum, John le Carré and Ian Fleming. The credit for the liberation of Bangladesh is taken by the Army (Mankeshaw and Rodrigues both claim glory) and BSF, now R&AW to claims credit for this feat.
March 31, 2019
Don't expect it to be spy thriller. It reveals so much that u'll think that common man is so far from truth. It'll tell the brutal, bad world of powerful corridors of Delhi and other countries.
August 7, 2019
When a professional who has retired as the head of India’s external intelligence agency writes a book about espionage as a topic, I had this misplaced expectation on it.
Expectation : It would offer new insights into how India fits into the global map in terms of espionage. Of course, the official secrets act still applies to the said person but my thought was that Vikram Sood just might circumvent that cleverly and tell me something I do not know yet..
Reality : He clearly did not meet that expectation and what I got instead was a prolonged and obfuscating essay of sorts that traced the history of Western Intelligence and how it gave rise to the current geopolitical scenario. Most of the information in here is already available in the public domain and if you are someone who has a rudimentary understanding of the history of the Cold War ( the CIA/KGB wars), MI6 and it’s role in history, defectors on both sides of the Cold War, Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five etc, then you will not find anything beyond a rehash in here.
Summing up : disappointed !
Expectation : It would offer new insights into how India fits into the global map in terms of espionage. Of course, the official secrets act still applies to the said person but my thought was that Vikram Sood just might circumvent that cleverly and tell me something I do not know yet..
Reality : He clearly did not meet that expectation and what I got instead was a prolonged and obfuscating essay of sorts that traced the history of Western Intelligence and how it gave rise to the current geopolitical scenario. Most of the information in here is already available in the public domain and if you are someone who has a rudimentary understanding of the history of the Cold War ( the CIA/KGB wars), MI6 and it’s role in history, defectors on both sides of the Cold War, Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five etc, then you will not find anything beyond a rehash in here.
Summing up : disappointed !
October 7, 2021
This book is more of a research paper. A lot of information was thrown endlessly from the beginning. Numerous people were mentioned. The meticulous details of espionage and collecting intelligence keep going on and on. For a normal reader who is not interested in research work, the excerpts related to R&AW feel like oasis in a desert. This book also creates some worry regarding the India's position in global level, related to aspects like data security, fake narratives, psychological influences on citizens etc..
April 12, 2019
Expected much more
Author writes about CIA SIS KGB and GRU but not much what happens at raw. It is a history book of cases written by others.
Author writes about CIA SIS KGB and GRU but not much what happens at raw. It is a history book of cases written by others.
March 20, 2019
Intelligence is said to be dishonorable work done by honorable persons. Intelligence is also said to be the second oldest profession. It is a compulsion which the democratic governments would like to avoid yet it is a necessity without which no government can function. Intelligence is always secret, mostly dubious and often immoral. But the intelligence is also thankless, painful and dangerous. Intelligence is thus routinely talked about but not read, it is scoffed at but not understood, and it is envisioned as a dirty job and not a discipline based on knowledge.
I have been reading about intelligence lately ; the craft , the system and the utility. It is fascinating as well as under-studied. The process from information collection to intelligence , and from intelligence to estimate , and finally from estimates to policy, is not followed even by those having responsibility of all this. Then the changing faces of spy craft due to changes all around; the changing roles of society- become exclusive , noisy and partisan , changing roles of technology –accessible , fast and uncontrollable , and changing roles of states; regulatory , nimble and lean. Now the nature of ‘espionage’-the star of all intelligence has also undergone radical transformation with changing nature of target in what I would call the third intelligence age.
The second world war ushered Cold War and that ushered the golden age of intelligence. This was the age of Ian Fleming’s suave James Bond and John Le Carr’s subtle George Smiley. This was the age of moles and spy market , of propaganda and soft war and of regime changes and artificial revolutions. The Berlin wall fell and iron curtain evaporated in a whimper. The intelligence caught off guard setting a period of complacency after initial bewilderment. The states comprising half of the world were complacent because they had won and other half because their system ceased to exist. The vacuum was filled by non-states ; those entities which were more focused , more ambitious and more prepared than the states. This was second Intelligence age ; the organizations age.
Now is the third age ; the people’s age. The States have been playing their necessary and not-so-dirty games and the terrorist/crime organizations and syndicates are being cobbled together but it’s the ordinary person-the guy next door who is the real target of intelligence now. That guy shakes the world with carnage in Zealand , hurls shoes at US President , burns himself and ushers a revolution and elects Trump. In all these situations , the biggest fear of spies came true – failure to predict. People are unpredictable one can say but may be people behavior is systematic. It’s the intelligence which does not know where to look. Then the sheer logistic night mare of following people’s behavior in the maze of billions of whatsapp messages , millions of facebook posts and infinite number of digital persons. That is one unending game.
Unending game is what Virkam Sood calls the game of espionage , spy craft and intelligence. It is not best of the books to read but there are few about our part of the world. Though the focus on the general aspects of espionage but it does give some useful insight into how the Indian intelligence mind works, an aspect we normally overlook otherwise. How they perceive us and what do they think also surfaces occasionally. The part about the networks of spy-criminal-terrorist is informative and the one about how the big powers have been unabashedly trying to control the narrative is quite interesting. The narrative wars are not a new phenomenon but have always been there, as is the objective of controlling people’s mind without letting them now- the psychological warfare.
Spy-craft is both arts and science. It is cold, methodical and tedious, try reading all the Facebook posts by white supremacist in US or preachers in Gambia. It is also adventurous, creative and risky- the stuff movies are made of. Above everything in it is constantly evolving. The states left behind are not having limited intelligence capacity but will be those unable to keep pace with the changing time. Then intelligence is not just requirement of states. The open source intelligence now constitutes major chunk of estimates. The big businesses , political parties , and even humanitarian groups have also been pushed in this business of information-intelligence-forecasting. A good intelligence after all minimizes the risk and risk is the other side of the coin of life.
August 13, 2021
Intelligence agencies are the sword arms of the nation (not the government) in the furtherance of its foreign security interests and protection
It was a delight to read this book. It takes us through the overview of how this profession works but it was not as detailed as I thought it would be.
The book is filled with red alerts which is a must-read for all policy makers and well-wishers of India.
People get the government they deserve and a government gets the intelligence it deserves. Our rulers have mostly learnt nothing and have forgotten that Pakistani leaders sent in soldiers masquerading as so-called ‘freedom fighters’—they were actually terrorists—in 1947, 1965, 1999, 2001 and then in 2008. Kashmir continues to be troubled. We cannot indulge in glib talk about fighting terror jointly with Pakistan. It is like investigating murder with the help of the murderer.
He doesn't shy from calling a spade a spade. The book is filled with such caution which gives us insight into the security threats concerning India.
The animus that Pakistan has for India will endure. It is not about to give up the weapon of state-sponsored terrorism as a force equalizer against a stronger India. Pakistan’s drift towards Islamic radicalism is now a certainty, with the Pakistani Army and Islamic radicals using the same curriculum and slogans in their training academies and battalions. The Deep State will find it difficult to shake this off without trauma. Its close bonds with China may turn into bondage but it need not inspire us to schadenfreude because that would mean that we have China on our western flanks as well. It would be prudent for our policymakers to remember that Pakistan was created for a certain purpose and its leaders now believe that their salvation and continued existence lie in perpetual enmity with India. This approach of its leadership—military and civil—is only slightly more sophisticated than the kind adopted by its many radical extremist Islamists who are becoming increasingly relevant in Pakistan’s politics.
His prophecy that China will be a greater threat is becoming a reality after each passing day.
Doklam in Bhutan close to the India–Bhutan–Tibet border in June and August 2017 were an indication of the growing impatience in Beijing. China and not Pakistan will remain the biggest threat to Indian security interests and prosperity. It will coerce when suitable and trade when convenient, but will not concede on core issues like territory or give space when in search of resources and markets, or entry into the UNSC or the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
He states that "external intelligence, espionage and covert operations are a country’s first line of offence and defence. Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and, years later, Atal Bihari Vajpayee realized this. They understood the benefit of advice from an agency that would tell them the truth as it existed and not as what they wanted to hear. For this, they kept the agency in a cocoon, sheltered from coalition or regional politics. "
By the end of the book, he is successfully able to hammer the fact that we must never forget that these agencies are as important as the military might of the country.
It was a delight to read this book. It takes us through the overview of how this profession works but it was not as detailed as I thought it would be.
The book is filled with red alerts which is a must-read for all policy makers and well-wishers of India.
People get the government they deserve and a government gets the intelligence it deserves. Our rulers have mostly learnt nothing and have forgotten that Pakistani leaders sent in soldiers masquerading as so-called ‘freedom fighters’—they were actually terrorists—in 1947, 1965, 1999, 2001 and then in 2008. Kashmir continues to be troubled. We cannot indulge in glib talk about fighting terror jointly with Pakistan. It is like investigating murder with the help of the murderer.
He doesn't shy from calling a spade a spade. The book is filled with such caution which gives us insight into the security threats concerning India.
The animus that Pakistan has for India will endure. It is not about to give up the weapon of state-sponsored terrorism as a force equalizer against a stronger India. Pakistan’s drift towards Islamic radicalism is now a certainty, with the Pakistani Army and Islamic radicals using the same curriculum and slogans in their training academies and battalions. The Deep State will find it difficult to shake this off without trauma. Its close bonds with China may turn into bondage but it need not inspire us to schadenfreude because that would mean that we have China on our western flanks as well. It would be prudent for our policymakers to remember that Pakistan was created for a certain purpose and its leaders now believe that their salvation and continued existence lie in perpetual enmity with India. This approach of its leadership—military and civil—is only slightly more sophisticated than the kind adopted by its many radical extremist Islamists who are becoming increasingly relevant in Pakistan’s politics.
His prophecy that China will be a greater threat is becoming a reality after each passing day.
Doklam in Bhutan close to the India–Bhutan–Tibet border in June and August 2017 were an indication of the growing impatience in Beijing. China and not Pakistan will remain the biggest threat to Indian security interests and prosperity. It will coerce when suitable and trade when convenient, but will not concede on core issues like territory or give space when in search of resources and markets, or entry into the UNSC or the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
He states that "external intelligence, espionage and covert operations are a country’s first line of offence and defence. Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and, years later, Atal Bihari Vajpayee realized this. They understood the benefit of advice from an agency that would tell them the truth as it existed and not as what they wanted to hear. For this, they kept the agency in a cocoon, sheltered from coalition or regional politics. "
By the end of the book, he is successfully able to hammer the fact that we must never forget that these agencies are as important as the military might of the country.
September 28, 2018
The Unending Game’ authored by former R&AW Chief Vikram Sood is an informative account of the history of espionage along with a wide-ranging perspective on gathering and securing intelligence. Examples and anecdotes are provided from across the world with a special focus on India. Complexities of espionage and how espionage and surveillance have grown humongously with the recent ballooning onslaught in telecommunications and social media are explored and indentifed. However, despite the development of these other sources of intelligence, classic ‘HUMINT’ or human intelligence retains its primacy.
Intelligence agencies are known by their failures and not their successes. The fashionable and suave ‘James Bond’ type spy is nothing more than fiction as a perfect spy doesn’t draw any attention to himself and merges with the crowd. As the author pointed out,” The Aston Martin looked good in the movies; they never would have worked.” Espionage tales of lore, most visibly and famously the ‘Cambridge Five’ are not very well known and therefore interesting. But as the author insists, we know these tales because these are the failures and the perfect spy instead retired and died unsung and uncelebrated.
Further, with the rise of fierce non-state actors such as the Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, growing nexus between organised crime and terrorist groups the old-world challenges facing intelligence agencies have morphed into something quite different and difficult. Also since 9/11 the military-industrial complex has developed quite scarily into the military-intelligence-private security-industrial complex where there are increasing tensions between questions of privacy and state surveillance primarily in democracies such as India and the U.S.
There is no doubt that the author with his background as a career intelligence officer has an impeccable understanding of the world of espionage and intelligence. However, he felt like a teacher who has excellent command over his subject or area of expertise but lacks the skill of instruction. A plethora of important terms, incidents and phenomena are not clarified. He supplies the reader with a variety of facts but the level of critical thinking is not proportionately matched. There are a number of parts which are relevant yet they remain glibly superficial and devoid of analytical depth and after a point of time, it becomes rather tedious. It felt that the book was written in a hurry and more geared towards making an impact than enlightening the reader.
The book finally culminates with a set of suggestions to improve our intelligence apparatus through better training and capacity building, improved and flexible recruitment process, relaxed remuneration rules and most importantly providing security and stability to professionals shunning any sort of bias. We must learn from our better experienced counterparts but not follow them mindlessly, thus learning and adapting to the ever-changing global realities.
Intelligence agencies are known by their failures and not their successes. The fashionable and suave ‘James Bond’ type spy is nothing more than fiction as a perfect spy doesn’t draw any attention to himself and merges with the crowd. As the author pointed out,” The Aston Martin looked good in the movies; they never would have worked.” Espionage tales of lore, most visibly and famously the ‘Cambridge Five’ are not very well known and therefore interesting. But as the author insists, we know these tales because these are the failures and the perfect spy instead retired and died unsung and uncelebrated.
Further, with the rise of fierce non-state actors such as the Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, growing nexus between organised crime and terrorist groups the old-world challenges facing intelligence agencies have morphed into something quite different and difficult. Also since 9/11 the military-industrial complex has developed quite scarily into the military-intelligence-private security-industrial complex where there are increasing tensions between questions of privacy and state surveillance primarily in democracies such as India and the U.S.
There is no doubt that the author with his background as a career intelligence officer has an impeccable understanding of the world of espionage and intelligence. However, he felt like a teacher who has excellent command over his subject or area of expertise but lacks the skill of instruction. A plethora of important terms, incidents and phenomena are not clarified. He supplies the reader with a variety of facts but the level of critical thinking is not proportionately matched. There are a number of parts which are relevant yet they remain glibly superficial and devoid of analytical depth and after a point of time, it becomes rather tedious. It felt that the book was written in a hurry and more geared towards making an impact than enlightening the reader.
The book finally culminates with a set of suggestions to improve our intelligence apparatus through better training and capacity building, improved and flexible recruitment process, relaxed remuneration rules and most importantly providing security and stability to professionals shunning any sort of bias. We must learn from our better experienced counterparts but not follow them mindlessly, thus learning and adapting to the ever-changing global realities.
April 19, 2020
Book is written by former chief of RAW & shares his amazing insight into mysterious and much awed intelligence world. However, writer disappoint by not sharing much details of his personal experience & working of India intelligence agencies, credit to his loyalty with the organization. This book start with working of intelligence agencies during WWII & cold war where it touches the important role of HUMINT. It covers the stories of famous moles & whistleblowers. Thereafter it moves chronologically to show the changes brought by USSR collapse & globalization on the working of agencies and growth of mass surveillance. It explains the blowbacks received today of steps taken during cold war era. It also share the least discussed aspect like financial network of terrorism and support it receive from some intelligence agencies. Finally, writer turn to south asia and explain the future consequences of Islamic radicalization & cyber warfare and important roles played by Technology & surveillance . For India, it briefly covers the part of intelligence in 1971, Punjab & Sri Lankan tensions, Kargil & 26/11. Here it covers the intelligence failure & problems with working of agencies. At last, writer suggest the changes required to improve the condition, coordination and working of Intelligence services.
January 2, 2021
The book is an interesting read. I guess like many, I too was misled into giving this book a try, expecting something completely different. There is very less content on the life, career progression and skill-set of the spies employed in the world of espionage. This book mainly explains the importance of intelligence and the critical role it plays in the security of a country. With a broad perspective, it covers history, organization, achievements and failures of major players in the unending game.
Some chapters feel like the narration of the world history post-second world war, with particular emphasis on how KGB and CIA strived to one-up each other at different points during the cold war, these parts are the most interesting ones. Some chapters feel like material out of International Relations textbook. The book throws light on, to what extent the intelligence agencies can penetrate to get the required information. The complication in monitoring intelligence in the age of the digital revolution and the rise of global Islamic terror is well explained. There is not enough information provided on the Indian intelligence agencies, although their history, achievements and failures are briefly described.
You can pick this book if you are interested in reading an informative and factual account on the game of intelligence through a historical perspective.
Some chapters feel like the narration of the world history post-second world war, with particular emphasis on how KGB and CIA strived to one-up each other at different points during the cold war, these parts are the most interesting ones. Some chapters feel like material out of International Relations textbook. The book throws light on, to what extent the intelligence agencies can penetrate to get the required information. The complication in monitoring intelligence in the age of the digital revolution and the rise of global Islamic terror is well explained. There is not enough information provided on the Indian intelligence agencies, although their history, achievements and failures are briefly described.
You can pick this book if you are interested in reading an informative and factual account on the game of intelligence through a historical perspective.
June 2, 2021
I picked up this book thinking it will reveal some interesting anecdotes of RAW’s and IB’s past missions, their functioning and spies. I was greatly mistaken. The only chapter on RAW is the last one that stresses upon the lack of foresight of the organisation making it redundant with its international counterparts and the investment ( time, energy and monetary) required in identifying, training and maintaining the talent acting as foot soldiers
My slim knowledge ( obviously through movies and news) of the extent of clandestine subterfuge world of intelligence was minuscule until i read this book. The book is very insightful and has some startling revelations. It describes the functioning of various intelligence services across the board and their common target, terrorism and jihad , causing havoc globally. The advances in communication, information technology and the advent of social media has made the task even more challenging for security services. Towards the end it mentions all the notorious terrorist attacks and the perceived causes of failure to abort them. The author justifies that for any nation to make its mark geopolitically, it needs a strong backing and inter service co operation of intelligence services, military and mega corporations.
It gets bit dragged and repetitive but can definitely be overlooked.
My slim knowledge ( obviously through movies and news) of the extent of clandestine subterfuge world of intelligence was minuscule until i read this book. The book is very insightful and has some startling revelations. It describes the functioning of various intelligence services across the board and their common target, terrorism and jihad , causing havoc globally. The advances in communication, information technology and the advent of social media has made the task even more challenging for security services. Towards the end it mentions all the notorious terrorist attacks and the perceived causes of failure to abort them. The author justifies that for any nation to make its mark geopolitically, it needs a strong backing and inter service co operation of intelligence services, military and mega corporations.
It gets bit dragged and repetitive but can definitely be overlooked.
September 21, 2018
The world of 'spies' and the world of 'Intelligence' is an exciting one to read, watch always - Because it is secretive and you don't hear or most likely never know what exactly happens there unless you're an insider.
This Book by Vikram Sood, A Former R&Aw Chief. I bought this Book after watching his charismatic Interview with 'The Quint': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uFvX...
Overall The Book was an exciting one to read; well researched and the author has covered all the aspects of the intelligence world. with his expertise, he provides an overall, realistic view of how the world espionage works.
My advice is that one shouldn't buy this book with a misconception that it might tell you how R&AW works and its list of operations, how R&AW spies work, where they are stationed - No! it won't.
This Book is to educate common mass about how the world of espionage works and it tells you that movie and the real spy world is different.
From this Book, you get a chance to be educated about the world of espionage and some of the spy stories he mentions to know, how the espionage works.
As he says, "You never get to know about good spies" likewise, you never get to know about how R&AW works. But you can be aware of the framework.
This Book by Vikram Sood, A Former R&Aw Chief. I bought this Book after watching his charismatic Interview with 'The Quint': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uFvX...
Overall The Book was an exciting one to read; well researched and the author has covered all the aspects of the intelligence world. with his expertise, he provides an overall, realistic view of how the world espionage works.
My advice is that one shouldn't buy this book with a misconception that it might tell you how R&AW works and its list of operations, how R&AW spies work, where they are stationed - No! it won't.
This Book is to educate common mass about how the world of espionage works and it tells you that movie and the real spy world is different.
From this Book, you get a chance to be educated about the world of espionage and some of the spy stories he mentions to know, how the espionage works.
As he says, "You never get to know about good spies" likewise, you never get to know about how R&AW works. But you can be aware of the framework.
June 12, 2020
I didn't expect myself to finish this book, but then after a while it was interesting in some manner.
So this is written by an actual R&AW chief and is more about how he has seen the intelligence world in his entire life.
He best describes the book by saying - "This book addresses all categories—the believers and the sceptics—but is not meant exclusively for intelligence professionals, experts or academics. It is not a personal memoir, nor is it about the organization for which I worked. Instead, it seeks to familiarize those who are interested in the intricacies of espionage and intelligence collection and, hopefully, to help prepare our systems for the turbulence that lies ahead."
I won't say much about it. It's non fiction and some may find it repetitive and there are a lot of fact throwing that we might not be comfortable with. It isn't something where you will find conspiracy theories or some inside stories, but just an accumulation of what all has happened in the espionage world. More like a thesis. There are a lot of things which you might already know, depends on how informed you have been.
Would I recommend it? I don't know.
So this is written by an actual R&AW chief and is more about how he has seen the intelligence world in his entire life.
He best describes the book by saying - "This book addresses all categories—the believers and the sceptics—but is not meant exclusively for intelligence professionals, experts or academics. It is not a personal memoir, nor is it about the organization for which I worked. Instead, it seeks to familiarize those who are interested in the intricacies of espionage and intelligence collection and, hopefully, to help prepare our systems for the turbulence that lies ahead."
I won't say much about it. It's non fiction and some may find it repetitive and there are a lot of fact throwing that we might not be comfortable with. It isn't something where you will find conspiracy theories or some inside stories, but just an accumulation of what all has happened in the espionage world. More like a thesis. There are a lot of things which you might already know, depends on how informed you have been.
Would I recommend it? I don't know.
March 8, 2021
I had no idea about real world of espionage and the games nations are playing. The author has broken down espionage into three themes namely tradecraft, inside intelligence and what lies ahead. Each theme is accompanied by a collection of examples (cold wars, indo-pak, chinese sphere) and author's own conclusions.
The chapter related to prediction of future technology based espionage in this decade did not seem very convincing to me. The chapters about secret societies and the taliban-Us chemistry were eye openers. The chapters on deep state, failures of agencies, double agents during cold wars were very engaging.
Overall the book is very good. It is written in text book style and has to be read multiple times for better understanding of the lessons. The author's expertise is reflected in the way he has told different stories. I am assigning score of 4/5 to this book. Editing is not good. Some chapters could be shorter.
The chapter related to prediction of future technology based espionage in this decade did not seem very convincing to me. The chapters about secret societies and the taliban-Us chemistry were eye openers. The chapters on deep state, failures of agencies, double agents during cold wars were very engaging.
Overall the book is very good. It is written in text book style and has to be read multiple times for better understanding of the lessons. The author's expertise is reflected in the way he has told different stories. I am assigning score of 4/5 to this book. Editing is not good. Some chapters could be shorter.
May 16, 2022
This book gives an amazing insight into the world of espionage, how intelligence works and how data is collected etc. The book shed a light mostly on how intelligence agencies operated during the cold war era and how intelligence has evolved over time into the 21st century. Apart from highlighting the various types of intelligence that an org collects it also talks about how crucial it is in grooming intelligence officers and the time and effort it takes into making one.
The book also highlights the pitfalls faced by the intelligence agencies suffer and how important it is to keep them above regular politics and bureaucratic hassles. It also stresses on the importance of involving the intelligence agencies in policymaking and the importance of mutual trust between the heads of state and Intelligence department.
Overall this book servers as a good primer for people who are curious about Spying activites and how it is very different from that shown in movies.
The book also highlights the pitfalls faced by the intelligence agencies suffer and how important it is to keep them above regular politics and bureaucratic hassles. It also stresses on the importance of involving the intelligence agencies in policymaking and the importance of mutual trust between the heads of state and Intelligence department.
Overall this book servers as a good primer for people who are curious about Spying activites and how it is very different from that shown in movies.
May 27, 2024
It started tepidly but then I continued. I had hopes. But eventually it ended up feeling like I had just read too many snippets of Wikipedia articles and popular podcast transcripts. No, I wasn't expecting escapades or sexcapade of James Bond books or the cold blooded classic lingering espionage of Le Carré and his kind, the two sets of literature the author references quite a bit in this work of his, but the least I was looking for some unique or original insights, something to take away from, some coherence, some deep dive, especially since it was written by an ex-chief of one of the premier most espionage shops in the modern world. That wasn't there. It was always tough and go. Topics were picked and then abandoned in no time. It seems the effort is, in this book, to cover too much in too little time and space. In fact the hope of all that is what kept me at this book. It could be some sort of crash course on modern espionage, or so; uninteresting as well, I am afraid.
November 6, 2018
While the premise of the book is excellent,the writing,sadly,is not.
The author states at the outset that he intends to provide a brief history of espionage,from the Cold War to the present day.Instead,he rambles on,occasionally explaining events,occasionally quoting intelligence 'definitions',and generally confusing the reader.Most of the stories are from Western and Russian accounts,with very little said about the R&AW's working.Even the sections about the Cold War and the rise of Islamic radicalism are very scattered,with the author explaining some events of the 1980's before jumping back to the 1950's,all of a sudden.Even the concluding section of the book,where he assesses that cyber warfare will take center stage in the coming decades,has become common knowledge these days.
Forgettable.
The author states at the outset that he intends to provide a brief history of espionage,from the Cold War to the present day.Instead,he rambles on,occasionally explaining events,occasionally quoting intelligence 'definitions',and generally confusing the reader.Most of the stories are from Western and Russian accounts,with very little said about the R&AW's working.Even the sections about the Cold War and the rise of Islamic radicalism are very scattered,with the author explaining some events of the 1980's before jumping back to the 1950's,all of a sudden.Even the concluding section of the book,where he assesses that cyber warfare will take center stage in the coming decades,has become common knowledge these days.
Forgettable.
January 16, 2019
Makes you paranoid for sure. Now I am retrospectively questioning every 'End Users Liscence Agreement' that I skipped reading and excepted.
That being said, the book really drives home the author's point, that a spy is known by his failures. And if you never heard of a spy, then he is the best kind of spy.
The book also surprised with so much detailed explanation on how when and where the western or 'the fisrt world' countries have been doing things that almost sounds like an outlandish conspiracy theory. But when this comes from the R&AW chief, the only thing one can say is that, reality is far more stranger than fiction.
A very good book for those who want know how actually the world politics had been playing out since last century and how we as a nation have been finding, managing and reacting to it.
That being said, the book really drives home the author's point, that a spy is known by his failures. And if you never heard of a spy, then he is the best kind of spy.
The book also surprised with so much detailed explanation on how when and where the western or 'the fisrt world' countries have been doing things that almost sounds like an outlandish conspiracy theory. But when this comes from the R&AW chief, the only thing one can say is that, reality is far more stranger than fiction.
A very good book for those who want know how actually the world politics had been playing out since last century and how we as a nation have been finding, managing and reacting to it.
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