From Publishers Weekly
Highly placed in the military councils of the Warsaw Pact, Polish colonel Ryszard Kuklinski made himself the CIA's most important East Bloc intelligence asset in the 1970s, passing along invaluable information about Soviet weaponry, military plans and the brewing crackdown on Poland's dissident Solidarity movement. In this absorbing biography of an emblematic Cold War figure, journalist Weiser paints Kuklinski as a Polish patriot, his pro-American sentiments motivated by love of freedom, resentment of Soviet domination, and fear that a superpower confrontation would unleash a nuclear holocaust on Poland. At times Weiser goes overboard in establishing the point, reprinting at inordinate length Kuklinski's high-minded letters to his CIA handlers and their equally gushing tributes to his idealism and strength of character (the question of how much money the CIA paid Kuklinski is somewhat coyly skirted). But he gives a wonderful account of the daily routine of espionage, full of the theory and practice of counter-surveillance, dead drops, surreptitious hand-offs, suicide pills, invisible ink and (often balky) miniature transmitters, and moments of panic when Kuklinski narrowly escapes detection. Weiser also offers an unusually intimate portrait of the inner life of a spy and the intense emotional bond between agents and their handlers (after his case officer was transferred, the CIA continued to forge letters to Kuklinski over his signature to avoid upsetting their prize asset). Both a gripping spycraft procedural and a study of the moral tension of simultaneously collaborating with and undermining a system one detests, the book sheds light on a shadowy but evocative aspect of life under Communism. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
During the Cold War, the West had only rare glimpses of the men calling the shots behind the Iron Curtain, and most of the time we saw two-dimensional images of gray, emotionless bureaucrats, seated impassively at U.N. meetings or imperiously observing May Day military parades. We had no gauge of the humanity beneath the pointed hats of Soviet generals or the thought processes behind the dyspeptic visage of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Polish prime minister who presided over the clampdown on Lech Walesa's Solidarity labor movement in 1981. In this well-done biography of Ryszard Kuklinski, a Polish army officer who became a prized double agent for U.S. intelligence, Benjamin Weiser has colored in those drab profiles. A Secret Life is a real-life spy thriller that reveals the passions and tensions faced by Polish leaders under the thumb of Moscow during the 1970s and '80s. Weiser has produced a fascinating portrayal of Kuklinski, who decided that the best way to serve Polish nationalism was to become a spy for the West. Putting together a readable narrative about Kuklinski was no easy task, but Weiser, a New York Times metropolitan reporter and former investigative reporter for The Washington Post, made good choices. First off, he established a triangulated method for obtaining classified CIA material, in which a researcher working for him would obtain security clearance, read the documents and make deletions of restricted material before delivering them to the author. Obtaining his own clearance would have forced Weiser to submit his manuscript for CIA approval, the bane of any journalist. Weiser's lively narrative describes Kuklinski's nine years working for U.S. intelligence, converting interviews and a mountain of documentation into a page-turner. It's interesting, even quaint, to read about CIA intelligence operations in the years before encrypted, wireless networking, the Internet and other advances changed the nature of communications. Kuklinski and his CIA handlers did everything by hand, spending months searching for drop zones and escape routes, wandering the streets for hours and days to make sure they weren't being tailed. But the human dimension is what sets this story apart. Kuklinski chose to be a spy because he hated the Soviet domination of Poland, but we somehow never feel certain about his deeper motivations. Apparently, he was not in it for the money, but because he believed that Poland must be free of Soviet domination. Yet in some correspondence with the CIA, he spoke naively about Soviet intentions in Poland, as if Moscow's utter domination of the country and the rest of the East Bloc were open to question. Any thought that Stalin and his successors cared about political independence would have been out of character for a skilled analyst like Kuklinski, who had seen Soviet troops march into Czechoslovakia in 1968. Kuklinski sometimes sagged under the unrelenting pressure of his double life. He had to keep his activities secret from his wife, sons and closest friends, and devised daring methods of photographing and secreting away documents. All the while, Kuklinski moved higher in the military hierarchy. He wrote strategies for war games with the Warsaw Pact and was in the loop as leaders debated whether to send out troops to stop Walesa's labor movement. He dutifully photographed the most sensitive documents and delivered them promptly, so that U.S. policymakers had a top-level mole providing real-time information on military strategy, tactics and matériel. The story has poignant and humorous aspects. Kuklinski maintained written correspondence with his confessor-control agent, code-named Daniel. "I am grateful to you for your friendship," Kuklinski wrote, "which you invariably sustain, caring about and doing everything for my security." Although Daniel eventually was reassigned to Vienna, the CIA decided to continue the correspondence in his name. So when Daniel wrote that "our friendship cannot be terminated and will endure and grow in strength forever," the author was actually a harried committee of CIA operatives working overtime to strike a tone that would sound just like Kuklinski's warm-bodied confidante. Exhausted and ground down by the pressure, Kuklinski approached the moment of maximum usefulness to the United States in 1981 when the Kremlin threatened to invade Poland and shut down Solidarity. At the climactic moment, Kuklinski thought his cover was blown and contacted the Americans for an emergency rescue. It was no surprise that Kuklinski was sentenced to death in absentia by a Polish military court, but the sentence held for years after the fall of communism in Europe. Kuklinski, who became an American citizen, visited Poland occasionally after his conviction was overturned in 1998. He died in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 10 of this year, at the age of 73. CIA director George Tenet has called him "a true hero of the Cold War," and Walesa said he was "a spy for the right cause." But Jaruzelski said that "to consider him, to treat him, as a hero would be to discredit those who served the army at the time." Weiser, allowing us to reach our own conclusions, raises complex questions about honor and the meaning of loyalty. But it is clear that Kuklinski's decision to work for the United States was an act of great courage and sacrifice. Reviewed by Peter EisnerCopyright 2004, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved.


The Wall Street Journal, 2/3/04
"Reported expertly and sympathetically by Benjamin Weiser, the book captures perhaps the most amicable spying run of Cold War History."


The New Yorker, 2/3/04
"A Secret Life is thrilling . . . in its chronicle of an honorable betrayal during the Cold War's endgame."


American Spectator, April 2004
"With the publication of A Secret Life, those legions [of people who appreciate Colonel Kuklinski] will surely grow even larger."


National Review, April 19, 2004
"Weiser's book-lucid, authoritative, and unputdownable-is a must-read for scholars of the Cold War, and for all..."


Washington Post Book World, April 25, 2004
"well-done biography...a fascinating portrayal of Kuklinski... a page-turner. . . the human dimension is what sets the story apart."


Grand Rapids Press, May 2, 2004
"Weiser just may have written the best Cold War spy story yet . . . The strength of this true story matches...Clancy"


Commentary, May 2004
"a fascinating account of this episode in history, the first to be based on partial access to CIA files..."


The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2004
"Weiser provides a treat for those interested in Cold War history..."


The Washington Times, May 23, 2004
"A Secret Life has an unusual provenance that adds to its authenticity..."


Book Description
For almost a decade, Col.Ryszard Kuklinski betrayed the Communist leadership of Poland, cooperating with the CIA in one of the most extraordinary human intelligence operations of the Cold War. Now that Poland is free, a riddle remains: Was Kuklinski a patriot or a traitor? In August 1972, Ryszard Kuklinski, a highly respected colonel in the Polish Army, embarked on what would become one of the most extraordinary human intelligence operations of the Cold War. Despite the extreme risk to himself and his family, he contacted the American Embassy in Bonn, and arranged a secret meeting. From the very start, he made clear that he deplored the Soviet domination of Poland, and believed his country was on the wrong side of the Cold War. Over the next nine years, Kuklinski rose quickly in the Polish defense ministry, acting as a liaison to Moscow, and helping to prepare for a "hot war " with the West. But he also lived a life of subterfuge--of dead drops, messages written in invisible ink, miniature cameras, and secret transmitters. In 1981, he gave the CIA the secret plans to crush Solidarity. Then, about to be discovered, he made a dangerous escape with his family to the West. He still lives in hiding in America. Kuklinski's story is a harrowing personal drama about one man 's decision to betray the Communist leadership in order to save the country he loves, and the intense debate it spurred over whether he was a traitor or a patriot. Through extensive interviews and access to the CIA's secret archive on the case, Benjamin Weiser offers an unprecedented and richly detailed look at this secret history of the Cold War.


About the Author
Benjamin Weiser has been a metropolitan reporter for The New York Times since 1997, where he has covered legal issues and terrorism. Before joining the Times, he spent eighteen years as reporter for the Washington Post, where he served on the investigative staff. His journalism has received the George Polk and Livingston awards.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In August 1972, Ryszard Kuklinski, a highly respected colonel in the Polish Army, embarked on what would become one of the most extraordinary human intelligence operations of the Cold War. Despite extreme risk to himself and his family, he contacted the American Embassy in Bonn, and arranged a secret meeting. He told the Americans that he deplored the Soviet domination of Poland; he believed his country was on the wrong side of the Cold War. The only way he could help Poland was to work against its oppressor, the Soviet Union, and deliver its deepest military secrets to the West.

Over the next nine years, Kuklinski rose quickly in the Polish Defense Ministry, acting as a liaison to Moscow, and helping to prepare for a "hot war" with the West. But he also lived a life of subterfuge -- of dead drops, messages written in invisible ink, miniature cameras, and electronic transmitters -- as he passed invaluable intelligence to the Americans. In 1980, he told the CIA about preparations by Moscow to invade Poland. In 1981, he gave the CIA the secret plans to crush the burgeoning Solidarity movement. By late 1981, he had provided 40,265 pages of highly classified Soviet documentary intelligence, one CIA memorandum said, and was "the best placed source now available to the American government in the Soviet bloc." Then, as he was about to be discovered, Kuklinski revealed his covert activities to his stunned family, and asked them to join him in a dangerous escape to the West.

Benjamin Weiser pieced together Kuklinski's untold story through extensive interviews and unusual access to the CIA's long-restricted archives on the case. He reconstructs the story from the American side as well, revealing the innovative methods and technology used by the agency to help Kuklinski carry out his operation without being detected. Weiser tells of the CIA officers who met Kuklinski furtively on the streets of Warsaw, and the case officer code-named Daniel, who began a clandestine and deeply personal correspondence with Kuklinski. The result is an unprecedented and richly detailed look at this secret history of the Cold War. But more importantly, it is the harrowing personal drama of one man's remarkable decision to betray his Communist leadership in order to save the country he loves.

SYNOPSIS

Before joining the New York Times in 1997, Weiser worked for the Washington Post for 18 years. In 1992, while at the Post, Weiser published two articles on Ryszard Kuklinski (1930-), a former Polish official who was a crucial source of information for the West in a nine-year, clandestine operation leading to dramatic changes in Poland in the 1980s. Recently, in an unusual arrangement with the CIA, Weiser was granted access to the agency's internal files on the operation. He draws upon the detailed information gained from those files and from additional interviews with Kuklinski--now living in the U.S.-- to create this full, book length account of Kuklinski's covert activities. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

A Secret Life is a real-life spy thriller that reveals the passions and tensions faced by Polish leaders under the thumb of Moscow during the 1970s and '80s. Weiser has produced a fascinating portrayal of Kuklinski, who decided that the best way to serve Polish nationalism was to become a spy for the West. — Peter Eisner

Wall Street Journal

Reported expertly and sympathetically by Benjamin Weiser, the book captures perhaps the most amicable spying run of Cold War History.

The New Yorker

Books about espionage, fiction or not, can be cliché flypaper—encrusted with tired plot twists and morbid atmosphere. Exceptions, like John le Carré’s novels and Thomas Powers’s histories, are rare. But Weiser’s tale of how a high-ranking Polish officer, Ryszard Kuklinski, betrayed the communist leadership for almost a decade, starting in 1972, and fed the Americans thousands of pages of top-secret documents, including the plans for martial law, is in that elevated company. “A Secret Life” is thrilling not only in its chronicle of an honorable betrayal during the Cold War’s endgame but also in its portrait of the strangely loving epistolary relationship between the spy and his American handlers. There are scenes here that are as tense as any in “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” and the access that Weiser gained—his sources include both Kuklinski and the Poles he fooled—is a feat of patient and intelligent reporting.

Publishers Weekly