I am not a communist. I do not sympathise with communism. I call Kalugin a ..., because that is what he is. Like Ashby, Burgess and MacLean in Britain, Kalugin thought he could undermine Communism by "working from the inside" in the KGB, until his cowardly escape. He deserves as much praise and respect as Aldrich Ames. Oh well, he has made his bed. Wanted for criminal activities including drug dealing and bribery in Russia, Kalugin now spends his time in cozy American exile verbally defending terrorists and pontificating against everything Russian to sleazy British journalists from the BBC.


If clandestine ops are for you, this book is a must!!   October 30, 2001
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This book is centered around the 1st Directorate of the KGB, Foreign Counter Intelligence. The KGB made a name for itself and the story is not better told than by Oleg Kalugin. Want the scoop from the horse's mouth....get this book. I have read a few books about the former eastern-bloc intelligence services to include the East German Secret Police (Stasi) but Oleg will capture your interest and keep you asking for more. It is as if you were there with him and his men at every moment. The story begins with an extremely enthusastic young man joining the Young Pioneers and ends with a very unhappy Chief of the 1st Directorate. This book is so good it is as if someone wrote this story, thought up a plot, a climax, when in fact it is the life of a man in the most secretive of all orginizations in the world, and he tells you everything. This book has its heroes, it's villians and its political leaders, who....just turn the other cheek.


First Directorate   May 1, 2000
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I've been researching spying in the Cold War for a couple of months and have read many books on the subject. First Directorate is one of the best. It describes the experiences of Oleg Kalugin who was the Soviet Chief of Counterintellignce in the 80s. He had a long career with many interesting experiences. Some of the things that he did are surprising. By reading this book you will gain a good understanding of how the KGB operated during the Cold War and a good persective of the Cold War from the point of view of a Russian.