My Life as a Spy
Author: John A Walker
John A. Walker Jr. was a Chief Warrant Officer and communications specialist for the US Navy. In 1985, he was arrested for selling classified secrets to the Soviet Union. Upon his arrest it was revealed that he had been acting as a spy from 1968 to 1985 and that his son, brother, ex-wife, and an acquaintance had also participated in the espionage ring. Altogether, their actions constituted one of the most serious security breaches in US history. In 1990, the New York Times stated, "Mr. Walker provided enough code-data information to alter significantly the balance of power between Russia and the United States."
What motivated a career naval officer to become a spy during the height of the Cold War? Over the years, statements by Walker have been reported in various books, newspapers, and other media outlets, but Walker has never told his own story-till now. Walker has decided to make public a private document that he originally wrote for his children to explain his actions. Among the reasons he gives for publishing this work is the following statement:
"As I grew older, I came to understand that the wars that had taken place during my entire life were just a symptom of a larger national policy. I watched my uncles and aunt go off to World War II, my brother to Korea, and myself to Vietnam, all of which were waged on foundations of lies. Voltaire said that history is a lie agreed upon by historians. How true.
"I cannot classify myself as a visionary or idealist, but just a simple citizen who became angry by the government lies. I did conclude that the US system of government was broken, so I felt justified in breaking some rules in order to help save it.... Why did Ifeel responsible or qualified to end the pattern of perpetual war? I cannot answer my own questions. But then, my insane stunt seemed to have worked. By the admission of both the US and the USSR, I provided the most extensive intelligence ever to the Soviets. With my material in hand, the Soviet government eventually realized the US planned no attack upon them, so my actions have contributed greatly to the Soviet Union's decision to end the Cold War."
Library Journal
Walker was a communications specialist in the U.S. Navy, and from 1968 to 1985 he passed cryptographic secrets to the KGB so the Soviets could track U.S. fleet movements. Here, he justifies his treason through criticism of Cold War American society and includes fascinating details of his actions. He claims that the information he provided allowed the Kremlin to see that the Reagan administration was not preparing for a nuclear war and helped lead to the fall of the USSR. Walker explains his motivation: he was upset at the dangerous and expensive falsehoods of the Cold War, he thought that the assassination of President Kennedy was an organized coup by corporate/government leaders, and he wanted the money. It is ironic that this traitor is outraged that his spying partner and longtime friend Jerry Whitworth betrayed him to the FBI; Walker also blames his ex-wife and Whitworth's wife. His book is suitable for the espionage collections of all libraries to complement Pete Earley's Family of Spies , Howard Blum's I Pledge Allegiance , and Robert W. Hunter and Lynn Dean Hunter's Spy Hunter .-Daniel K. Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL
Kirkus Reviews
Straight from the federal pen, an unrepentant traitor's mea culpa. Busted for spying for the Soviet Union 23 years ago, Walker claims that, because his "children deserved an explanation of my activities," he wrote a memoir that swelled to nearly 600 pages. When his attorney lost it, he says, he started over; thus this book, which is plainly more than a decade old, since he writes of "recent" trips by Bill Clinton on various diplomatic missions. If there is news here, it is largely of a kind we have heard before, thanks to such vehicles as The Falcon and the Snowman: Minor player sells out his country for modestly ideological reasons, in this case putatively having to do with disgust over the waste of resources and effort over a cooked-up Cold War; gets used to the cash and other payoffs of treason; recruits a dim bulb or two in the moral equivalent of a Ponzi scheme; and finally gets caught. Walker protests that the technological secrets he delivered to the Soviets proved that the Cold War was a sham, allowing Gorbachev to put an end to it. To gauge by this ineptly written book, though, Walker is no rocket scientist, which makes one wonder why the Soviets bothered with him. The Soviets seem to have wondered the same thing, having slated Walker for special handling following one too many foul-ups on the part of his psychotic ex-wife and other members of his loose circle. One matter of true interest comes when Walker describes old classified documents that he handled detailing orders for the American D-Day landings of World War II, which Bill Clinton ordered declassified and then rescinded that directive. Was it, as Walker says, because the documents showed "a serious blunder of notfollowing the invasion plan, perhaps landing our troops in the wrong place due to sheer incompetence"?For Cold War completists only. One hopes that Walker will not profit from this defiant scribble.
Table of Contents:
Foreword 7 Chapter 1 The Crime 11 Chapter 2 The True Believer 23 Chapter 3 The Lies 35 Chapter 4 Playing the Game 41 Chapter 5 The CIA Gets a War 51 Chapter 6 The Cold War Myth 55 Chapter 7 A Couple of Good Years 59 Chapter 8 Heading Downhill 69 Chapter 9 The Nadir 89 Chapter 10 The Spy 99 Chapter 11 Would the World Change? 119 Chapter 12 The Weak Link 131 Chapter 13 A CIA Mole 143 Chapter 14 Seeing the Light 153 Chapter 15 The Bomb 165 Chapter 16 Back to Sea 169 Chapter 17 The Nam 175 Chapter 18 The 25,000-Mile Dead Drop 185 Chapter 19 Looking for a New Enemy 193 Chapter 20 The Turbulent Seventies 195 Chapter 21 Vietnam and a Secret Mission 207 Chapter 22 New Thoughts on War 213 Chapter 23 Forge a Clearance, Recruit a Spy 215 Chapter 24 My Last Tour of Duty 229 Chapter 25 Overdue Divorce 239 Chapter 26 A New Life, a New Cold War 251 Chapter 27 Around the World 263 Chapter 28 Drug Smugglers 271 Chapter 29 Rescuing Cynthia 277 Chapter 30 Annus Horribilis 289 Chapter 31 Family Problems 293 Chapter 32 RYAN and Reagan 299 Chapter 33 Michael 311 Chapter 34 The End Draws Near 325 Epilogue 345Sex, Science, and Stem Cells: Inside the Right-Wing Assault on Reason
Author: Diana DeGett
Sex, Science, and Stem Cells
INSIDE THE RIGHT WING ASSAULT ON REASON
Congresswoman Diana DeGette
A top congresswoman’s stinging rebuke of those who politicize science and sex.
“Over time, I realized that the politicization of science by the Republicans and the religious right was at its most insidious over any issue relating to human reproduction. This brought me to the inevitable conclusion that too many of our elected officials are simply incapable of thinking rationally about sex. I could think of no other explanation. The disconnect was so transparent that some of our older male politicians couldn’t even talk about any aspect of human sexuality without biting their lips to avoid snickering like schoolboys.”
— From the Introduction
Publishers Weekly
U.S. Congresswoman DeGette, of Colorado, doesn't mince words regarding religious conservatives in congress who have been pushing, since Reagan, for abstinence-only sex education, a ban on stem cell research, and other ways of "undermining scientific progress in the name of God." Calling this "political malpractice" of a "malignant, self-serving, and unconscionable" sort, DeGette's riveting insider's account reveals how conservatives have controlled the agenda on woman's issues, especially after the 2000 election. Though her opponents are largely Republicans, DeGette works with moderates and conservatives across the aisle while facing opposition from anti-choice Democrats, as in a crucial vote to prevent a ban on stem cell research. DeGette also writes movingly about her daughter's diabetes, which made stem cell research a personal cause; sadly but predictably, her triumphant legislation, crafted across party lines and with the support of Nancy Reagan, is dashed by a Bush veto. DeGette's report from the D.C. front lines is often infuriating, but her exposure and takedown of conservatives' more outrageous arguments (against, for instance, insurance coverage of government workers' birth control) provide reason to hope for a backlash.
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