Redwood: The Untold Story Of The Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy, Macintyre - B-

         In 1981, a KGB agent came to the aid the West because he was seeking medical help for ED. He offered information on a potential communist coup in Iran that would allow the Soviets to occupy the country and control the Persian Sea. This had been the highest U.S. concern in the region since WWII.

         Vladimir Kuzichkin was born in 1947, attended a privileged university where he studied Iran and Farsi, and was admitted to the security services. His future counterpart was Oxford-educated Ian McCredie.

         In Tehran, the KGB, CIA, MI6, and SAVAK were all spying on each other. While focusing on the new Great Game, all of the agencies missed the rumblings that led to the Iranian Revolution. One of the few who saw it coming was Kuzichkin, who was also becoming disgruntled with the USSR's moral failures. As Iran fell into unimaginable chaos, McCredie was finishing up years of training to go there. He was finally dispatched to Tehran in 1981. Kuzichkin was struggling with his impotency, and the stress in his life escalated when his two best 'illegals' were arrested. In October, he walked into the British embassy and asked to defect. The case was assigned to McCredie. At their first meeting, Kuzichkin poured out 90 minutes of pure gold, information of considerable consequence, and then told McCredie about his impotence. MI6 provided him with a Minox camera for photographing documents, a supply of good vodka, and red pills that were no more than a placebo. The stress continued to wear him out, and his alcohol consumption was prolific.

         Although he provided a vast amount of information to MI6, it was the details of the Tudeh's plans to overthrow the government in a communist coup that garnered the most attention. Kuzichkin was becoming fearful, paranoid, and almost at the point of a breakdown, so the British decided to extract him. McCredie obtained a passport and arranged a pickup in Turkey. Kuzichkin drove over 500 miles in a Soviet diplomatic car, got out, and walked into Turkey. He was soon in London. After an extensive debriefing, he was resettled under an assumed name. The U.S. and Britain remained unsure of how the counterinsurgency in Afghanistan was progressing, and were very anxious about a communist coup in Iran. Thus, they flew Kuzichkin to Pakistan to meet with the Iranian security services. He provided them with extensive information about the personnel and plans of Tudeh. The ensuing crackdown killed hundreds, if not thousands, dismantled the communist party in Iran, and also dragged in innumerable left-leaning Iranians. Ironically, for the U.S. and the West, Kuzichkin's defection significantly strengthened the hand of the theocratic Iranian mullahs.

        As Alex Larkin and living in the South Downs, he became an acupuncturist,* married, and fathered a child. Drinking continued to destroy his life, and he died of a heart attack at 62. McCredie had a long and successful career at MI6. Clearly, not the author's best.

* Coincidentally, one of his patients was none other than Alec Guinness.