Code Warriors: NSA’s Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union

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Code Warriors examines the legacy of codebreakers and the enigmas solved in war and peace. The beginning of the book begins with the revelations by NSA contractor Edward Snowden. World War II saw the significance of code breaking with the US work at Arlington Hall, while the British worked to crack the Enigma code at Bletchley Circle. The groundbreaking work being carried out in war would be carried over to the Cold War against the Russians. The need for intelligence against the Soviets would be illustrated with the break up of the Atomic Spy Ring in the early 1950’s. The spy war would be ramped up with the construction of the Berlin tunnel by the CIA, but British Double Agents such as George Blake, Kim Philby would undue US progress against the Russians. The NSA would be led by able leaders, but bureaucratic infighting as well as lack of cooperation with the CIA led to equal successes and failures. The intelligence gathtered by the NSA would serve many purposes, but the ultimate question would relate to privacy and the rise of the surveillance state.

Stephen Budiansky’s book relays both sides of the intelligence coin. The good, bad, and ugly are explored throughout the years. The job is not pretty, but useful. The main question is the harnessing of the intelligence once gathered and where the line is drawn.


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Author Stephen Budiansky
Star Count /5
Format Hard
Page Count 416 pages
Publisher Knopf
Publish Date 2016-06-14
ISBN 9780385352666
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Issue August 2016
Category Current Events & Politics
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