Espionage & Spying

An author at the pinnacle of the espionage genre, Le Carre has written such classics as "Smiley's People", "Tinker Tailor, Soldier, Spy", and "The Russia House". Le Carre has shifted his gaze to the Gulf War and international arms dealers in his new novel "The Night Manager."

Peter Schweizer, author of "Friendly Spies: How America's Allies are Using Economic Espionage to Steal our Secrets." He is a consultant for "NBC News," and has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Point of No Return," directed by John Badham. Schiff says, despite the movie's sleaze, it may be good for Bridget Fonda's career.

Alger Hiss & his son Tony Hiss. This is the infamous Alger Hiss who was convicted and jailed in 1950 for perjury after denying, under oath, that he had been a Soviet spy. This past October, with the opening of Soviet archives, there was found to be no evidence that Hiss had ever been an agent of the Kremlin. Hiss is 88 years old now, and has maintained his innocence all along. His son, Tony Hiss is a staff writer at "The New Yorker," and he wrote about his father's ordeal and exoneration in the November 16 issue of the magazine.

Journalist Mark Perry is the Author of "Four Stars: The Joint Chiefs of Staff." His most recent book is "Eclipse: The Last Days of the C.I.A:" It examines the power struggle that took place after William Casey died, and after the fall of the Soviet Union. He also dispells the notion that the C.I.A. is still a highly effective and powerful organization.

Writer David Wise. He's written extensively on intelligence and espionage. His new book is "Molehunt: The Secret Search for Traitors that Shattered the CIA," (published by Random House) about the CIA's search for Soviet spies within in their own ranks.

Commentator David Gurevitz checks out some rumors about the KGB in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet empire. He's the author of "From Lenin to Lennon."

Author Norman Mailer. Over the past four decades Mailer's evolved into one of America's most important, and at times most flamboyant, writers. He has a new novel, titled "Harlot's Ghost".

Book critic John Leonard reviews Norman Mailer's new novel, "Harlot's Ghost."

Journalist Sam Dillon. Dillon was part of the Miami Herald's team of reporters that won a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on the Iran Contra scandal. His new book, "Comandos: The CIA and Nicaragua's Contra Rebels," looks at the history of the contras during their ten year struggle with the Sandinistas. ( published by Henry Holt).

Admiral Stansfield Turner. The former director of the CIA under Jimmy Carter. He talks with Terry about what he thinks is going on in both the American and Soviet intelligence communities in the wake of the Soviet coup attempt. (Turner has just come out with his second book, "Terrorism & Democracy" (Published by Houghton Mifflin)).

Admiral Stansfield Turner. The former director of the CIA under Jimmy Carter, Turner has just come out with his second book, "Terrorism & Democracy."(Houghton Mifflin). Turner looks at the failed and successful policies of eight American presidents in dealing with terrorism.

We look at the connection between the Israeli and U.S. intelligence communities.
We first talk with journalists Andrew and Leslie Cockburn. Their new book, "Dangerous Liaison," alleges the two nations relationship extends far beyond the Mideast, into areas like the war against drugs, the South African nuclear weapons program, and the Contras. (The book's published by Harper Collins).
We also talk with Benny Morris, co

Television's "second season" is underway, and television critic David Bianculli reviews a couple of new shows: "Sons and Daughters" and "Undercover."

Kevin Whitehead, who normally reviews jazz for Fresh Air, looks at the new movie "The Russia House," an adaptation of the recent John LeCarre spy novel. Whitehead says it's neither good nor bad, but he likes Sean Connery's performance.

Novelist Frederick Forsyth. With the publication of The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File and The Dogs of War, all in the space of three years, critics dubbed Frederick Forsyth a master of the international suspense thriller. The plots of all his stories have been praised for their split-second calculations and for their attention to the mechanical details of, say, mixing the right sunburn salve or creating an atomic bomb. Forsyth turned to novels after a long career as a newspaper and radio reporter throughout Europe and Africa.

Le Carre is the pseudonym of writer David Cromwell, who used to be a spy himself. His newest novel, The Russia House, considers the glasnost reforms of the Soviet Union's Gorbachev administration. Some of Le Carre's past novels include The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Little Drummer Girl, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

John Le Carre's new spy novel is set against the backdrop of the Soviet Union's recent reforms. Book critic John Leonard calls it a "great gray lump" -- The Russia House strains for greatness with big ideas about selfhood, but falls flat with its long sentences and pretensions of literary sophistication.

Buckley co-founded the National Review and hosts the television program Firing Line. His new book, On the Firing Line, includes transcripts of some of his interviews. Buckley studied at Yale and later joined the CIA. Throughout his professional career, he has sought to revitalize the political right and the Republican Party.

Forsyth's latest book, called The Negotiator, imagines the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1990s, several years after the Glasnost reforms. He left home to become a bullfighter, and later worked a journalist in Europe and Africa. Forsyth was once accused of raising money to oust a dictator in Equitorial Guinea -- a claim that was never substantiated.