Erich Gimpel recalls his life as a spy for the Third Reich, discusses his mission to sabotage America's atomic program, and tells how his association with American turncoat William Colepaugh almost led to his being executed.

In the mid-1930s, just as the United States was embarking on a policy of neutrality, Nazi Germany launched a program of espionage against the unwary nation. Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones’s fascinating history provides the first full account of Nazi spies in 1930s America and how they were exposed in a high-profile FBI case that became a national sensation.

An account of a virtually unknown pre-World War II counterespionage operation describes how naturalized German-American agent William G. Sebold became the FBI's first double agent and was a pivotal figure in the arrests of 33 enemy agents for the Nazis.

An ex-Soviet KGB agent details his primary mission to work undercover in the United States for over a decade and discusses his change of allegiance and defection from the KGB. --Publisher's description.

The fascinating true story of a German bureaucrat who worked secretly with the Allies during World War II. In 1943 a young official from the German foreign ministry contacted Allen Dulles, an OSS officer in Switzerland who would later head the Central Intelligence Agency. That man was Fritz Kolbe, who had decided to betray his country after years of opposing Nazism. While Dulles was skeptical, Kolbe’s information was such that he eventually admitted, “No single diplomat abroad, of whatever rank, could have got his hands on so much information as did this man; he was one of my most valuable agents during World War II.” Using recently declassified materials at the US National Archives and Kolbe’s personal papers, Lucas Delattre has produced a “disturbing and riveting biography” that moves with the swift pace of a Le Carré thriller (Booklist). “A richly detailed and well-crafted account of one of America’s most valuable German spies.” —Library Journal

Why did the US intelligence services fail so spectacularly to know about the Soviet Union's nuclear capabilities following World War II? As Vince Houghton, historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, shows us, that disastrous failure came just a few years after the Manhattan Project's intelligence team had penetrated the Third Reich and knew every detail of the Nazi 's plan for an atomic bomb. What changed and what went wrong? Houghton's delightful retelling of this fascinating case of American spy ineffectiveness in the then new field of scientific intelligence provides us with a new look at the early years of the Cold War. During that time, scientific intelligence quickly grew to become a significant portion of the CIA budget as it struggled to contend with the incredible advance in weapons and other scientific discoveries immediately after World War II. As The Nuclear Spies shows, the abilities of the Soviet Union's scientists, its research facilities and laboratories, and its educational system became a key consideration for the CIA in assessing the threat level of its most potent foe. Sadly, for the CIA scientific intelligence was extremely difficult to do well. For when the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb in 1949, no one in the American intelligence services saw it coming.

A True Story of an American Nazi Spy, William C. Colepaugh. A Biography William C. Colepaugh was born and raised in Black Point Connecticut. Living on the banks of Long Island Sound he developed a love for the sea and aspired to become a naval architect. His goals were sidetracked by his lack of educational skills as he failed in his attempt at a degree from either the Naval Academy or MIT. Influenced by family members, schoolmates, and social acquaintances, he developed a love for Germany and all things German. This love grew to a desire to go to Germany to further attempt to achieve his original goals. It didnt take long for him to become disenchanted after he finally arrived in Germany as the Germans had different plans for him. He was trained as an espionage agent and saboteur by the SS and returned to the United States to carry out his mission with a fellow German national, Eric Gimpel. After a 54-day submarine journey they landed near Bar Harbor Maine with $60,000, diamonds, fire arms, and espionage equipment and made they way to New York City that was to become their base of operation. However, after three weeks, mistrust developed between the two spies. Colepaugh broke loose from Gimpel with the money but was soon outsmarted by the seasoned spy. Soon after, Colepaugh decided to turn himself in to the FBI and provided them with enough information that culminated in the capture of Gimpel a few days later. They were tried and convicted by military tribune and sentenced to be hanged, but presidential politics and world events led to a change in their sentence to life in prison. Colepaugh served 15 years in Federal prison and was released in 1960. For the next 42 years of his life he functioned as a successful businessman, community member, and husband, with his past only known to a select few including his wife. In 2002 he was exposed by a journalist and lived in seclusion the remaining three years of his life.