My Ten Years as a Counterspy
$ 12.00
Author: Borris Morros
Publisher: Dell F99
Year: 1959 Print: 1 Cover Price: $.50
Condition: Book Grades. Very Good. Light wear
Genre: Non Fiction/Espionage/Crime
Pages: 288
50126056E
The narrative follows the true story of Boris Morros, a successful Russian-born immigrant who rose to prominence in the American entertainment industry as the head of music at Paramount Pictures. [
- The Recruitment: In the 1930s, Morros was targeted by Soviet intelligence. Desperate to secure the safety, food, and shelter of his aging parents still living in Russia, he agreed to cooperate with the Soviets under the threat of family reprisals. For years, his commercial ventures—including the Boris Morros Music Company—served as front organizations and covers for Soviet spy rings.
- Turning Double Agent: In 1947, Morros came into contact with the FBI and made the pivotal choice to turn into a double agent, or counterspy, for the United States. For the next ten years, he lived a dangerous double life. He traveled back and forth across the Iron Curtain—including tense trips to Moscow, East Berlin, Vienna, and Paris—pretending to spy for the USSR while secretly gathering intelligence for J. Edgar Hoover's FBI.
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The Climax: Morros passed low-level secrets and disinformation back to his handlers while collecting intimate "operational data" on Soviet intelligence tradecraft. His decade-long undercover work culminated in 1957 when the FBI successfully compromised and dismantled the Jack Soble Soviet spy ring, leading to multiple high-profile espionage convictions.
The book is celebrated for offering a rare, highly detailed, and practical look into the internal mechanics, vulnerabilities, and exact methods used by Soviet intelligence operators during the height of the Red Scare. It was also loosely adapted into the 1960 thriller film Man on a String, starring Ernest Borgnine.
