The Defector

The Untold Story of the KGB Agent Who Saved MI5 and Changed the Cold War

Richard Kerbaj

The untold account of how, in 1971, the defection of a KGB saboteur in London led to the rescue of MI5 after a series of disastrous intelligence failures.

Drawing on newly declassified intelligence documents and dozens of interviews with spymasters, The Defector tells a startling story of a Soviet mission to plant fake Kremlin agents within British and American intelligence services, the paranoia that ensued, and how the actions of a genuine turncoat, the former KGB officer Oleg Lyalin, and the secrets he revealed resulted in one of the most dramatic and pivotal moments in the Cold War.

Lyalin led MI5 to rethink its relationship with the CIA. And his defection discredited a previous KGB defector, Anatoly Golitsyn, the darling of the CIA, and ultimately destroyed the reputation of the US agency's head of counterintelligence, James Jesus Angleton.

At the heart of Lyalin's story is a narrative entwined with lies, disinformation, Kremlin deception campaigns, intelligence failures by the CIA and MI5, and a tangled love life. Told in full here, for the first time, by one of this country's leading commentators on national security, it reveals how during the darkest moments of the Cold War one of the West's greatest achievements transpired as a result of MI5's break with the CIA.

The disclosure of the inside story of this historic event also comes at a time when there is a renewed interest in the relationship between transatlantic spy services—from the intelligence they share or hold back to the way they respond to their political masters and stand up to threats from Russia.

Richard Kerbaj is a writer, investigative journalist, and Bafta-winning filmmaker. He is also the author of The Secret History of the Five Eyes (Union Square), the internationally acclaimed first account of the spy network between America, Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Richard lives in London.

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Endorsements & Reviews

Early praise for The Defector:

"An absolutely thrilling read based on deep research which brings this MI5 asset's importance to life.” Gordon Corera, co-host of The Rest is Classified and the author of The Spy in the Archive

"Kerbaj is well-placed to recount the facts of this forgotten story. One of the most sensational episodes of the Cold War." The Sunday Times (London)

"An explosive book about the extraordinary life of Oleg Lyalin.” The Mail on Sunday

"A truly gripping, untold story of how a Russian defector helped British intelligence defeat the Soviet spies. Richard Kerbaj's painstaking research, including interviews with key players, upends much of the orthodoxy about what happened in the Cold War. The Defector reads like Le Carre but uncovers important truths that are being played out in Putin's Russia today.” Robert Verkaik, London Sunday Times bestseling author of The Traitor of Colditz

"A lucidly written account of a significant setback for Soviet intelligence. Dynamic and vivid, reads like a spy thriller. Kerbaj skillfully makes major figures of the Cold War cloak-and-dagger operations come to life.” Dr. Filip Kovacevic, University of San Francisco and author of KGB Literati: Spy Fiction and State Security in the Soviet Union

Praise for The Secret History of the Five Eyes:

"Mr. Kerbaj gives readers a valuable look at the origins and trajectory of the oldest and most successful intelligence network in the world." The Wall Street Journal

“[An] absolutely brilliant book and very, very timely to read.” Tom Holland, The Rest Is History podcast

"Puts Richard Kerbaj in the front rank of modern authors on espionage. It is, by turns, gripping and shocking and sheds completely new light on the most important intelligence alliance in the world." - Tim Shipman, bestselling author of All Out War

"An impressively detailed account of a remarkable alliance." Jeremy Bowen, The NEw Statesman

"This thought-provoking and informative book suggests that the era of globetrotting lone agents such as James Bond is long gone." - Sydney Morning Herald

"The stories Kerbaj tells reveal . . . a story of failure—of missing warnings that could have prevented atrocities, of misusing intelligence to start a war.” The Observer