The Fourth Man

The Hunt for a KGB Spy at the Top of the CIA and the Rise of Putin's Russia

By: Robert Baer

Narrated by: Robert Baer, Eric Jason Martin

The never-before-told story of the thrilling hunt for a KGB spy in the top ranks of the CIA, from New York Times best-selling author and former CIA officer Robert Baer.

In the aftermath of the Cold War, American intelligence caught three high-profile Russian spies: Aldrich Ames, Edward Lee Howard, and Robert Hanssen. However, rumors have long swirled of another mole, one perhaps more damaging than all the others combined. Perhaps the greatest traitor in American history, perhaps a Russian ruse to tear the CIA apart, or perhaps nothing more than a bogeyman, he is often referred to as the Fourth Man.

For the first time ever, New York Times best-selling author and former CIA operative Robert Baer tells the full story. After the Ames arrest, the CIA launched another investigation to make sure there wasn't another mole in their ranks. Led by three women, pioneering counterintelligence veterans, its existence was known only to a few. As they hunted through their own, turning up loose threads, smoking guns, and a mercurial KGB source, they came to a startling conclusion that would shake American intelligence to its core. In a cat-and-mouse game worthy of a le Carré novel, the mole hunters squared off against a man who could have been the most damaging spy in US history, a thrilling chase with the profound implications for the future of America, Russia, and the rise of Vladimir Putin.

©2022 Robert Baer (P)2022 Hachette Books

Great story, but not a good production on Audible.

This story was a most interesting procedural, luckily I bought both hard and digital copies.
ATT: Audible
Stop truncating the chapters.

Fascinating, important story!

Thought provoking and although some parts take a little time to digest, the book is relatively easy to follow. Fascinating deep dive into spy world and it’s ramifications- good, bad or indifferent. Hope the mystery is solved in my lifetime!

ex CIA officials’ books I’ve found one for one excellent

This one gives a look at inside CIA mole hunting and as Baer has said in interviews this really is as good as fiction.

The real ex CIA officers’ books are just better and I can’t stand fiction anymore.

Espionage

I can’t believe they didn’t catch him. There’s isn’t enough oversight, is this one reason Russia is stuck with Putin?

A stunning indictment of the CIA’s decades-long fa

THE FOURTH MAN represents a welcome return to Bob Baer’s non-fiction writing, with the author hitting his stride at last after a string of uneven works, both fiction and non-fiction.

Without offering any spoilers, THE FOURTH MAN is a straightforward account of the decades long—and perhaps still ongoing--search for what may be the most damaging spy ever to have betrayed U.S. secrets to Soviet/Russian intelligence.

You’ve heard of the notorious spies, Howard, Ames and Hanssen—well, that’s not all. Baer gives us the rest of the story.

Baer makes a highly persuasive—some may say compelling—case that the betrayals of U.S. secrets by Edward Lee Howard, Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen are dwarfed by the long-term and comprehensive looting of America’s crown jewels by a so-called Fourth Man inside the CIA.

If what Baer reports is true, the Fourth Man systematically destroyed the CIA’s stable of Soviet/Russian spies and left U.S. policymakers blind to Kremlin plans and intentions as Vladimir Putin began his rise to power.

What’s best about the case that Baer builds in THE FOURTH MAN is that it is based not on Baer’s own views, but on a meticulous inquiry by a small team of dedicated CIA counterintelligence officers. The facts and arguments Baer lays out in his well-organized narrative are, for the most part, those of insiders who had direct access to the CIA’s most tightly guarded Russian secrets.

And, unlike the typical journalistic treatment of real-life spy stories, THE FOURTH MAN benefits from the fact that Baer served personally with many of the story’s key players during the years in question and could claim a passing acquaintance with many of the lesser figures. As an astute and accomplished CIA insider, Baer is able to put the book’s mass of conflicting and often bewildering evidence in proper context.

Also welcome in THE FOURTH MAN is a level of humility, compassion, and even-handedness that I would not have expected to see, based on Baer’s earlier works.

THE FOURTH MAN is a story of historic importance, seriously told, yet with Baer’s unique flair. The book is Bob Baer at his entertaining best and deserves the wide audience it is bound to receive.

A good read that needs an ending

Extraordinary story. Well worth taking in if you are a student of our cold war. The events happening when the Soviet Union collapsed had a lot of surreal chapters that today have become part of our current focus.

Absolute Winner

I believe I first heard the author interviewed years ago by the estimable Diane Rehm. Have ever since sought and been delighted by Baer’s work. The country owes him a debt.

The continuing tale

A good read. Especially for those who like intel and know the post Kim Philby era will enjoy the book.

Riddle, Mystery, Enigma

There are several very intriguing things about this book, not the least of which is that we don’t know if it’s true. Its tangled storyline outdoes even the most complicated Le Carre novel. One problem with it is its reliance on an agency that so thoroughly flubbed the Aldrich Ames affair that it can’t be trusted with anything to do with counter-intelligence. Another problem is its reliance on extremely circumstantial evidence, and with virtually every such piece of evidence, the author has a strong tendency to lean into the conclusion that best fits his storyline. I came away with a disgust for the internecine squabbling (CIA/NSA/FBI) and a disappointment with a serious indictment that lacks any direct, smoking-gun evidence. Either the story is way off base, or our intelligence agencies are extremely incompetent - possibly both. Nevertheless, it’s an intriguing read for anyone interested in espionage.

Excellent book diminished by narration

Baer delivers a well-researched and thorough examination of one of the biggest questions about the CIA and it’s lapses during the Cold War. In the process, he skewers the closed-minded, protective and dismissive attitudes that allowed traitors like Ames to do so much damage over so many years.

All that is diminished, however, by a narration that makes Baer’s otherwise compelling story a difficult listen. Boring and flat were the least of the issues. The biggest problem for me was the incredible number of mispronunciations of fairly common words and place-names… frustrating beyond belief as a listener.

The Fourth Man is still worth a read, if you can’t handle the frustrating narration. It’s an important story and compelling for anyone interested in the Cold War and the history of espionage during that period.