Breaking the Ring

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Newspaper readers are familiar with the Walker spy case that made news in 1985, but perhaps few realize the enormous consequences of the family's treason, which are reported here. Barron, a Reader's Digest editor and author of two studies of the KGB, demonstrates how John Walker, a retired naval warrant officer who worked as a private investigator, influenced his brother Arthur, a retired submarine officer, his own son Michael, a navy enlisted man with access to top-secret documents, and Jerry Whitworth, a former student of John's who worked with navy cryptographic systems, to transmit vital information to the Soviets. For 17 years the ring furnished secrets, including technical manuals and keys for U.S. cipher systems that provided insights into the logic behind American cryptography. The repercussions of this, shows Barron, may be with us for decades. An informative book and a page-turner. (March 23)

Library Journal

On August 28, 1986, a federal judge sentenced Jerry Whitworth to 365 years in prison for espionage. During the preceding year, news reports jolted the American public with revelations about the Walker family spy ring. John Walker, brother Arthur, son Michael, and Whitworth, all former Navy men, had at various times over two decades sold the Soviet KGB keys to the U.S. Navy's encrypted communications. Barron, author of The KGB Today and MiG Pilot , details the torturous investigation, painstaking prosecution, and probable damage of perhaps the most serious breach of modern American military security. Frightening, enthralling, and highly recommended for popular collections. James R. Kuhlman, Univ. of Georgia Lib., Athens