Navarro Joe - Three minutes to doomsday: an agent, a traitor, and the worst espionage breach in US history

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More Praise for

THREE MINUTES TO DOOMSDAY

This book by an FBI agent who became one of the most creative and effective counterintelligence officers in the Bureau focuses on the pursuit of US Army traitor Rod Ramsay who, among many nefarious acts, helped spirit the defense plans of Western Europe to the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact. Three Minutes to Doomsday is a great espionage story told brilliantlyindeed, a must-read for anyone who wants to know the secret history of espionage.

David Major, founder of the CI Centre, retired FBI special agent, and former director of Intelligence and Counterintelligence Programs for the National Security Council

As compelling and unputdownable as it is terrifying... For anyone even remotely intrigued by spies, tradecraft, Soviets, Cold War Europe, nuclear war action plans, the daily life of FBI agents, high-end espionage prosecutions, or simply how to tell if someone is lying to you, Three Minutes to Doomsday is a ride you have to take.

Nils Johnson-Shelton, New York Times bestselling coauthor of No Angel

Both exhilarating and frightening, this is former FBI agent Joe Navarros account of discovering and ferreting out one of the largest and most insidious espionage breaches in US history. The tradecraft on display will remind readers of a John Le Carr novel, but, shockingly, its all true!

Robert K. Wittman, founder of the FBI Art Crime Team and New York Times bestselling author of Priceless and The Devils Diary

Three Minutes to Doomsday invites you into the muddied waters of counterespionagewhere often the rules are: befriend your enemy, lie to your friends, and watch extra carefully so that your own headquarters doesnt stab you in the back. The price paid by our men in the shadows, whose job is to keep us safe, is rarely seen; nor is it visible how close our nation is to disaster at any moment. Joe Navarros book will send chills into readers as they consider the grave dangers we confront, and it will make them ache at the losses suffered by those who frequently risk all.

Glenn L. Carle, former CIA officer and author of The Interrogator

There is mystery, intrigue, high drama, and humor. However, it is the mental ballet between author and superhero FBI agent Joe Navarro and Ramsay that borders on breathtaking. The reader is left hanging on every word, every movement, and wanting more. The book truly is a page-turner and one that doesnt come along often.... A must-read.

Sandra Grimes, former CIA operative and coauthor of Circle of Treason

A masterful work of suspense rivaling the work of any popular suspense novelist... For all those who want to know how these investigations get done, this book should be required reading. More than that, we should all feel lucky that at a perilous time in our nations history we had Joe Navarro covering our backs.

Gary Noesner, former chief of the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit and author of Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator

A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at one FBI agents fight to capture a Cold War spy. Despite endless setbacks and chaos, Navarro never gave up. For our nations sake, you will come away hoping there are more Joe Navarros in the trenches, trying to do their job.

Fred Burton, vice president, Stratfor, former special agent for the Diplomatic Security Service, and New York Times bestselling author of Under Fire , Ghost , and Chasing Shadows

[This] is one of the most unusual espionage stories of the modern era. The pace of Navarros gripping first-person narrative never slackens.

Brian Latell, author of After Fidel and Castros Secrets

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While the manuscript for this book was reviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation prior to publication, the opinions and thoughts expressed herein are those of the author exclusively. Certain names, places, and identifying characteristics have been changed, and some events have been reordered, compressed, or consolidated.

Copyright 2017 by Joe Navarro

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First Scribner hardcover edition April 2017

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication is available.

ISBN 978-1-5011-2827-1

ISBN 978-1-5011-2829-5 (ebook)

To my daughter Stephanieso you might finally understand why I was so often gone.

Its not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

Epictetus

April 17, 1961

T he place is Cienfuegos, at the crest of a large, sheltered bay on the south coast of Cuba. The time: early morning. Im seven years old, on my way to the corner bodega to pick up fresh bread for our family breakfast, when the sky suddenly roars with the sounds of planes, flying low with guns blazing. I can hear my mother yelling at me, but Im frozen, transfixed by what is happening above, when suddenly Im tackled to the ground. My father is on top of me, his breathing heavy as he gathers his knees around me, enfolding me so nothing will be left exposed. My face is inches from a utility pole. I smell the black tar around its base as I study the cleat marks left behind by countless utility workers.

My father is whispering urgently in my ear to stay still, to keep down, but I stretch to see above me all the same. I cant help myself. Something metal and shiny falls from the planes as they firenot bullets (I later learn) but their shell casings. Afterward, we neighborhood kids will search for them for hours, but not now. Unknown to us, less than an hours drive away, at Bahia de Cochinos , the American-led Bay of Pigs invasion has begun.

The next day, Castros thugs come for my father.

He has been detained for nineteen daysroughed up, threatened, barely fed, one of thousands being held without charges at a local sports facilitywhen a fellow prisoner loans him an identification card. The man knows my father hates Castro and eventually will be fingered as a counterrevolutionary. The ruse is thin but, in the confusion, just enough to set him free. He comes home to usmy mother, me, and my two sisters: one older than me and one youngerbut only for a precious hour or two. Father gathers a few things, no luggage, and tells my mother he must leave before the guards realize their folly and he ends up like so many other counterrevolutionarieson the paredon (the wall), awaiting execution. And indeed within weeks, thousands are shot, or simply disappear.