The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell: The Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI’s Hunt for America’s Stolen Secrets, by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee (2016)
In 2000, an informant provided the FBI with a package that contained a sample of confidential documents and pages of codes that, once deciphered, indicated that the writer was offering to sell United States top secret documents. A clue as to the identity of the letter’s writer was the fact that many words were misspelled. After an exhaustive search, the FBI identified the writer as Brian P. Regan, a disgruntled security specialist with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), who, realizing that he wasn’t getting a promotion, decided to supplement his income by selling classified intelligence to foreign countries. His first target was Libya, before moving on to Iraq and China.
The author explored Regan’s childhood. He was from a working-class family and was a bit of an odd duck. In school, he was often the butt of jokes. He learned early on that cheating helped him move on with his life. By cheating on the entrance exams, he enlisted in the military as a non-commissioned officer. He had a talent for cracking codes, which landed him a job with the NRO.
After marrying and beginning a family, he soon found himself heavily in debt. Hence, his scheme to sell America’s secrets to foreign powers. For this amateur, this proved to be more difficult than he imagined. He copied numerous top secret and confidential papers and buried them throughout federal properties. He encrypted the location of these papers with a complex code. These buried documents were to provide him with insurance in the event that he was ever caught.
Regan sent numerous coded letters to foreign powers with the offer to sell secrets, but none of his contact took his bait.
The author provided a brief history on code and encryption, dating back thousands of years.
This was a fascinating book and a true-life thriller.
Read: January 13, 2023
4 Stars
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