Book and Film Recommendations

Phillip Noyce | 2010

Evelyn Salt is a CIA agent and highly respected by all, including her boss, Ted Winter. Out of the blue, a Russian spy walks into their offices and offers a vital piece of information: the President of Russia will be assassinated during his forthcoming visit to New York City to attend the funeral of the recently deceased U.S. Vice President. The name of the assassin: Evelyn Salt. Concerned about the safety of her husband, who she cannot contact, she goes on the run. Winter refuses to accept that she is a mole or a double agent but her actions begin to raise doubts. Just who is Evelyn Salt and what is she planning?

Norman Ridley | Frontline Books | 28 April 2026

Eleven years after Reinhard Gehlen, the head of Adolf Hitler’s Eastern Front military intelligence unit, emerged from hiding to hand himself over to US forces, he had, with the help of the American CIA, created a legend for himself as founder and first president of the West German Secret Service. In this role he employed many of the same Wehrmacht and SS officers he had served with during the Second World War.

All through the steady progression of his career before and during the Second World War, Gehlen had been far too industrious and committed to court the limelight. Then after the defeat of Germany, when he transferred his allegiance to the CIA and later became head of the Bundesnachrichtendienst, he became a man whom Hugh Trevor Roper’s described as someone who ‘always moved in the shadows’.

For some, the German intelligence network that Gehlen had controlled since 1942, was part of an unbroken tradition going back to the days of Bismarck. For a great many in Gehlen’s organisation the Cold War was merely an extension of an anti-Soviet campaign that had begun on 22 June 1941, when Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa.

After the war, Gehlen had emerged unscathed from Hitler’s bunker and no war crimes charges were ever brought against him. His name, and those of 350 of his Wehrmacht command, were redacted from the official lists of German prisoners of war. Gehlen protected and employed men like Heinrich Schmitz who had been part of Einsatzgruppe A, the murder squad that massacred so many, including communist functionaries and Jewish women, men and children, in the Baltic States.

Though Gehlen had remained loyal to Hitler right to the end, once state authority collapsed he wasted little time in making contact with the Americans and offered to place his vast intelligence resources at their disposal in the new fight against Soviet communism. While German generals Heinz Guderian and Franz Halder placed great store by Gehlen’s reports on the tactical level, Hitler called them ‘defeatist’ and gave them barely a glance when making his disastrous strategic decisions. Allen Dulles, head of the CIA, did not repeat Hitler’s mistake, but Gehlen deeply resented the way that his reports to Dulles were mishandled.

It became Gehlen’s ambition initially to head up a completely independent West German foreign intelligence service. However, it was not until 1951 that talks to establish a West German intelligence service at federal level began. In the immediate post-war years, Gehlen tirelessly made his case to defend the harbouring of former Wehrmacht and SS personnel in his organisation and battled to prove his worth to the Americans.

This book looks at Gehlen’s life from his early career in the chaos of Weimar, through his elevation to General Staff intelligence officer on the Russian Front. It describes how he survived the defeat of the Third Reich and offered himself to the Americans as a foil against the Soviet Union in the Cold War. In doing so it closely examines Gehlen’s record to separate fact from his self-serving fictions.

Allie Mellen | Wiley | 17 March 2026

Cyberattacks are the ultimate geopolitical weapon of the 21st century. They are used to damage presidential campaigns, shut down electric grids, sway public sentiment, and cost businesses and governments alike billions of dollars.

Popular culture portrays cyberattacks as unstoppable and mysterious actions taken by shadowy, unpredictable forces.

They aren't. Code War: How Nations Hack, Spy, and Shape the Digital Battlefield shatters this depiction, revealing nation-state cyberattacks for what they are: calculated, measured actions to achieve state objectives.

World-renowned cybersecurity expert Allie Mellen draws on her extensive experience with nation-state cyberattacks and AI threats to break down how and why nations deploy cyberattacks in their own unique ways, driven by their military doctrine, national history, and, most importantly, geopolitical strategy.

Mellen deconstructs the most infamous cyberattacks of our time to reveal how and why attacks like Stuxnet, WannaCry, and NotPetya happened and how their success altered the international landscape. She juxtaposes these attacks against the brutal reality of how nations surveil, manipulate, and control their own citizens' data.

An essential resource for individuals, business professionals, and government officials, Code War demonstrates how you can use this knowledge to understand and respond to the practical realities of nation-state cyberattacks.

Readers will also find:

• An overview of how cyberattacks and defenses operate, where governments most frequently use them, their limitations, and where they provide the most value
• An in-depth breakdown of some of the most important cyberattacks of the modern age, including those targeting the 2016 US Presidential elections, the Olympics, and those against Taiwan, Ukraine, and Tibet
• Deep dives into the histories and attacks perpetrated by governments with the most prolific cyberattacks: China, Russia, and the United States

An eye-opening guide to the world of nation-state cyberattacks, Code War is a must-read for business and government leaders responsible for protecting against these attacks. It’s also a fascinating look into the world of cyberattacks for anyone interested in international relations who wants to keep up with the evolving weapons of war.

Timothy Andrew Sayle | University of Calgary Press | 15 July 2025

The threat of nuclear conflict loomed menacingly over the world during the Cold War. Early warning of an attack was a crucial focus for military and political intelligence. Intelligence networks in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom came together, forming a tripartite intelligence relationship dedicated to indications that the Cold War would turn hot.

The Next War is the first full account of the development of the allied indications network. Timothy Andrews Sayle dives deeply into recently declassified documents to explore this previously hidden history. He traces the decisions and choices made by intelligence organizations in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom to coordinate their assessments despite different, sometimes conflicting, national agendas, ideological positions, and levels of trust.

From early appreciations of the possibility of war with the Soviet Union to a formal agreement and communications network designed to link the intelligence establishments of Ottawa, London, and Washington, the tripartite intelligence relationship of the allied indications network established the basis for the close cooperation that continues to this day.

The Next War widens our understanding of Cold War intelligence history through exemplary scholarship and extensive foraging within the documentary record. With its descriptions of the evolution of national indications intelligence structures and the diplomacy and debates between allied capitals this book explains Canada’s prominent role alongside its intelligence partners.