A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War Struggle in Poland

A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War Struggle in Poland by Seth G. Jones

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December 1981 -- the CIA learns that the Polish government has cut telephone communications with the West and closed the border. The agency's leaders rush to brief President Ronald Reagan at Camp David. Within hours, Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski has appeared on Polish national television to announce the establishment of martial law. A new era in Cold War politics has begun: Washington and Moscow are on a collision course.

In this gripping narrative history, Seth G. Jones reveals the little-known story of the SIA's subsequent operations in Poland, which produced a landmark victory for democracy. While the Soviet-backed Polish government worked to crush a budding opposition movement, the CIA began a sophisticated intelligence campaign (codenamed QRHELPFUL) that supported dissident groups like Solidarity, an anti-Communist trade union that swelled to a membership of ten million. With President Reagan's support, the CIA helped Solidarity print newspapers, broadcast radio programs, and conduct information warfare against the Soviet-backed government. QRHELPFUL proved vital in establishing a free and democratic Poland.

Long overlooked by CIA historians and Reagan biographers, the story of QRHELPFUL features an extraordinary cast of characters -- including spymaster Bill Casey, CIA officer Richard Malzahn, Polish-speaking CIA case officer Celia Larkin, Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, and Pope John Paul II. Based on in-depth interviews and recently declassified evidence, A Covert Action celebrates a decisive victory over tyranny for U.S. intelligence behind the Iron Curtain, one that prefigured the Soviet collapse.

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W.W. Norton, Hardcover, 1st Edition, 1st Printing, 2018