Book Review: “FSB, Anatomy of Russia’s Security State: History, Structure, Repression, Counterintelligence, and Operations of the Federal Security Service”, by Renato Caputo and Mark A. Randol, 2026, Unintess – Mantua, Italy.
FSB: Anatomy of Russia’s Security State offers a comprehensive examination of one of the most powerful institutions of contemporary Russia.
More than simply the successor to the Soviet KGB, the Federal Security Service occupies a unique position within the Russian system of power. It combines counterintelligence, counterterrorism, criminal investigation, surveillance, information and economic security, military counterintelligence, border protection, and coercive powers. It has also become deeply intertwined with the protection of Russia’s political order and Vladimir Putin’s system of government.
Renato Caputo and Mark A. Randol trace the development of the FSB from the origins of Russian political policing through the Cheka, GPU, OGPU, NKVD, and KGB to the security apparatus of the Russian Federation. The book examines what survived across different political systems: professional cultures, concepts of the enemy, surveillance and coercion, and the enduring Chekist conception of state security.
The study reconstructs the rise of the FSB under Vladimir Putin, its legal foundations, structure, leadership, specialized units, and expanding responsibilities. Particular attention is devoted to the relationship between state security and regime security. The authors show how counterespionage and counterterrorism coexist with political policing, repression of dissent, intimidation, and the progressive restriction of political and civil space. Read more
This Brief provides a detailed exploration of a modified “escalation ladders” model as applied to state-sponsored targeted killings in the post-Cold War political landscape. Using a modified version of Herman Kahn's "ladders of escalation," the authors offer a systematic comparison of the components and features of multiple state-sponsored killing programs. 
Sociocultural Intelligence by Kerry Patton
Insider espionage has destabilized governments, jeopardized national security and critical infrastructures, diminished the economic strength of nations, and cost lives. Deterrence and detection — the two methods most used to combat this threat — often prove ineffective. The author, therefore, suggests placing more emphasis on prediction. This book is based on a four-year research project in which the author studied hundreds of cases of insider espionage in the government and private sectors across various countries. The project led to the development of the author’s Five-Factor Model of Insider Espionage, which he validated through multiple case analyses and a cross-case synthesis. This model aims to provide a framework to predict and thus mitigate the risks associated with insider espionage. The book will familiarize readers with the model and the underlying concepts. 
What can intelligence producers and users learn from contemporary intelligence warning cases to anticipate, prepare for, mitigate and prevent future security challenges?
“Covert Action - National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention”
This scholarly work is a superb compilation and analysis of the public record concerning the Chinese Communist Party’s espionage activities against the rest of the world and the United States in particular. Most important it goes well beyond the “what” has happened and provides insight into the how and why of this activity. The reader should be aware that a noted expert in the field has provide a synthesized review of all the available information. It is a glimpse at what is happening around the world. There are more facts understood by those with appropriate security access and much more is known only to the senior levels of the CCP and its operatives. -- Richard Haver, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, former DCI Deputy for Community Affairs, and Chief of Staff, National Intelligence Council. 
No country in history has been more deeply penetrated by spies than divided Germany after the Second World War. Fighting for the eastern corner were the 'first class comrades' of the Stasi – the East German Ministry for State Security. Rising from the ruins of a defeated country, and guided by its KGB masters, the early Cold War saw the Stasi establish itself as one of the world's most notorious spy and secret police agencies. These were years of fierce ideological battles, overshadowed by Joseph Stalin and his East German acolytes. At home the Stasi crushed dissent, using brutal – and increasingly crafty – methods to prop up a government that had no mandate to govern. The Berlin Wall was built and the borders sealed. At the same time, dramatic and fascinating spy warfare broke out. The Stasi learned to infiltrate foreign countries – including in the developing world – and to combat vigorous attempts by the west to spy on, and subvert, the German Democratic Republic. Gripping, intelligent and packed with information, First Class Comrades shines a light on this lesser-known period of Stasi history, and why its stories and lessons still matter today.