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A Matter Of Risk: The Incredible Inside Story Of The CIA's Hughes Glomar Explorer Mission To Raise A Russian Submarine
The Incredible Inside Story of the CIA's Hughes Glomar Explorer Mission to Raise a Russian Submarine.
258 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 7, 2009
I really had to go the rounds with myself in trying to decide whether to give this book three stars or four. I ended up with four, mostly out of professional courtesy, but also because A Matter of Risk really does make you like you were on the inside of one of the CIA's strangest mission--Project Jennifer.
In the early 1970s, the CIA teamed up with Howard Hugh's Global Marine to create the Glomar Explorer--a deep-sea mining ship with a giant claw machine. They parked the Explorer over a sunken submarine and lowered that claw a couple of miles in what may have been one of the greatest intelligence coups in history. (I say "may have," because the final results of the mission have never been leaked.)
In the early 1970s, the CIA teamed up with Howard Hugh's Global Marine to create the Glomar Explorer--a deep-sea mining ship with a giant claw machine. They parked the Explorer over a sunken submarine and lowered that claw a couple of miles in what may have been one of the greatest intelligence coups in history. (I say "may have," because the final results of the mission have never been leaked.)
September 5, 2016
The technical information in here is more than outdated. But the historical value is significant.
Also, the background information, such as how CIA conducts clandestine operations, even domestically, and keeps them under wraps, isn't so outdated - and is really interesting to say the least. (Now, if they'd just confine their spying to our *enemies* instead of *us*... yeah right.)
Despite what was apparently a huge waste of money primarily for propaganda purposes (although they did get some useful intelligence information, but hardly enough to justify the staggering expenditure) a lot of potentially useful technology came out of this venture. One thing that mystified me was that nowhere do the authors even mention the possibility of using this technology for raising a crippled submarine to save the lives of those aboard, though... There is some "diving bell" type technology for that, but it's risky and difficult to deploy whereas something like the Glomar Explorer which could snatch an entire sub right off the sea floor would be a terrific solution... Or so it seems to me... . For that matter, it could be used to salvage any sunken vessel up to a certain size, and possibly even aircraft if they were intact...
Also, the background information, such as how CIA conducts clandestine operations, even domestically, and keeps them under wraps, isn't so outdated - and is really interesting to say the least. (Now, if they'd just confine their spying to our *enemies* instead of *us*... yeah right.)
Despite what was apparently a huge waste of money primarily for propaganda purposes (although they did get some useful intelligence information, but hardly enough to justify the staggering expenditure) a lot of potentially useful technology came out of this venture. One thing that mystified me was that nowhere do the authors even mention the possibility of using this technology for raising a crippled submarine to save the lives of those aboard, though... There is some "diving bell" type technology for that, but it's risky and difficult to deploy whereas something like the Glomar Explorer which could snatch an entire sub right off the sea floor would be a terrific solution... Or so it seems to me... . For that matter, it could be used to salvage any sunken vessel up to a certain size, and possibly even aircraft if they were intact...
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April 17, 2008Navy
-Submarine
-Submarine
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews