According to Pforzheimer, this book "has been well received by knowledgeable students.... Written in straightforward, readable prose,... it is of value to the intelligence officer, members of the academic community, journalists, and the general public.... Chapter V is given over to interviews ... with two major defectors in the field of active measures - Stanislav Levchenko ... and Ladislav Bittman." Milivojevic, I&NS 2.2, praises the work as a "systematic, well-documented and convincing analysis." He views Chapter 4 as "the most interesting and original in the entire book, analysing Soviet covert political techniques used against the West between 1960 and 1980."