The Pueblo Surrender

Book excerpt: How the NSA manipulated the U.S. Navy, Pentagon, White House, Congress, tricked the North Koreans, Russians and Chinese, almost caused a war, and concealed the truth for over 40 years. On January 23, 1968, the North Koreans seized the U.S.S. Pueblo. The incident sent shock waves around the world-almost started a war-and has been the focus of controversy and contradiction ever since. Investigative reporter Robert Liston uncovered startling information to support a remarkable conclusion: The Pueblo was purposely surrendered in a covert mission conceived and carried out by the National Security Agency, a super-secret branch of U.S. intelligence. Liston produces documented evidence to show that the Pueblo, controlled by NSA operatives, was used as bait to draw the Soviet Union and Red Chinese into an NSA trap-an operation that enabled the NSA to break the Soviet system of codes, put the KGB on the defensive for years, and stop a possible war between the Soviets and Chinese. For the first time, author Liston brings to light a true story of international intrigue hidden from the American public, from Congress, even from the White House. He goes inside the U.S. intelligence apparatus and reveals how the Pueblo incident may have shaped and controlled American foreign policy and superpower politics for more than twenty years.