The book for the first time provides an analysis of a number of undercover cases that later became world famous, to which the author was directly involved during his operational work in the KGB Washington station. A psychological study of the phenomenon of “betrayal” is carried out using the example of the former senior Soviet intelligence officer O. Kalugin, whom the author knew well from working together. The author puts forward a version of his recruitment by American intelligence services in 1958 in New York. New facts about his espionage and work for the US intelligence services up to our time are presented. The book is replete with sensational details of the “Knights of the Cloak and Dagger” tournaments, and is read in one breath. Although the book uses operational terminology, it is read with great interest by both ordinary readers and intelligence officers. For a wide range of readers.