Targeted as a Spy: Surveillance of an American Diplomat in Communist Romania

An often overlooked aspect of the Cold War was the extent of diplomatic espionage that went on in the countries behind the Iron Curtain. Every Western Diplomat stationed in Soviet-bloc countries was targeted as a spy by the security apparatus in the respective countries. With the opening of archives in Eastern Europe, the extent of this diplomatic espionage can be revealed for the first time.

Ernest H. Latham, Jr. was a career foreign service officer who served the United States in various posts around the world. From 1983 to 1987, he served as cultural attache at the American Embassy in Bucharest. During his time in Romania, Dr. Latham was targeted as a spy by the brutal Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu and subjected to constant surveillance by the dreaded Securitate, Ceausescu’s secret police.

This book is a collection of the surveillance reports that Dr. Latham was able to obtain from the Romanian archives following the collapse of the Communist regime. They reveal the extent of the surveillance to which Western diplomats were subjected and, more importantly, they reveal a great deal about the system and society that produced these materials.

With an introduction by Ernest Latham, this book should be essential reading for students of the Cold War and for anyone interested in the mindset and functioning of totalitarian regimes in general.