The Third Man
The havoc he wreaked stretched far and wide
By that time 50 years old, he went to Moscow thinking he was a high officer in the KGB; when he arrived he found he was just a grunt. Many in the KGB still suspected he was a triple agent. Philby professed to journalists that he had an abiding belief in communism but was disillusioned with its everyday reality. He died in 1988, three years before the collapse of the Soviet Union." He must have seen the truth," says Thompson, "because he drank himself to death."
Ironically, Philby's greatest victory for the Soviets came with his exposure. No two powers had ever shared more intelligence than Britain and America during and after World War II. But after Philby, the CIA would never again confide in the British so completely. "Philby succeeded in sowing distrust," Andrew says. "And that was his aim."
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