For another, it was written with the help of his son Anatoli and two American writers, Jerrold and Leona Schecter, with Sudoplatov's contributions being a series of interviews, which the others turned into a book.
[5] John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr described the portrayal of atomic espionage by Sudoplatov as a mix of "faulty memories, Soviet intelligence agency disinformation, sloppy citations, misplaced trust in documents provided by unidentified sources under unexplained circumstances, and egregious lapses in logic and judgment.
The principal source of controversy that it engendered was its statement that a number of Western scientists, including Niels Bohr, Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi and others allegedly provided the Soviets with information regarding the Manhattan Project, which has been deeply disputed.
While a number of Soviet atomic spies are attested to have stolen information from the American Manhattan Project, they were largely not the ones named by Sudoplatov.
[10] The fact that so many people were involved in creating the text may have subtly changed the meaning of Sudoplatov's statements, which would be a problem when treating such a diffuse topic.
[citation needed] The "Atomic Spies" chapter of Special Tasks rehashed old historical controversies and claims, such as Oppenheimer being questioned in the 1950s for Communist leanings, on which to base its accusations.
However, the material on the atomic espionage is only a small part of the book, which also details many Soviet intelligence operations, mostly those with which Sudoplatov had personal involvement.
For the period after Sudoplatov's arrival in Moscow, it also discusses the political machinations, both inside the intelligence services and at the top of the Soviet government.