Chapter 8 Colonel Boris Bykov Summary and Analysis

"A 'sleeper apparatus' is an underground group whose most important duty is to do nothing at all. Its first function is to exist without detection. Any kind of action exposes a secret apparatus to the risks of detection" (Chapter 8, pg. 405). Chambers' sleeper apparatus with an Assistant Secretary of State and an assistant Secretary of the Treasury was an important apparatus. It was probably not the only apparatus in Washington D.C., but it was important.

Chambers meets Colonel Boris Bykov in 1956 in New York, and is told to call him Peter. He appears nervous about being in the United States. Chambers goes to Lieber's apartment and finds John Sherman (Don) there. They go out for a walk and talk about how Don got out of Russia after he called there following the Japanese network failure...