Dense, factual, eye-opening account of the CIA from Truman to Bush43. The author reveals the CIA warts and all and leaves you to draw your own conclusions about past events. He bases his research on recently declassified information (some recently "re-classified") and interviews, with extensive notes at the end.
Although not very complimentary as another reviewer said, Weiner recognizes the importance of swift, accurate intelligence for the sake of national security. He outlines the history of the CIA's decision-making -- the hubris, the predominance of covert action over active intelligence (spying), the inability to self-examine when things go wrong, and just the nasty push and pull of politics between the Whitehouse and the Director of the CIA. Now that the CIA appears to be swallowed up by the Pentagon after the fiasco of Iraq's WMD's, (Weiner views this as a testament of the loss of faith in the CIA but not necessarily what's best for the CIA as an institution), he rather poignantly wonders if it might be too late for the CIA to rise again from the ashes of a legacy that has fallen far, far short of delivering its best work.
Although not very complimentary as another reviewer said, Weiner recognizes the importance of swift, accurate intelligence for the sake of national security. He outlines the history of the CIA's decision-making -- the hubris, the predominance of covert action over active intelligence (spying), the inability to self-examine when things go wrong, and just the nasty push and pull of politics between the Whitehouse and the Director of the CIA. Now that the CIA appears to be swallowed up by the Pentagon after the fiasco of Iraq's WMD's, (Weiner views this as a testament of the loss of faith in the CIA but not necessarily what's best for the CIA as an institution), he rather poignantly wonders if it might be too late for the CIA to rise again from the ashes of a legacy that has fallen far, far short of delivering its best work.
