449 of 476 people found the following review helpful:

Reviewer:

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews

There are four other stories within this excellent book, all dealing with infirm bureaucracies. At one level, the author's accounting of how the Directorate of Operations has declined under the last three leaders (as the author describes them: a recalled retiree, an analyst, and a "political" (pal)) is both clearly based on ground truth, and extremely troubling. The extraordinary detail on the decline and fall of the clandestine service is one that every voter should be thinking about, because it was the failure of the clandestine service, as well as the counterintelligence service (the Federal Bureau of Investigation) that allowed 9-11 to happen...at the same time, we must note that it was a policy failure to not have investigated similar incompetencies when a military barracks in Saudi Arabia, two Embassies, and a naval destroyer were attacked, and it was clearly known in open sources that bin Laden had declared war on America and had within America numerous Islamic clerics calling for the murder of Americans--all as documented in an excellent Public Broadcast Service documentary.

At a technical level, the author provides some really excellent real-world, real-war annecdotes about situations where clandestine reporting from trusted operations officers has not been accepted by their own superiors in the absence of technical confirmation (imagery or signals). As he says, in the middle of a major artillery battle and break-out of insurgent elements, screaming over the secure phone, "its the middle of night here". We've all known since at least the 1970's that the technical intelligence side of things has been crushing human sensibility, both operational and analytical, but this book really brings the problems into the public eye in a compelling and useful manner.

At another level, the author uses his own investigation for murder (he was completely cleared, it was a set-up) by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and at one point by the Secret Service, to shed new light on the complete break-down of internal security processes within the CIA. At its lowest point, he is pressured by DO management with a psychological evaluation to determine his fitness for duty--shades of Stalinism! I know this technique, of declaring officers unfit for duty based on psychological hatchet jobs, to be a common practice over the past two decades, and when Britt Snider was appointed Inspector General at CIA, I told him this was a "smoking gun" in the 7th floor closet. That it remains a practice today is grounds for evaluating the entire management culture at CIA.

There is a fourth story in the book, a truly interesting account of how big energy companies, their "ambassadors" serving as Presidential appointees within the National Security Council, and corrupt foreign elements, all come together. In this the spies are not central, so I leave it as a sidenote.

In my capacity as a reviewer of most intelligence-related books within these offerings, I want to make it clear to potential buyers of this book that the author is not alone. His is the best, most detailed, and most current accounting of the decrepit dysfunctionality of the clandestine service (as I put it in my own book's second edition), but I would refer the reader to two other books in particular: David Corn's "Blond Ghost: Ted Shackley and the CIA's Crusades"--its most memorable quote, on covert action in Laos, being "We spent a lot of money and got a lot of people killed, and we didn't get much for it."--and Evan Thomas' "The Very Best Men--Four Who Dared: The Early Years of the CIA"--its best quote: "Patriotic, decent, well-meaning, they were also uniquely unsuited to the grubby, necessarily devious world of intelligence." There are many other books, including twelve (12!) focused on reform and recommended by the Council on Intelligence.

The author is a brave man--he was brave on the fields of war and clandestinity, and he is braver still for having brought this story to the public. We owe him a hearing.


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167 of 196 people found the following review helpful:

Reviewer:

Dianne Foster "Di" (Arlington VA) - See all my reviews

Since I work for a Federal agency, I can certainly identify with some of the bureacratic struggles Mr. Baer experiences. However, there are ways to get things done, and Mr. Baer himself shows how he managed to do so on more than one occasion. First you have to give up the idea of rapid advancement. Bureacracies don't reward risk-taking. Baer skated on thin ice more than once because he made the decision that he had to live with his own conscience. His his final citation (awarded to him without his knowledge) says, "He repeatedly put himself in personal danger, working the hardest targets, in service to his country."

This is not poppycock. Plenty of career Feds take their jobs very seriously and love the country as much as Mr. Baer. Many have made sacrifices and been sacrificed, and not always for a good cause. Many like Baer have become whistle blowers. Unfortunately, whistle blowers are often seen as "bad" because they upset the status quo and force all of us to face reality. In a land where indulgence and fanasy entertainment rule, many people don't want to be reminded of that evil is real.

Many of our elected officials and appointees are narrowly focused on career advancement, shortsighted and care only about what happens during their watch, and can hardly contain themselves as they prepare for the next election, the next big job, the next salary increase. But don't throw the baby out with the bath water, there are good guys in Washington. Some of them are elected officials like John McCain and John Kerry. Some are appointed like Donald Rumsfield. Many are career civil servents like Mr. Baer.

Robert Baer's book reads like a John LeCarre thriller and I enjoyed it so much I had to slap myself in the face and say, you dummy, this is the real thing, THIS IS NOT FICTION. These guys really get killed--like Michael Spann. I hope the CIA uses the book as part of its recruitment package.

The sad fact is that the U.S. has been wounded over and over and failed to act to stop terrorism. When you add up all the insults and injuries as Baer has done the truth is overwhelming: the hostages, the murders and assainations, the capture and/or destruction of U.S. and other embassies, the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon, Black Hawk down, the military quarters in Yemen, the U.S.S. Cole, the airline crashes and hijackings, and hundreds of other incidents including the Sept. 11 disasters. Our so-called leaders have been asleep at the switch--too interested in partying and/or shagging an intern in the cloak room. Alcohol, drugs, and illicit sex are a problem in Washington DC.

But worst of all is sheer incompetance. As Baer puts it, each administration handed the problem along to the next without really addressing it--the not on my watch syndrome. Clinton seems to have been especially concerned with donations to his campaign war chest than to doing the job he was elected to do. Baer says the Bush Sr. and Reagan administrations could have done more too. Unfortunately, the latter was too concerned with the Cold War to notice the hot war. All of them were not up to the job--yet they were elected, some of them more than once. And don't think BIG OIL arrived with the current President Bush. One can trace the tracks of BIG OIL and big business back to JFK. Ike warned U.S. citizens of the miltary industrial complex--it's other name is oil.

Baer says we are at war, and the war will be difficult to win. The ignorant have already taken to the streets to protest. But what is the alternative? In 1971, I was thrown out of a military commisary for wearing pants--I know I would not survive a Muslim regime.

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