The compelling and true tale of one of the greatest CIA Operative the United States has ever had.
340067
Oliver North called Duane Clarridge the "real" James Bond. When you read Mr Clarridge's book, you will know why he said it. Mr. Clarridge tells the true to life career he had in the CIA from the time he was recruited into the Agency all the way through his larger than life career with them. This is not a book of fiction. He tells what he can without jeopardizing National Security in any way and is still known for his expertise in international affairs and politics. An amazing book. I highly recommend it.
4222425
Excellent.  Well written after careful and accurate research, extensive interviews and review of available written material.  Through the years the CIA has always had a handful of exceptional individuals whose dedication and uncommon courage, has brought singularly valuable intelligence to our nation's leaders. Robert Ames was one of these individuals.  There are others though their names may never be known outside CIA walls.  We can be thankful, and hopeful, that such dedicated individuals are out there today.
1227387
A fascinating, riveting, and compelling indictment of the Bush administration.  Its obsession with invading Iraq and its refusal to seriously address and deal with the al-Qaeda problem are brilliantly described by Richard A. Clarke - a terrorism expert and White House insider.  No one has more or better experience or credentials to write a book like this than does Clarke.  He speaks with authority and conviction; we ignore him (or scorn and ridicule him as the hatemongers on talk radio love to do) at our own peril.

He writes:

September 11 erased memories of the unique process whereby George Bush had been selected as President a few months earlier.  Now, as he stood with an arm around a New York fireman promising to get those who had destroyed the World Trade Center, he was every American's President.  His polls soared.  He had a unique opportunity to unite America, to bring the United States together with allies around the world to fight terrorism and hate, to eliminate al Qaeda, to eliminate our vulnerabilities, to strengthen important nations threatened by radicalism.  He did none of those things.  He invaded Iraq.

Our nation needed thoughtful leadership to deal with the underlying problems made evident on September 11.  Instead, America got unthinking reactions, ham-handed responses, and a rejection of analysis in favor of received wisdom.  It has left us less secure.  We will pay the price for a long time.
4223425
The extraordinary true story of a German official at the Foreign Minster during the Third Rich offering intelligence of high quality to the Americans is fantastic. The suspense is present up to the last pages. Kolbe's sacrifice is indescribable. If I knew the address of his next of kin I would feel honoured to write a few lines since they have paid a huge price as well. As always, decent loyal people as Kolbe paid the price while others have made a career out of it. Moreover, the intelligence given by the man who faced dangerous consequences was not fully accepted and used because of politics, ego wars, narrow mindness, stupidity of Generals. Many many people could have been saved. The book is a glimpse into the darkest and finest time in history and proves once more that moral principles and common decent sense may overcome terror and dictatorship. It is an inspiration and readers will have to search in their hearts about their own opinions, behaviour, values
1014102
This book is a rollercoaster ride; it has its ups and its downs.  Structured as a short (328 pages of text) joint biography, it focuses on the covert activities that were guided by the Dulles brothers in their roles as Secretary of State and as director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1950s.  The author brings to this task the writing skills of an experienced journalist.  The book is well written and highly readable.

John Foster and Allen Dulles were both intelligent, but differed in personality.  John Foster was hard working and serious.  Allen was more sociable and somewhat unscrupulous.  Both brothers became lawyers, and both joined Sullivan & Cromwell, a prominent New York law firm.  With the advent of the Second World War, Allen joined the Office of Strategic Services, and Foster became a political leader in the Republican Party.  When North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, Allen went to work as the deputy director of operations in the Central Intelligence Agency.  Foster was appointed adviser to the Secretary of State.

At about this point, I began to experience substantial doubt about the validity of many of the opinions asserted by the author.  Sullivan & Cromwell is repeatedly presented as a sinister entity, at odds with the best interests of the United States.  I know Sullivan & Cromwell.  It is a law firm  a good one.  It is comprised of exceptionally talented lawyers who work hard.  It is not the sinister entity pictured in this book.  The international threat of communist Russia is labeled illusory.  There was nothing illusory about the trumped up trial of Cardinal Josef Mindszenty in Hungary in the late 1940s.  His face stared out at you from every newspaper and every newsreel for several years.  It was our first brush with the techniques of brainwashing.  But Mindszenty is not even mentioned.  The movies Shane and High Noon are presented as reinforcing a cultural consensus that America was doing the right thing in its international efforts to ensure the triumph of justice.  There is no mention of Solzhenitsyn or the Gulag, or any other example of Soviet communist brutality.

The dust jacket states that the book asks why the United States behaves as it does in the world.  The book presents an interesting analysis of the way that the Dulles brothers responded to the efforts of third-world nations that were seeking independence from established colonial powers.  In particular, the author focuses on six third-world leaders that the Dulles brothers thought were monsters: Mossadegh, Arbenz, Ho Chi Minh, Sukarno, Lumumba, and Castro.  The covert activities of the CIA against each of these monsters are described in summary fashion.  The reasoning is subject to dispute, but the importance of the subject matter is obvious.

 This book is a good start for a review of the covert activities conducted by the CIA under the colors of the United States.
4802379
The Spy's Son is a riveting account that captivated me to the end. The author, a journalist, writes absolute non-fiction.  Everything has been rigorously fact checked yet the writing is bursting with intrigue and melancholy.  Having read the book, I feel as though I know and understand the characters.  Yet, much like life itself, some answers still elude us.  Why do people betray those who trust them the most?  A fabulous read.  Highly recommended.
2879277
I truly loved this book and have great admiration for its author who obviously lived much if not all of the story in his prior work life as a senior member of the CIA's Clandestine Service.  It's not often that I become so engrossed in a book that I can't hear a dinner bell or a reminder to turn off the lights.  But False Flag was so enthralling and suspenseful that I just couldn't put it down without a struggle.  My marriage remains in tact but not without some promises, one of which involves reading only one of Mr. Rustmann's books per year.  I just hope that he releases another spell binding tale within that time frame so that I can honor my pledge.
622006
Steven Coll has produced an authoritative masterpiece. Though I found the number of densely worded pages a little intimidating (588 pages of text, in addition to nearly a hundred pages of  notes/bibliography along with a copious and useful index, several maps and more), it was well worth the effort. I agreed with the numerous laudatory quotes from newspapers around the US that the book was "Objective and terrific... finest historical narrative so far on the origins of al Qaeda" (New York Times), "of the more than one hundred published books dealing with the September 11th attacks... none approach Mr Coll's work for clarity and insight into the [CIA] itself" (Seattle Times), and that "Coll's... access to senior officials of all the principal countries involved in Afghanistan is nothing short of astounding" (Toronto Globe and Mail).

Coll's narrative went from interesting to fascinating for me when he started writing about the involvement of Texas Congressional  Representative Charlie Wilson in procuring money for and drawing attention to CIA aid to Afghan mujahedin. Wilson abused his position to impress a series of beauty queens (with exciting names like Miss Sea and Ski and Miss Humble Oil) during tours the Afghan frontier. He also became an advocate for the mujahedin in Washington and channeled cash, mostly earmarked for fancy weapons systems, to the CIA's Afghan budget. Coll had other interesting comments about the CIA's relationship with Congressmen visiting Afghanistan including the rule passed on from the CIA to Mohammed Yousef - Pakastani Intelligence's Afghan point man from 1983 to 1987 - "Never use the terms sabotage or assassination when speaking with visiting congressman". In other words, with fighting for freedom, like making laws or sausages - it's best not to show outsiders the specifics on how things are done.

I was particularly outraged to read that the CIA had been dealing with aerial plots since at least as early as 1995. Early that year Filipino police uncovered a plot (reported to American investigators) to suicidally crash a plane into CIA headquarters. Later that year a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on terrorism was circulated to Clinton's cabinet. It speculated on future attacks and assessed that "civil aviation will figure prominently among possible terrorist targets in the United States". The Estimate also drew attention to the " domestic aviation security system [whose weaknesses have] been the focus of media attention".  This is especially maddening in light of Condoleeza Rice's comment on 17 May 2002, when she said that, "I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, that they would try to use an airplane as a missile - a hijacked airplane as a missile." Rice's words are absurd not just when viewed alongside the 1995 NIE but also in light of Tom Clancy's two bestselling books featuring the use of an airplane as a missile.

"The CIA's annual budget was a Pentagon rounding error", mentioned while explaining the need for the CIA to balance its relationship with and placate the Pentagon, "The CIA did not typically work inside the American legal system... CIA espionage and paramilitary operations overseas were conducted in secret and not subject to review by American courts... The CIA was created to prevent another Pearl Harbor." Well, maybe they succeeded on other occasions we never heard about.

This story does not put the FBI, the CIA, the Clinton administration or the Bush administration in a positive light. It shows lots of good intentions and many smart folks who saw at least part of what was coming but were marginalized or ignored. It doesn't seem as though enough has been done to keep something like this from hapenning again.
3950316
The book is a compelling biography of a man true to his covictions of a pacifist leading into WW II.  He is challenged by the Japanese naval air strike of Pearl Harbor.  He beomes convince there are some reasons to go to war and the Pearl Harbor attack qualifies.  He joins the U.S. Navy Chaplin Corps and survives the horrors of Iwo Jima.  It is at the island`s battlefield cemetary where he makes a most impassioned and famous eulogy speech.  A great read -- could not put it down.
4194662
This was a fascinating, true story about an American student and journalist who spent his whole adult life exploring and reporting on the inner workings of the Communist East, in it's cold war struggle with the West. Mr. Colitt even describes times when his curiosity about life behind the iron curtain and his investigations into the dark underbelly of the East German system, bring him a little too close for comfort with spies on both sides of what was, at the time, seen as the existential struggle between good and evil. As he tells about the, well-publicized, exchange of Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel, for Americans, U2-pilot Gary Frances Powers and an unknown Yale student (which could have been Mr. Colitt himself), it gave me an even better understanding of the background for the newest Steven Spielberg/ Tom Hanks film, about that famous spy exchange on a dark bridge outside Berlin in 1962. Very enjoyable, if you're interested in Berlin or the history of Europe during the cold war, etc. I couldn't stop reading ...
4466566
This is the true story of the Russian spy who, because of dissatisfaction with the Russian regime and resentment at being stalled in his career advancement, passed on massive amounts of critical information to the Western block, which hastened the end of the cold war. The intricate rules and workings of a spy system and the results of their manipulation, as well as the psychological effects on the spy, make for a fascinating read..
1429789
This well-written eyewitness account of our military's counterintelligence operations during the Cold War will stand as a classic.  Stuart Herrington was there and, as a former Intelligence officer myself, I can attest that  no one had greater respect or credibility in the counterintelligence world.  The only fault I find with this terrific book is that Herrington  understates his own indispensible--and often heroic--role in these actions.  While his humility is becoming, it limits the reader's knowledge of his  incalculable contributions.  But that is by the way--this book tells a  dramatic story that long needed to be told, and it tells it splendidly.  While I have written fiction about this shadowy world, no fictional tale  can equal the remarkable reality of what a handful of men did for our  country behind the curtains of the world stage.  As a fellow officer, I  admire Herrington; as a fellow author, I envy his skills and achievement.  I strongly--STRONGLY--recommend this fine book to all Americans interested  in how the Cold War was really waged.  Excellent!
4673790
This book was difficult to put down. CIA officer in Russia, and fly fishing, are some of his experiences related in this exciting book.
4052395
James is a very palpable leading man. His righteous code of ethics and coding genius set him in a unique position of power.  Contrast that with the wonderfully devilish plater of Claude and all of MI6, there is a real analytical approach and danger present in the story that feels all too plausible.  More than anything though, it's just a well written story. There is suficient background and internal dialog that you genuinely get a feeling toward the motivations of all the story's players.  A masterfully told tale. I look forward to the next chapter.
1328690
Excellent book!  As a former intel officer, I particularly appreciated this (relatively old - 1980) account of an IRGC officer's passage through the Iranian Revolution, the brutality of the theocratic regime and his realization he must work with CIA to destroy it.  His courage and his living a Dual Life in the Belly of the Beast make this man a true hero - someone to admire!  Sadly, this man may not see the "fall of the ayatollahs" in his lifetime - especially when the present US Administration does all it can to empower this evil, twisted regime and its worldwide sponsorship of terror - just so it can point to ONE foreign policy "success" in an ocean of Failure.  The Khamenei regime will get its nukes - and then the real fun will begin!
4867090
History, faith, and intrigue all meet at a crossroads in Ian Fairchilds Hunt for the Chosen. This compelling and credible story of military prowess combines the instability of todays world with the thought of prevention and change. Fairchild reminds me of an early Clancy with the page-turning ability of Patterson. Its a book you simply cannot put down, and its the perfect length to complete in a day or even weekend.

The battle between good and evil runs continuously throughout the story, which gives readers a personal tie to the story. The credibility of the military terminology and weaponry boosts Fairchilds reputation. This is an absolute must-read!
3438555
This is a fascinating window into the work of the highest level security professionals in the world.  Bremer's security was an incredible undertaking, eventually involving 60 mostly ex-Special Forces and ex-Marine contractors through the Blackwater corporation (important to note that this unit was not involved in any of the headline-making Blackwater activities).  Over the course of an extended one year mission Gallagher manages to accomplish his mission with the help of colorful characters.  The true expertise of this unit and the level of threat they faced make for a compelling read, as does the thoughtfulness Gallagher shows about the mission and the role of contractors in critical operations.