The CIA's Black Ops: Covert Action, Foreign Policy, and Democracy [Hardcover]

John Jacob Nutter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1999

The vast array of CIA black "ops" (operations) has turned the agency into a policy maker dangerously independent of the government that created it. This is an unprecedented declassification of foreign exploits and domestic secrets.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 361 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573927422
• ISBN-13: 978-1573927420
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative, revealing, fascinating reading., March 5, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The CIA's Black Ops: Covert Action, Foreign Policy, and Democracy (Hardcover)

From covert acts against Hussein to secret Afghan missions and the overthrow of leaders and governments around the world, The CIA's Black Ops charts the CIA's secret operations and controversial plans, revealing a country fascinated by covert action and surveying how such operations have become a part of U.S. foreign policy. Essential for any surveying international politics.

26 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Covert Action Rehashed, May 31, 2000

By 

Ambassador David J. Fischer (San Francisco State University) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The CIA's Black Ops: Covert Action, Foreign Policy, and Democracy (Hardcover)

This is a disappointing review of covert activities by the CIA based largely on old sources. There's nothing new here, and one of the faults lies in Nutter's reliance on outdated sources.

The author is clearly no believer in the efficacy of covert action, but even here he fails to make a strong case why it should be rejected as a foreign policy instrument, concluding that as long as power politics reign, Presidents and leaders of the intelligence community will resort to what they see as a "third option" between diplomacy and the use of force.

The book is riddled with error beginning with crediting Gen Gehlen with covert action in the Baltics and the Ukraine under CIA control. It is, as a previous reviewer has noted, flawed by a lack of documentation. Nutter, for example, insinuates that the CIA was somehow involved in stealing Jimmy Carter's briefing books in preparation for the 1980 Presidential debates.

There is nothing here on a host of covert actions which have long been known to insiders, ranging from the hostage escape in Tehran to prominent agents of influence. Covert action should be a subject of serious study and debate, but this is a useful compendium of failures and abuses in the Cold War. It says little about how --- or whether --- covert action should be used to combat current anhd future threats.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even More Relevant Today, July 20, 2005

By 

Michael W. Currey - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The CIA's Black Ops: Covert Action, Foreign Policy, and Democracy (Hardcover)

John J. Nutter's The CIA's Black Ops traces the history of the use of covert operations by Cold War-era policymakers as a "third option," used in situations in which neither diplomacy nor overt military action were deemed desirable. A political scientist and not a historian, the author argues that covert operations were unavoidable (and, at times, necessary) during the Cold War and still are in the 21st century, and that policymakers' accountability is equally unavoidable.

Nutter uses mostly secondary sources, many of which were written by participants in the covert operations described, to craft his analysis in a lively, entertaining style. The target audience is the average, intelligent reader rather than the academic community, which presumably is already familiar with both the "spook" tales and the analysis.

This book has two significant, interrelated strengths that make it a must-read. First, the author's style makes the subject matter accessible to the lay reader, who, second, is able to apprehend the author's careful development of the paradoxes and dangers of using cloaked means to realize diplomatic ends in an open society. All too often in this day and age, the average citizen is willing to believe the government's official line and not reflect on the possibility that a very different truth actually exists beneath the thick layer of spin.

The CIA's Black Ops is a well-crafted cautionary tale and an enjoyable read that is even more relevant today, five years after its publication.