No Backup: My Life as a Female FBI Special Agent [Paperback]

Rosemary Dew (Author), Pat Pape (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 21, 2004

In her thirteen years as special agent for the FBI, Rosemary Dew worked undercover against criminals, spies, and terrorists, earning eight commendations for her service. Despite her achievements, for her entire tenure she remained the subject of severe discrimination and even sexual harassment that the bureau seemed to condone rather than condemn. In elegant and deeply felt prose, Dew argues that this climate of corruption and duplicity not only taints the experience of the FBI's few female agents but also leads directly to some of the bureau's most harmful failures, such as the remarkable intelligence breakdown that allowed spy Robert Hanssen to operate undetected for more than two decades. Narrated by one of the most successful— and one of the only—women in the bureau's history, No Backup is a startling look at the destructive and discriminatory culture that dominates one of America's most powerful agencies, as well as an impassioned plea to an organization that must reform itself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dew, who worked for the FBI from 1977 to 1990 in positions of increasing responsibility, delivers, with the assistance of writer and reporter Pape, a gripping expos‚ of the entrenched discrimination against women agents that is rampant throughout the bureau. During her initial training at the FBI Academy in Virginia, she and other women trainees were berated by instructors and subjected to inappropriate sexual overtures from some male classmates. Early in her career she was advised to avoid the company of other female agents and to work only with all-male squads. Deprived of each other's company and support, women agents were routinely faced severe harassment that went unpunished. In 1987, Dew was appointed to the position of squad supervisor of the Denver field division counterterrorism squad, where, despite her reputation for excellent job performance, a case supervisor consistently undermined her authority. She further charges that the FBI has poor internal communication and cooperation with other agencies, which may have contributed to its lack of prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks and also to the mishandling of other cases. Although Dew's story is engaging, the insertion of the details of her personal life (she had two abusive marriages before a satisfactory third) feels forced and unnecessary.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Dew served for almost 13 years as a special agent in the FBI, 3 of them as a field supervisor. She describes how she was treated with disdain because she is a woman and how in her first mission--a case of extortion--she was not provided with backup. She writes that J. Edgar Hoover's compulsive need to appear perfect in the eyes of the public led to the edict that making a mistake was not an option and that there is an unwritten code of conduct that the bureau will make a whistle-blower's career "a living hell." Dew alleges that the FBI has had internal communication failures, cover-ups, and botched cases, pointing to Robert Hanssen, the spy who operated undetected for 20 years. She suffered sexual harassment and was denied privileges given to male agents. Dew believes that the FBI should concentrate less on the bureau family euphemism and more on building and sustaining a professional work environment. This is an important book. The FBI should pay attention to what she's trying to tell it. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (December 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786714913
• ISBN-13: 978-0786714919
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,294,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Backup: A female Agent's Life in the FBI, January 1, 2004

By 

Dr. Peter Kassebaum (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Backup: A Female Agent's Life in the FBI (Hardcover)

No Backup: A Female Agent's Life
in the FBI©
by
Rosemary N. Dew and Pat Pape

A fascinating read which combines the personal experiences of Special Agent Rosemary Dew who spent thirteen years with the FBI. She was in a unique position to gain insight and has produced a detailed analysis of the culture of the FBI and has delved into the reasons behind some of it's more infamous failures. The overall thrust of the book suggests that the FBI's problems reside within the culture of the organization. Rosemary Dew contends that the FBI will continue to be plagued by embarassing episodes,e.g., the mole in its counter intelligence section who was able to escape detection for decades. Approximately half of the book covers one embarassing episode after another which calls into question the ability of the FBI to learn from its own mistakes. In the world described by the author...the agents who warned of suspicious events before 9-11 might have been taken more seriously if they had been working out of a higher status office like New York City. The book is not just a critical analysis of the Bureau but cites specific episodes from the author's life as an agent. She uses these illustrations as a backdrop to suggest why many of the recent problems within the Bureau are the result of long standing practices and norms where the preservation of one's own job within the organization takes priority and common sense seems to be in rather short supply. She describes in painful detail... blatant examples of racism, sexism and harassment which would not be tolerated in modern law enforcement agencies. The FBI is portrayed as a bureacracy which has lost its moral compass while at the same time trying to occupy a higher moral position through a masterful public relations campaign. Rosemary Dew has gone to great lengths to open up her own life and will probably take some heat from those who are sure that the Bureau can do `No' wrong. Definitely, worth the read but disturbing. There have been other books which have exposed the FBI but this one is unique.

Dr. Peter Kassebaum

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing and sad..., July 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: No Backup: A Female Agent's Life in the FBI (Hardcover)

A well-written insider's expose of the immature, "locker-room" mentality that has existed far too long without accountability in what is supposed to be the nation's premier law enforcement and domestic intelligence organization. Dew's first-hand account of her 13 years of enduring illegal, unconscionable treatment from subordinates, peers and superiors saddens me.
The country and those women and minorities who suffered this treatment deserved - and deserve - better from the FBI. We can only hope that this book is read and taken to heart by a new generation of leaders at the FBI.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening and insightful, June 30, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: No Backup: A Female Agent's Life in the FBI (Hardcover)

Readers' reactions to this book will be influenced by their expectations. It's not a book about shoot-em-ups and cloak-and-dagger. For me, it's a book about how the FBI institution and individual FBI agents influence each other, and the results. The author argues that the negative behavior and negative attitudes that she experienced in her small part of the FBI world are the same behavior and attitudes that led to major consequences for the entire FBI and the country. I give the book five stars for this insight alone.

Throughout the book, the author reminds the reader of the many outstanding agents she worked with and the outstanding work that the FBI accomplishes. This is not emphasized, because this is not what the book is about. Rather, it's an attempt to analyze what's wrong with the FBI, and how to fix it.