Customer Reviews

The Operators - Inside 14 Intelligence Company - The Army's Top Secret Elite

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Excellent book regarding details of selection, training and deployment. These undercover soldiers are without doubt amongst the best in the world. It is a heartening insight into how terrorists can be covertly identified, watched and subsequently dealt with.

For a group i have never heard of before this book, it was very detailed. With atleast half the book devoted to selection and training, it makes an interesting read.

This is an excellent book that looks at the extremely dangerous work of a previously unknown company in the British Army. What other reviewers fail to mention is that the UK was engaged in a bloody war with the terrorists of the IRA and UVF. The only way to know your enemy is to know how they think, act and carry out their actions (Read Sun Tzu for more on this). 14 Intelligence Company carried out their task with honor and professionalism, and if caught the members would have been murdered and gone unacknowledged by their own country.

This is the real thing not a James Bond novel.

The Operators by James Rennie provides a detailed insider's account of it was like to be a member of Britain's elite undercover military intelligence unit in Northern Ireland. Particular emphasis is placed on the author's account of his selection and training. As with any "authorized" account of a top secret intelligence operation, I have to question the agenda of the British Government officials who authorized the release of the information in this book. In recent years the British have been accused of having a "shoot to kill" policy in their encounters with terrorists. The author denies any knowledge of the existence of such an order. Mr. Rennie emphasizes the careful screening of all recruits for this unit, and the high moral standards of its' members. Mr. Rennie states repeatedly that everyone he knew in 14 Company would have refused to obey any "shoot to kill" order. The author also details the surreptitious surveillance of known terrorists in Northern Ireland. The author wishes the reader to believe that 14 Company has the "players" under constant surveillance, and therefore could have taken them out at any time if the "shoot to kill" order did exist. But if the "players" are under surveillance, how do they still manage to perpetrate terrorist attacks?

The interesting and exciting parts are the various training regimen and tests that the author goes through in the book. The troubling aspect is when you realize how easy it is for a supposed liberal democracy like England to utilize military troops in a plain-clothes spying (and killing?)role. If you are inclined to think that they are the "good" guys and would never abuse their power, I ask you how will we know? They operate in secrecy and they are not subject to enough oversight and review to make me comfortable. When reading the book ask yourself if you would like these people in your neighborhood, snooping,spying, and breaking and entering where they please. They see themselves as James Bonds. I think the Irish Catholics might view them differently.