Customer Reviews

The Origins of FBI Counterintelligence (Modern War Studies)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fine volume that offers a timely appraisal of how one of the nation's oldest and most revered law enforcement organizations restructured itself to execute the counterintelligence mission that became so critical as the world careened toward war in the 1930s. In the process Herbert Hoover took the opportunity to greatly expand the scope and power of the FBI to undertake surveillance across a much broader front than ever before. The author, Raymond J. Batvinis, does much to show how the FBI transformed itself, played politics, and became a publicly revered entity through its emphasis on counterintelligence.

Raymond Batvinis also does a fine job of exploring the bureaucratic battles within the government--especially between the FBI and the State Department--over who performed the mission and how it would be executed. The combination of the FBI's criminal investigation skills coupled with new techniques and objectives--for example wiretapping and domestic surveillance--presages some the debates and abuses of the post-9/11 era. In this regard "The Origins of FBI Counter-Intelligence" is highly instructive.

While an excellent book in overall, I was taken by the lack of depth in discussing the beginnings of the dispute between J. Edgar Hoover and General William Donovan of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA, over jurisdictional issues involving counterintelligence from the onset of World War II. This is why I gave it a four instead of a five star review. Nonetheless, this is a very fine study of an important topic.

This book is a fast, easy read with lots of details and facts about the early history of FBI. It is a must read for students of the pre-WW II era. Batvinis has done some supurb primary reasearch, even gong back to FDR's personal files to see what he said about the threats against our country. I just retired from the FBI after 30 years and I didn't know half the stuff in this book.

The Marylanders: Without Shelter or a Crumb I strongly recommend this book. Dr. Batvinis has thoroughly researched the topic of our government's efforts prior to World War Two to create a system to counteract Axis and Soviet espionage. His historical research and conclusions are very relevant to the current issues we now face in our post 9/11 world. The issue of Constitutional law versus our need for national security is explored through the author's thorough examination of the decision making process between government appointed and elected officials.

This book is a wealth of declassified information on the pre-WWII FBI and their efforts to keep America safe from Axis spies bent on causing chaos on the homefront. As a retired Special Agent in counterintelligence Batvinis' knowledge and a storyteller's skill, provides a rich historical narrative that has some eye-opening information. An interesting part of the narrative is how Hoover fought fiercely over the control of counterintelligence, and tells how the agency combined its crime-fighting expertise with its new wiretapping authority to spy on foreign agents. People opposed to the FBI's current war on terror should read this book and imagine what if the FBI was not as proactive. Where would we be today?