Customer Reviews

Secret Agencies: U.S. Intelligence in a Hostile World

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Loch Johnson has done an excellent job detailing the interplay between the CIA and the Congress in the post/last days of the Cold War era. He is able to draw on firsthand data and tackles some interesting topics, such as the ethics of what various "Secret Agencies" do. If you are well versed in the Intelligence Community arena you will find this a valuable reference. If you are new to the subject; this is not the book to start with. This is a book of facts and figures; none of life and vigor of the people, agencies or even the author is present. If Mr. Johnson added a bit more life to his facts and figures this would have been an excellent book. I took a class from Loch Johnson at the University of Georgia - his presentation and arguements are much more interesting in person.

Loch is the dean of the scholars competent to address intelligence matters, and his experience as a member of the professional staff of both the Church Committee in the 1970's and the Aspin/Brown Commission in the 1990's uniquely qualify him to discuss and evaluate U.S. intelligence. His chapters on the ethics of covert operations and on intelligence accountability set a standard for this aspect of the discussion. This is the only book I have seen that objectively and methodically discusses intelligence success and failures in relation to the Soviet Union, with a superb three-page listing decade by decade being provided on pages 180-182.

Even though this book was published over six years ago, the insights it provides for today are invaluable. Through it's detailed history of the changes in fashion and mission in the United States' intelligence agencies, we begin to understand why the human intelligence assets were not in place to predict September 11, why we are often surprised by events in North Korea, and the challenges faced in creating the Department of Homeland Security. Johnson gives an even-handed, largely non-political view of these issues. It is refreshing to read an account written by someone with no apparent axe to grind.

Copious insights into the secret world of spies written by the master expert on world intelligence.