Spy Capitalism: ITEK and the CIA [Hardcover]

Professor Jonathan E. Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

What happens when the world of venture capital collides with the world of espionage? To find the answer, Jonathan Lewis takes us inside the executive suite at Itek Corporation during the Cold War years from 1957 to 1965. Itek was manufacturing the world's most sophisticated satellite reconnaissance cameras, and the information these cameras provided about Soviet missiles and military activity was critical to US security. So was Itek. This work examines in detail the challenges Itek faced not only as a contractor for the most important national security programme of the time - the CIA's Project CORONA spy satellite - but also as a start-up company competing with established industrial giants. In telling the story of Itek Corporation, Lewis seeks to fill important gaps in the history of American intelligence, business history and management studies. In addition, he addresses a variety of themes such as the compatibility of secrecy and capitalism, the struggle between profits and patriotism, and the workings of power and connections in America. Lewis explores how Itek executives contended with myriad business problems that were compounded by the need to raise capital without revealing the complete truth about the company's highly secret business. He also presents information about Laurance Rockefeller's venture capital operations and his role in financing Itek, based on the financier's private Itek papers. The volume is both a case study of a company at the heart of the American intelligence-industrial complex during the Cold War and an examination of the impact of the CIA on the capitalist system it was created to defend.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Today we take for granted our ability to spy on our enemies from the heavens, but this capability is of relatively recent origin. As Lewis explains in his well-written story, Itek, the private company that actually developed our remarkable satellite reconnaissance camera technology back in the late 1950s, was born from a marriage between Laurance Rockefeller's willingness to gamble on the success of a small high-tech company and the security needs of the U.S. government at the height of the Cold War. Lewis delves deeply into the life of this small company, which eventually employed an army of scientists and technicians to secretly manufacture the camera for America's first spy satellite program, Project CORONA. With data from CORONA, we could clearly see the installation of the Cuban missiles. This volume nicely complements the recent Eye in the Sky: The Story of the CORONA Spy Satellites, edited by Dwayne A. Day and others, and Richard Bissell's 1996 memoir (written with Lewis), Reflections of a Cold Warrior. Lewis's well-crafted study is a worthy addition to the growing Cold War literature and should be considered for most collections. Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

Lewis’s well-crafted study is a worthy addition to the growing Cold War literature. -- Library Journal

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; First edition (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300091923
• ISBN-13: 978-0300091922
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Valuable Contribution, December 22, 2003

By A Customer

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This review is from: Spy Capitalism: ITEK and the CIA (Hardcover)

Spy Capitalism is a valuable contribution for those of us who follow the history of technology and the development of overhead photo reconnaissance, as well as to the history of the Corona project. Until now, the cameras on Corona were described as designed by Itek, with no details about the company or its relationship to the CIA. This book fleshes out that company's very colorful history and its relationship with the intelligence communnity.

While the book fills an important gap in history, it does read at times like a Harvard Business School case study. The author sketches an intriguing outline of Richard Leghorn the founder of Itek, but never quite makes the leap to nailing his personality or his weaknesses - that of a visionary entrepreneur in a venture backed startup who was a terrible operating executive - other than just describing them in a narrative. Given 40 years of entrepreneurial hindsight, setting Richard Leghorn in the context of other entrepreneurs and their failure modes would have been helpful.

Minor quibbles aside, all in all, a very worthwhile book for those interested in an important part of overhead photo reconnaissance history.

4.0 out of 5 stars American ingenuity at its best., February 25, 2010

By 

Mark in Idaho (Meridian, ID United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Spy Capitalism: ITEK and the CIA (Hardcover)

The story of ITEK and the Corona Project is a classic story of American ingenuity. The distractions of the executives fortunately did not prevent the Corona Program from achieving vast amounts of photographic information of the Soviet Union and other potential enemies of the USA.

Its only short coming is the lack of description of the many engineers who worked tirelessly to fulfill the needs of the Corona project. I now have a much better picture of the work my father and his friends did that they could never talk about.

A great read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, June 10, 2009

By 

Harry J. Wyant (Walworth, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Spy Capitalism: ITEK and the CIA (Hardcover)

Very interesting and intriguing. I personally worked for Itek Corporation since 1964 until the were sold to AB Dick Comapnay. I was amazed at the poeplwho started the company as was unaware I had the priviledge to dring with and former CIA agent and never knew it. That wa sin 1971.

Itek and AB Dick were my whole life so the book was very interesting for me.