True Men and Traitors: My Life in the CIA [Hardcover]

David W. Doyle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2001

THE OFFICERS OF THE CLANDESTINE SERVICES (CS) of the CIA ARE CALLED UPON TO DO SOME OF THE MOST DANGEROUS WORK IN THE WORLD.

"They enter hostile buildings and go down into foul, black sewers in the dead of night to bug the enemy. They do business with Communists and other autocrats, with terrorists and crooks, to seek the truth and try to undo evil. They work endless hours to live their cover as well as to perform their primary duty. They face the fear of exposure and/or death. They are on duty twenty-four hours a day, all year, for their entire career. All of that and more, but since the work is secret there is no chance of renown or gratitude from the public.

"When you?ve finished this book (unless you are now or have been an espionage professional), you will have learned quite a lot about life inside what is often called the second oldest profession. This memoir is a worm?s-eye view of spying in war and peace: of what day-to-day espionage was like for some of us during the Second World War and in the depths of the Cold War that followed it." ?from True Men and Traitors

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a positive, constructive, interesting book, easy to read, a straightforward account that is a credit to the author... Highly recommended. "(Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), Weekly Intelligence Notes)

"Best are Doyle's anecdotes of his owwn espionage work in the Far East, the Belgian Congo, Burundi, Senegal, and Brussels. His tales of disguises and agent meetings are hilarious, as are his stories of audio operations (bugging foreign embassies)."(The Retired Officer Magazine, June 2002)

From the Inside Flap

In this engrossing memoir, former high-level CIA agent David W. Doyle helps lift the veil that has kept the Agency’s inner workings hidden from the public. Sharing his many adventures–and misadventures–Doyle reveals in great detail how the CIA operates, in war and in peace, whether recruiting agents, employing trade craft, or trying to extricate itself from some major snafu.

Doyle was with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II, directly engaging the Nazi war machine in occupied Europe. He later joined the elite Clandestine Services (CS) of the CIA, whose officers are called upon to do some of the most dangerous work in the world. With the CS, he served as a spymaster in the Far East, Congo, Burundi, Senegal, and finally the plum Soviet Bloc Division. He was the CIA’s base chief in the Congo when Premier Patrice Lumumba was assassinated, and now, for the first time, we learn exactly what happened there–and who the real murderers were.

Uncommonly informative and unflinchingly straightforward, this rare chronicle of an intriguing career also includes a powerful section on CIA traitors such as Aldrich H. Ames and Harold James Nicholson, which gives new perspective on the far-reaching damage betrayal causes. In addition, Doyle provides a cogent argument for the necessity of state espionage in today’s unpredictable, increasingly dangerous world–and, in effect, answers the frequent question: Why spy?

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (May 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471416088
• ISBN-13: 978-0471416081
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,684,421 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pick another book, August 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: True Men and Traitors: My Life in the CIA (Hardcover)

This was a very disappointing book. The author may have been a fine CIA Operative, but an interesting author he is not. He was not into sharing much detail of "spook" type work. This was more a descriptive political analysis of the countries in which he was assigned and a moralistic soapbox against those agents (rightfully so) that turned into traitors. The book itself was almost void of any specific operations and their analysis.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating, Realistic Account of Life in the CIA, November 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: True Men and Traitors: My Life in the CIA (Hardcover)

This is a factual, no nonsense account of what it is really like to work for the CIA. There are no embellishments, no twisting of the truth for entertainment value. This is a true story of one of the "true men", who lived by the rules and who has a rich inventory of experiences from which to draw. This is a perceptive recounting of a life well-lived and the policies and actions - both good and bad - which have shaped our nation's premier intelligence agency.