Customer Reviews

The Very Best Men: The Daring Early Years of the CIA

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

 

 

Given that this book was originally published in 1996, I'm assuming this particular edition was timed for the release of the Robert DeNiro's Hollywood epic "The Good Shepherd" (screenplay by Eric Roth - "Munich"), purporting to tell the "story of the origins of the CIA" through the eyes of Edwin Wilson (an amalgam of James Jesus Angleton and Richard Bissell).

DeNiro's attempt to cover several decades of U.S. covert operations and espionage left me wondering whether his project would have been better realized as, say, a documentary series on PBS television. In the end, I found myself more annoyed than anything else -- suffering through the dreary soap-opera of the protagonist's life and anxious to take in the occasional bits of history.

Whereas DeNiro attempts to blend history and fiction, a dramatic spy-caper spanning three decades interspersed with allusions to historical events,
Thomas covers the actual lives of four pioneers of the CIA: Frank Wisner, Richard Bissel, Tracy Barnes and Desmond Fitzgerald, deeply-principled men with strong convictions and goals (stemming the Communist tide) yet flawed and ultimately corruped in their realization.

Benefiting from extensive interviews, Thomas' book seeks to portray the CIA "as it saw itself". One can appreciated the fact that Thomas is both respectful of the purpose and intent of the CIA (never seeking to dismiss or minimize the very real concerns over the Communist threat) and yet writing with a critical eye towards the moral quandaries of their profession. As Thomas concludes: "In the end, they were too idealistic and too honorable, and were unsuited for the dark and duplicitious life of spying. Their hubris and naivete led them astray, producing both sensational coups and spectacular blunders").

Evan Thomas's written history succeeds precisely where DeNiro's cinematic attempt fails -- in achieving a critical social history of the CIA without the taint of propaganda, a faithful account that is at once historical AND engrossing.

It's important to have ideals, but it's also important to be pragmatic. Some of the greatest problems come from people who cling to pie-in-the-sky notions, even when reality dictates a different approach. From a psychological standpoint, however, facing this reality can be crushing. This is reaffirmed as one of the lessons of Evan Thomas's early history of the CIA, The Very Best Men.

To a large extent, the four principal figures of Thomas's book are all idealists, out to create a better world by containing the evils of the Soviet Union. Of the four, Frank Wisner dominates the early part of the book, as he laid the foundation for the post-World War II intelligence agency that would become the CIA. Wisner would eventually be overcome by his own demons and Richard Bissell would take his place. Also important, but to a lesser degree, were Tracy Barnes and Desmond Fitzgerald.

Thomas makes the distinction between the two types of operations the CIA would be involved in. The first sort involved espionage, the secret gathering of information. The second sort (often in conflict with the first) involved trying to effect political outcomes, often through covert operations. Both types would have their victories in the 1950s, leading to a hubris that would hurt the CIA in later years. For example, the successes in creating coups in Iran and Guatemala would lead to the belief that other governments could be as easily overthrown, resulting in the fiasco of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Similarly, the U2 spy plane would provide some great intelligence but also embarrassment when the Soviets shot it down. These attempts to win the Cold War often made it worse.

Beyond the wins and losses for the agency, Thomas also delves into the human toll, as his four "heroes" pay a price for their efforts. At best, they would be burned out, but there would also be damaged reputations (Bissell had a leading role in Bay of Pigs) and physical and mental effects. The CIA would go on, of course, and suffer perhaps greater damage in its faulty intelligence on WMDs in Iraq. To many, this would be even a greater crime than the Bay of Pigs: the seeming cherry-picking of information to suit the goals of a particular administration, with all the resulting costs.

The Very Best Men is a reminder that even in the seemingly simpler time of the Cold War, things weren't really that simple. It also reminds the reader that the CIA is not a bunch of James Bonds and Jason Bournes, but a bureaucracy with all the attendant issues. Thomas has done a good job of bringing one part of our Cold War history to life.

I was expecting much more after reading the Six wise man that Evan Thomas co-authored.