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The Quest for Absolute Security: The Failed Relations Among U.S. Intelligence Agencies

by Athan Theoharis (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 2 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-1566636971
ISBN-10: 1566636973
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Ivan R. Dee (October 26, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1566636973
  • ISBN-13: 978-1566636971
  • Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,396,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 starsMission Impossible
By Retired Reader on January 28, 2008
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
The unremarkable conclusion of this book is that the U.S. can never achieve a state of absolute security regardless of how much legal (and illegal) power is granted to the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) and its associate the FBI. According to the author, the perceived failure of the IC-FBI to identify the threat and prevent the tragedy of 9/11 has as much to do with systemic problems common to both as a lack of cooperation between agencies or a lack of information. As noted towards the end of the book, "Administrative reforms and centralization offer no solution to this intractable problem of intelligence analysis: the secrecy inherent in intelligence operations virtually ensure such errors in judgment and accountability."

This book also provides a pretty good overview of the development of the U.S. national security apparatus, especially in response to the repeated crises of the 20th Century. It also provides an excellent discussion of how the FBI since WWI has engaged in ill-legal activities such as break-ins and wire taps in the name of national security and often at the personal requests of U.S. Presidents. In the post WWII period the quest for greater national security against the Soviet threat led to the creation of a much more formal national security apparatus of which CIA was given primacy.

The original intention was to create CIA as a center for the analysis of all source intelligence to provide forewarning of threats to national security. But, as shown in this book, President Truman who sponsored its creation, almost immediately began to use CIA to carry out covert operations in support of the "Truman Doctrine", the predecessor of the "Containment Doctrine" which informed U.S. geopolitical thinking throughout the Cold War.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAny military or American history collections at the college level needs this astute analysis of disasters in the making.
By Midwest Book Review on December 2, 2007
Format: Hardcover
Investigators who studied 9/11 faulted U.S. intelligence for not uncovering the terrorists' plans, but such absolute security, says historian Athan Theoharis, is an illusion certain to lead to disappointment and disaster. THE QUEST FOR ABSOLUTE SECURITY: THE FAILED RELATIONS AMONG U.S. INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES analyzes some of the sources of problems in American intelligence agencies and considers how such problems evolved. Any military or American history collections at the college level needs this astute analysis of disasters in the making.
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