Chatter: Dispatches from the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "YOU CANNOT HELP but note the juxtaposition..." (more)
Key Phrases: interception system, interception capabilities, communications interception, United States, Menwith Hill, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The secret global information network that has come together under the umbrella name "Echelon" is detailed here by Yale Law student Keefe. While Great Britain led the way in the mid-'70s, Keefe marks the U.S., Kenya, Pakistan, Singapore and many others as current participants, taking satellite pictures from 10 miles up, sending submarines to hover silently and aiming portable laser devices to pick up conversations inside rooms. All the technologies are impressive, but the burgeoning mountain of data they produce, Keefe argues, does not always prove useful. Likewise, he illustrates how compact electronics can give the opposition a large ability to deceive the Echelon network, and/or to modify their behavior when they detect that they are under surveillance. Ultimately, Keefe makes a case that electronics have not solved the ancient dilemma of deciphering the enemy's intentions (what he is actually planning) from his capabilities (all the things he could choose to do). To prove his point, Keefe cites the mass of rumor and innuendo that failed to give specific warning of the attack on the U.S.S. Cole as well as Colin Powell's U.N. proclamation that Iraq possessed nerve gas. And, Keefe says, ordinary citizens pay a substantial cost in presumed privacy, as well as in potential for abuses of confidential data. Intelligent and polemical, Keefe's study is sure to spark some political chatter of its own. Agent, Tina Bennett at Janklow & Nesbitt. (On sale Feb. 15)
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From The New Yorker

"Secrecy is a maverick element," Keefe writes, in this critical analysis of American intelligence-gathering. His book examines the history of America's spy programs and those of its allies and—using little investigation and no classified sources—unveils much of the inner workings of the National Security Agency (a hundred satellites, thirty thousand eavesdroppers, a six-billion-dollar budget). Keefe also worries about the self-defeating effects of keeping so much from the public: secrecy might be essential to the success of spy missions, but it can also conceal privacy violations, abuses of power, and, perhaps worst of all, operational failure. Keefe writes with frustration that, facing allegations of malfeasance or incompetence, the N.S.A. or the C.I.A. will simply stonewall. "Trust us," the agency will say. "We can't tell you why you should trust us. But trust us."
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Random House; First Edition edition (February 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400060346
• ISBN-13: 978-1400060344
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #71,001 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A page-turner...and Spooky, March 14, 2005

By	jddavis (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

The author takes pretty complex issues,like how U.S. intelligence eavesdrops on phone calls and emails, and presents them in a fast-paced and easy to understand way. Reading the book you realize that anyone can listen to anyone these days and privacy is disappearing very quickly. Most of the book is actually about how you go about writing about somethnig that is so secret that there is no accountability to congress, not to mention the press. But what makes it a good read is that you experience that process along with the author, the frustration of trying to figure out just how much surveillance our government does and how good at it they are. For those who don't know a lot about how the U.S. listens in, this book will probably freak you out, and it might make you angry as well. Either way, you won't put it down.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Entertaining, March 24, 2005

By	William J. Vidal "William" (Guaynabo, PR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Its written more like spy novel, yet it still deals honestly with the very important issues of our intelligence network. I think the author is dead on when he talks about our need for more human intelligence. He does this with numerous anecdotes, which are both interesting and very entertaining. Overall, the presentation is very well balanced without the polemic we so often hear coming out of most contemporary writers. Entertaining and a must read for anyone interested in our national defense

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unnerving, entertaining, and prescient., February 19, 2006

By	P. Willson (United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Good place to get started on communications intelligence -- especially in light of the Bush Admin domestic eavesdropping flap -- that makes Keefe look prescient.

The book is written in entertaining, digestible yet intelligent style, only infrequently forced or self-indulgent. His discussion of the TIA program is hysterical -- and chilling. I didn't mind the self-report/travelogue aspect since part of his purpose is to characterize various sources and 'names' in the field and show how geographically broad it is. That in turn is part of his larger goal: "Just how much of this is paranoid, and how much is reality?" He illustrates that issue and the trouble finding balance by his variably successful efforts to meet people or get information from them. (He comes off sounding like a bemused boy scout at times as he careens among disaffected spies, muck-raking journalists, conspiracy theorists, and the occasional helpful 'grown-up.')

I would have liked more on the emerging technical aspects of Comint, but as Keefe repeatedly cautions, whatever 'they' (officialdom) will let you know about their real capabilities is already ten years out of date; what you can dig up on your own is probably wildly exaggerated -- but you can't be sure. Whenever he gets close to 'state of the art' reporting, his sources worry about exposing their potential profit-margin as much as breaching security. But that's his next book, perhaps. (He also gives the impression he worried about being responsible with what he revealed.)

Recommended -- a readable book that will make you say, 'Yikes!' a couple times a chapter.