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The Shadow Factory: The NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America Paperback – July 14, 2009

by James Bamford (Author)

143 customer reviews

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James Bamford has been the preeminent expert on the National Security Agency since his reporting revealed the agency’s existence in the 1980s. Now Bamford describes the transformation of the NSA since 9/11, as the agency increasingly turns its high-tech ears on the American public.

The Shadow Factory reconstructs how the NSA missed a chance to thwart the 9/11 hijackers and details how this mistake has led to a heightening of domestic surveillance. In disturbing detail, Bamford describes exactly how every American’s data is being mined and what is being done with it. Any reader who thinks America’s liberties are being protected by Congress will be shocked and appalled at what is revealed here.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

A Washington Post Notable Book

“Important and disturbing. . . . This revealing and provocative book is necessary reading . . . Bamford goes where the 9/11 Commission did not fully go.”
—Senator Bob Kerrey, The Washington Post Book World

“Fascinating. . . . Bamford has distilled a troubling chapter in American history.”
—Bloomberg News

“At its core and at its best, Bamford’s book is a schematic diagram tracing the obsessions and excesses of the Bush administration after 9/11. . . . There have been glimpses inside the NSA before, but until now no one has published a comprehensive and detailed report on the agency. . . . Bamford has emerged with everything except the combination to the director’s safe.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Engaging. . . . Chilling. . . . Bamford is able to link disparate facts and paint a picture of utter, compounded failure—failure to find the NSA’s terrorist targets and failure to protect American citizens’ communications from becoming tangled in a dragnet.”
—The San Francisco Chronicle

“The bad news in Bamford’s fascinating new study of the NSA is that Big Brother really is watching. The worse news . . . is that Big Brother often listens in on the wrong people and sometimes fails to recognize critical information. . . . Bamford convincingly argues that the agency . . . broke the law and spied on Americans and nearly got away with it.”
—The Baltimore Sun

About the Author

James Bamford is the author of Body of Secrets, The Puzzle Palace, and A Pretext for War, and has written on national security for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. His Rolling Stone article “The Man Who Sold the War” won the 2006 National Magazine Award for reporting. Formerly the Washington investigative producer for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and a distinguished visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Bamford lives in Washington, D.C.

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Product details

Paperback: 395 pages
Publisher: Anchor (July 14, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307279391
ISBN-13: 978-0307279392
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 143 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #347 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Intelligence & Espionage
- #427 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Civil Rights & Liberties
- #464 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > United States > National

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Top customer reviews

Surveillance the American Way

ByRandyon June 11, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Writing this review, the timing is about a week after Edward Snowden told our country about PRISM. This book is an in depth look at the National Security Agency. It gives you idea about the breadth of our country's various ways our government has used surveillance on Americans and the world. It tells you about technology and how that has enabled the NSA to do it's job.

PRISM started in 2007 and it seems that Bamford is talking about that program. In a book of this length some information will pop-out and often the narrative will drag on. When an author wants to connect the dots as Bamford does, the story takes time. This is essential reading, I highly recommend this book.

For those who have kindles, the real page numbers are not available.

22 comments 11 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

first half was great, 2nd got a tad boring

Byjaxnavynukeon August 28, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Ok I loved the book overall, but it could all be true and I want to believe it all. Not that I believe anything the NSA says or any politician for that matter, if their lips are moving etc. Its just we have no real insight in real time ops, since everything is secret we have to trust what others tell us, but then how can they really tell us and not be in jail?

good read and scary stuff, but I always knew the gov wanted to know everything about everyone if they could find a way to do it, that was semi legal. They never do anything directly that can jail folks, that is WHy they use sub contractors. CIA is been doing for ever.

its a good wake up call for the naive.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

God Bless the NSA!!!

ByBruce Kromon August 26, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a very intriguing read that lets Mr.Bamford take the readers in to understand and appreciate how the NSA operates. Honestly the book can be a little dry at times but with the readers perseverance,you will acquire the knowledge you were searching for. I have alot of books on intelligence and different agencies but this book remains a classic gem. A must have. A+++

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

The book illuminates this spy agency's willingness to violate the privacy of American citizens merely on the off-chance that use

ByWilliam L. Bryanton September 2, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Generally a readable history of an intelligence agency that is little understood by most Americans. The book illuminates this spy agency's willingness to violate the privacy of American citizens merely on the off-chance that useful intelligence might be obtained. It sadly also demonstrates the recent total failure of Congress to oversee the agency's activities, which often are, at best, only quasi legal. Finally, the book explains that the agency is spending untold amounts of tax payer money to intercept an incredible volume of telecommunications which primarily results in the agency drowning in a sea of information that it cannot intelligibly process.. The final chapters of the book are the weakest, speculating on future NSA programs, but it does show that since 9-11, U.S. presidents and Congress have been ready and willing to give the agency a blank check to do pretty much whatever it chooses to do. If constitutional rights of U.S. citizens are violated in the process, that doesn't seem to worry anybody very much.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Freedom traded for security = neither (B. Franklin)

ByNolo Contendreon July 19, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Ben Franklin has been paraphrased in a number of ways, the essence of which is that those who would trade essential liberties for security deserve (and by implication are likely to achieve) neither freedom nor security.
Drumford's "The Shadow Factory" gives an alarming and comprehensive context to the disclosures recently made by Snowdon, the NSA contractor and former employee who leaked the NSA's internal documentation of its clearly unlawful wiretapping of American Citizens in violation of the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, commenced by George Bush and continued by Barrack Obama. FISA - this is scary - was passed precisely because the NSA had been illegally wiretapping Americans without warrants since the days of Harry Truman. Anyway, you get the point, it's all put into context.
This is a very good book, well researched, well organized and put together. The techno stuff is fascinating, even if you don't really grasp it; it's fairly general. It should SERIOUSLY bother anyone, regardless of where on the political spectrum they might fall. One must remember that the people working for the Gestapo, the Stasi and the KGB, along with the governments they worked for, all thought they were doing what was best for their country. The message is clear: if you want to retain your freedoms, then you (that is, the citizenry) better keep a sharp eye and short leash on those folks.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

This book will blow your mind

ByHoward D Lippinon March 26, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

If you're interested in surveillance in the US, you have to read this book! Clear and factual, we'll written, this book will blow your mind! The book begins with the intelligence failures that could have prevented 9/11.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Recommend for any US citizen - and esp. for Nerds who understand the deep technical stuff.

ByMartha R. Bolandon May 12, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Fascinating and scary at the same time. Some of the middle section on how the various countries etc intersect and who is allowed where was a bit more technical that I understood. However, I followed the gist of it and it was a minor part of the telling of the story. I'm sure those who work in the field (in depth) would understand that better.

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

This book is a good read if you are interested in knowing what big ...

ByTyson Smithon September 1, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book is a good read if you are interested in knowing what big brother has been doing behind your back. It's not just conspiracy theory anymore, the government really does listen to every word you say. The book is well written and deeply researched, the author obviously knows what he's talking about. Overall a good read, it'll make you think twice before you write your next e-mail.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Most recent customer reviews

Shadow Factory

A very good read, amazing what is going on, at the time of review the content is dated, but nevertheless its an eye-opener

Published 23 days ago by EC-764

Three Stars

Dry read.

Published 26 days ago by Justin Burns

Four Stars

good read

Published 1 month ago by Din

Well presented benefits and hazards of information seize and search by the government.

This book by Bamford is well organized and reads like a novel.

Published 2 months ago by John F. Herbster

nice

Quick delivery, nice item

Published 3 months ago by rsmoak

Three Stars

Arrived quickly and as described

Published 4 months ago by LE Curtin

Three Stars

Disappointed because I expected more cloak & dagger stuff. It was too filled with the technical side of things.

Published 5 months ago by Dogwood2

Five Stars

corrupt government

Published 5 months ago by Mark F

Technology is powerful

I never realized the extent of data gathering. Basically they are connected to every spigot of data flow in the entire world! I hope it prevents another 9/11 from ever happening.

Published 6 months ago by Michael Baronas

Five Stars

Great book on NSA

Published 6 months ago by James O.

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