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John Prados

The Family Jewels: The CIA, Secrecy, and Presidential Power (Discovering America) Hardcover – September 15, 2013

by John Prados (Author)

13 ratings

Book 7 of 9: Discovering America

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In December 1974, a front-page story in the New York Times revealed the explosive details of illegal domestic spying by the Central Intelligence Agency. This included political surveillance, eavesdropping, detention, and interrogation. The revelation of illegal activities over many years shocked the American public and led to investigations of the CIA by a presidential commission and committees in both houses of Congress, which found evidence of more abuse, even CIA plans for assassinations. Investigators and the public soon discovered that the CIA abuses were described in a top-secret document agency insiders dubbed the “Family Jewels.” That document became ground zero for a political firestorm that lasted more than a year. The “Family Jewels” debacle ultimately brought about greater congressional oversight of the CIA, but excesses such as those uncovered in the 1970s continue to come to light. The Family Jewels probes the deepest secrets of the CIA and its attempts to avoid scrutiny. John Prados recounts the secret operations that constituted “Jewels” and investigators’ pursuit of the truth, plus the strenuous efforts—by the agency, the executive branch, and even presidents—to evade accountability. Prados reveals how Vice President Richard Cheney played a leading role in intelligence abuses and demonstrates that every type of “Jewel” has been replicated since, especially during the post-9/11 war on terror. The Family Jewels masterfully illuminates why these abuses are endemic to spying, shows that proper relationships are vital to control of intelligence, and advocates a system for handling “Family Jewels” crises in a democratic society.

Print length

400 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Texas Press
Publication date

September 15, 2013
Dimensions

5.5 x 1.38 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0292737629
ISBN-13

978-0292737624
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A scholarly book about the dirty operations of the American government that feels like it has been ripped from the headlines…The book is part of the publisher's Discovering America series, which is based on the premise that much of the American experience remains to be told by historians and cultural critics with fresh takes on events and individuals seemingly well-known but often masked…Prados takes readers inside not only the CIA in an attempt to plumb the thinking behind the questionable secretive operations, but also the White House, the halls of Congress and newsrooms. As a result, he casts light on shadowy cultures that often undermine democracy. An impressive research effort showing how, when it comes to current political affairs, the past is almost always prologue." (Kirkus Reviews 2013-07-15)

"Prados writes with obvious passion, and his topic couldn't be more important or timely." (Library Journal)

"The Family Jewelsis a nice complement to any general academic or law school library’s national security collection, and can serve as inspiration for larger research projects" (Law Library Journal 2014-06-14)

About the Author

John Prados is a senior fellow of the National Security Archive in Washington, DC, where he helps bring newly declassified government records to public attention. He is the award-winning author of twenty-one books, including Islands of Destiny: The Solomons Campaign and the Eclipse of the Rising Sun. He also lectures widely on security, freedom of information, and other issues; analyzes combat processes; serves as a historical adviser to filmmakers; and designs strategy board games, including the well-known Third Reich and other award-winning titles.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Texas Press (September 15, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0292737629
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0292737624
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.69 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.38 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #831,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #825 in Espionage True Accounts
- #1,776 in Political Intelligence
- #41,978 in United States History (Books)

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Charles A. Krohn

Caught between 1 and 5 stars

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2013

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The many polemical asides detract from the message of this book, often valuable and insightful. The effort to assemble the data available must have been astounding; it's too bad the author doesn't acknowledge and explain this. I don't see Prados as a humble author, but surely a very competent one. Just a bit too preachy.

The book did lead me to look at National Security Archive website, where I will later examine some of its provocative postings. Prados works for the Archives as a senior fellow. While off the point of this review, I did learn that President Kennedy was much more closely connected to the Diem assassination that previously understood. Previous accounts point the finger of responsibility toward Roger Hilsman, sneaking a cable into the traffic that essentially gave the go-ahead to let the Vietnamese conspirators kill Diem. Another passage "illuminate(s) the debate as to whether John F. Kennedy intended to withdraw the United States from the Vietnam war." Answer, he didn't.

The closing chapter, Clarity, suggests that some problems associated with covert action are unlikely to be solved, but democracies have a high level of responsibility to minimize these problems. I agree, without reservation. But until I read this I wondered if Prados believes there's a reservoir of potential public servants, all saintly, waiting to be called.

He mentions that a commission created to examine the 9/11 attacks was restricted by the Bush Administration into what it could hear and read. It would have been thoughtful to point out that one member of the commission, Senator Max Cleland, resigned in protest. Not terribly courageous, perhaps, but certainly more high-minded than many figures described.

Finally, Prados predicts another government catastrophe following CIA revelations, and I suppose the Snowden leaks fit the description. Perhaps a copy of The Family Jewels will be reviewed by Snowden while he is free to do so. Prados' reaction might be instructive as well as entertaining.

3 people found this helpful

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David C. Isby

Insightful history of the story behind the intelligence headlines

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2013

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The recent revelations about NSA monitoring of US domestic communications have made this book highly topical. Rather than a general fishing expedition throughout past and current US intelligence activities, this book makes the wise decision to concentrate its analysis on one area where the sources are available and the record more transparent, that of past CIA domestic operations, and use this as a way to provide insights about larger issues.

The title is itself key to what the book is about. The Family Jewels were the name assigned to CIA-assembled documentation dealing with their past domestic operations; the source material that is the subject of this book. The name itself shows how the CIA thought about this material and, by extension, the whole of public perception of what they do. Family jewels, by definition, are private property and are only taken out of secure storage and revealed at a time and place and under conditions of the owners' choosing. Crown jewels, in contrast, stay out where they can be seen by the public, because that has been one of the ways the institution of the monarchy has legitimated itself for centuries. Of course that entails risks - you have not seen the Irish Crown Jewels recently because they've been stolen - but the return in contribution to legitimacy was seen to outweigh it long before tourist dollars and the heritage industry entered into the balance. If you want people to pay for it, they are going to want to see what they are paying for and are going to want to hear a narrative legitimating (in terms that the listener, not the teller, values) why paying for this is a good and necessary thing.

It also raises the key issue of civil-intelligence relationship, for however difficult civil-military relations are to get right and discuss, they benefit from a degree of transparency that is unattainable even in the most developed democracies when dealing with intelligence. If, to many in the US in 2013, it appeared that the intelligence community was able to assert and implement a degree of autonomy in policy formulation and execution incompatible with the safeguards provided by legislation, let along the Constitution, then imagine how difficult it is for weaker and less legitimate governments to control their intelligence assets rather than being controlled by them. There is a reason a KGB man is in charge in the Kremlin today.

In an age where state institutions are perceived as increasingly dysfunctional - however eagerly their patronage is sought - and distrusted, the US intelligence community's long-standing opposition to providing information where they cannot control is exhibition and swiftly lock it up again (family jewels again) comes with a cost. It has helped create a world where senior officials do not understand what intelligence can and cannot do and many perceive a political benefit in presenting intelligence in terms of an Internet-fueled dystopia, a vision of lethal UAVs and privacy-defeating intercepts.

Using the CIA's Family Jewels, this book has valuable insights that provide the depth that is too-often lacking in discussions that will shape the future of US intelligence policy.

11 people found this helpful

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Sherman

Thank God for checks and balances in government. Many ...

Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2015

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Thank God for checks and balances in government. Many times when I hear of another Senate hearing into this agency or that my eye glaze over and I thing, "Well here they go again". But after reading this, one has to wonder if there is enough oversight and who is watching the overseers. The old axiom "Power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts", is defined in this book.

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