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At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA Hardcover – April 30, 2007

by George Tenet (Author), Bill Harlow (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 208 ratings
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In the whirlwind of accusations and recriminations that emerged in the wake of 9/11 and the Iraq war, one man's vital testimony has been conspicuously absent. Candid and gripping, At the Center of the Storm recounts George Tenet's time at the Central Intelligence Agency, a revealing look at the inner workings of the most important intelligence organization in the world during the most challenging times in recent history. With unparalleled access to both the highest echelons of government and raw intelligence from the field, Tenet illuminates the CIA's painstaking attempts to prepare the country against new and deadly threats, disentangles the interlocking events that led to 9/11, and offers explosive new information on the deliberations and strategies that culminated in the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Beginning with his appointment as Director of Central Intelligence in 1997, Tenet unfolds the momentous events that led to 9/11 as he saw and experienced them: his declaration of war on al-Qa'ida; the CIA's covert operations inside Afghanistan; the worldwide operational plan to fight terrorists; his warnings of imminent attacks against American interests to White House officials in the summer of 2001; and the plan for a coordinated and devastating counterattack against al-Qa'ida laid down just six days after the attacks.

Tenet's compelling narrative then turns to the war in Iraq as he provides dramatic insight and background on the run-up to the invasion, including a firsthand account of the fallout from the inclusion of "sixteen words" in the president's 2003 State of the Union address, which claimed that Saddam Hussein had sought to purchase uranium from Africa; the true context of Tenet's own now-famous "slam dunk" comment regarding Saddam's WMD program; and the CIA's critical role in an administration predisposed to take the country to war. In doing so, he sets the record straight about CIA operations and shows readers that the truth is more complex than suggested in other versions of recent history offered thus far.

Through it all, Tenet paints an unflinching self-portrait of a man caught between the warring forces of the administration's decision-making process, the reams of frightening intelligence pouring in from around the world, and his own conscience. In At the Center of the Storm, George Tenet draws on his unmatched experience within the opaque mirrors of intelligence and provides crucial information previously undisclosed to offer a moving, revelatory profile of both a man and a nation in times of crisis.

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  1. Print length
    549 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper Collins
  4. Publication date
    April 30, 2007
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.5 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0061147788
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0061147784
  8. See all details
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4.4 out of 5 stars
208 global ratings

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Customers find the book provides insightful and fascinating information about the CIA's operations. They describe it as an engaging read that reads like a spy novel.

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ReadabilityInformation quality
28 customers mention "Readability"26 positive2 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They describe it as a memoir of a memorable time in American history. While some pages are fine, others are faded or indistinct, overall, readers find it an easy and enjoyable read.

"All I all, this is an outstanding book. It flows well and is an easy read. It is, however, a long book in that it is over 500 pages...." Read more

"Very good read...." Read more

"...The book's narrative is entertaining and well-written and I felt as though Mr. Tenant was attempting to give a fair anyalysis of events and the..." Read more

"...incredible. The writing is compelling, and the given all the material he must cover--it rates A plus!..." Read more

27 customers mention "Information quality"24 positive3 negative

Customers find the book insightful and informative about the CIA. They describe the narrative as entertaining and well-written. The book provides valuable insider information and is an educational read.

"...Bottom line: this a great narrative on how the CIA operated during some of its most challenging times...." Read more

"...That being said, I thought the book offered many tidbits of insider information not found in the deluge of information already available on many of..." Read more

"...You will gain great respect and appreciation for what the CIA does and the amazing people who are unsung heroes in that organization...." Read more

"...I found this interesting and helpful, giving unity to a series of tragic events that seemed confusing and unclearly related at the time...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Mike Dillemuth
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic View From the Inside the Agency
    Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    All I all, this is an outstanding book. It flows well and is an easy read. It is, however, a long book in that it is over 500 pages. The author, George Tenet, takes the reader through 9/11, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the events surrounding the Iraq war. His recollection of the U.S. Government’s actions in post invasion Iraq are extremely insightful.

    Mr. Tenet provides an amazingly honest assessment of the Agency’s performance. He accepts blame in those instances where the CIA truly fell short. That said, he also defends the Agency where it was incorrectly criticized. He does this by providing the rest of the story to specific events. For example, he effectively debunks the erroneous story that he claimed the justification for invading Iraq would be a “slam dunk.” By providing the back story, he is able to showcase the errors cited in other publications like Bob Woodward’s book on the Iraq war.

    Bottom line: this a great narrative on how the CIA operated during some of its most challenging times. It provides a true insiders look at the how the Intelligence Community and the CIA in particular operated during 9/11 and the Iraq war. A fascinating read.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Retired Reader
    4.0 out of 5 stars A Prisoner of History
    Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    It does not take a very careful read of this book to infer that George Tenet loved his job as Director of CIA. He also, apparently, holds the men and women who work at CIA in very high regard. During his seven year tenure at CIA he unquestionably improved the morale of the CIA workforce. Unfortunately reading this book one also has to infer that he was not a very good director of that agency. Although he dealt with intelligence issues during his years as a congressional and National Security Council (NSC) staffer, he really had no experience in the actual processes involved in the collection of data and the production of intelligence. Further he had no management experience and never had to learn how to transform decisions into actions or ensure that subordinates did so. However, if one reads between the lines of this book one can see that what really did Tenet in as Director was that he was extremely ill-served by CIA's senior management.

    For example there is the on going issue of the al Qaeda movement and Usama bin Ladin or Osama bin Laden. In the wake of the al Qaeda inspired attacks against the U.S. Embassies in East Africa, Tenet tells the reader he was frustrated with the "quality and depth of our intelligence regarding al Qaeda and Bin (sic) Ladin." Apparently as a result of this frustration, the Counter Terrorism Center (CTC) of CIA developed a so-called `operational plan' and the redoubtable CIA veteran Charlie Allen pushed the rest of the Intelligence Community, namely NSA and the NGA, to step up their collection and processing efforts to support that plan. Tenet was told that as a result the amount of data on al Qaeda and bin Ladin had `exploded' and many terrorists were identified and their linkages to other terrorists were documented. According to the head of the CTC of the plan had "damaged UBL's (sic) infrastructure and created doubt within al Qaeda...", although it is difficult to determine how he knew this. This of course was all prior to the events of 9/11. In point of fact, the result of all this effort was what one would get by kicking an ant hill and little substantive intelligence resulted from all the uproar. Indeed by 2004 CIA apparently was still uncertain if the al Qaeda movement should be treated as a transnational or geographic issue. After 9/11, the response by CIA to the Bush administration's interest in finding ties between al Qaeda and pre-invasion Iraq was a masterpiece of bureaucratic opaqueness. President Bush and Director Tenet both deserved better. The problem is that as Tenet stated in another context, "We are all prisoners of history" this could be the epitaph of his directorship and perhaps CIA itself.
    29 people found this helpful
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  • J. M. Gorman
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Honest Portrait of American Intelligence (1997-2004)
    Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    Contrary to what the book's back cover might have you believe, George Tenet does not use this book as a means to deflect criticism. Instead, he recaps his experience as DCI (1997-2004) in the most honest way that he can.

    Tenet never criticizes President Bush (43) explicitly. At times, he paints him as a man with good intentions. However, through much of Part III, Tenet implies that the President delegated (and abdicated) too much authority to his staff. Tenet vilifies Douglas Feith (undersecretary of defense for policy (2001-2005)) for promoting war with Iraq in advance of adequate supporting intelligence. He places Feith as a man who wielded a disproportionate amount of influence in the White House. It is left as an exercise for the reader to consider why President Bush was so willing to accept Feith's ideas in lieu of other credible viewpoints.

    As articulated in the `Afterword' [p. 490-491, 499], Tenet constantly reminds the reader of the CIA's role in government:

    "Often, at best, only 60 percent of the facts regarding any national security issue are knowable... Intelligence alone should never drive the formulation of policy. Good intelligence is no substitute for common sense or curiosity on the part of policy makers in thinking through the consequences of their actions... Intelligence does not operate in a vacuum, but within a broader mandate of policies and governance."

    Here are some other highlights of the book:

    - The CIA told the White House that Iraq likely possessed WMD (Chapter 17), but it never established a link between Iraq and al-Qa'ida (p.307).

    - "In Afghanistan, we had started from the ground up, allowing the various political groups to legitimize themselves, then building to a central, representational government. In Iraq, the process couldn't have been more different... We were in charge, and by God, we knew what was best." (p.439)

    - "Although CIA came to take everything we heard from [Ahmed] Chalabi with a healthy dose of skepticism, others, such as the vice president, Paul Wolfowitz, and Doug Feith, welcomed his views." (p. 397)

    - "On one of his trips to Iraq, Wolfowitz told our senior [CIA] man there, 'You don't understand the policy of the U.S. government, and if you don't understand the policy, you are hardly in a position to collect the intelligence to help that policy succeed.'" (p. 430)

    - The CIA suggested ways that the United States could establish peace in Iraq, but these suggestions were ignored (Chapter 23 and p. 441, 446).

    - Brent Scowcroft was the only administration official who expressed public disapproval of the White House's plan to go to war with Iraq (p. 315).

    - After the attack on the USS Cole, the U.S. "...Didn't need any additional excuses to go after UBL or his organization. But simply firing more cruise missiles into the desert wasn't going to accomplish anything. [The U.S.] needed to get into the Afghan sanctuary." (p. 128-131)

    - "For years, it had been obvious that without the cooperation of the Pakistanis, it would be almost impossible to root out al-Qa'ida... The Pakistanis always knew more than they were telling us, and they had been singularly uncooperative in helping us run these guys down." (p. 139)

    - Al-Qa'ida planned to attack the New York City subway in the fall of 2003. The attack was cancelled during the last stages of preparation "for something better". (p.260-261)

    - "When I was with King Hussein, I always felt that I was in the presence of wisdom and history... I've often wondered what impact his wisdom would have had in helping all of us avert the mess we find ourselves in today." (p.71-72)
    9 people found this helpful
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  • kaze
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good quality and not too heavy.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I am happy with the product. Just as described by the seller. Will buy it again in the future.
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  • María Cristina Rosas
    1.0 out of 5 stars El libro es usado
    Reviewed in Mexico on February 21, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Pagué por un libro nuevo y llegó maltratado y se ve usado. Me preocupa más eso en la pandemia porque muchos tienen la costumbre de hojear con salivazos
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  • Nana Amoako -Atta
    5.0 out of 5 stars Arrived on time
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Good condition
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  • Jamie Norris
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting book on American Intelligence in lead up to 9/11 and the War in Iraq.
    Reviewed in Australia on March 17, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    I would highly recommend this book as a source of knowledge about what the DCI George Tenet was thinking in the lead up to 9/11, where the CIA knew alQaeda was inside the US and ready to strike.
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  • Fabian
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book
    Reviewed in Germany on December 1, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    This book gives amazing insights on how intelligence politics work. But don't be blended by the strong subjective position tenet takes! Especially the perspectives on Israeli US relations are interesting to follow.
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  • Amazon カスタマー
    5.0 out of 5 stars 素晴らしい本です。
    Reviewed in Japan on February 14, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    素晴らしい本です。また購入しようと思っています。
    ☆☆☆☆☆☆
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