This book Long Strange Journey: An Intelligence Memoir consists of two inter-woven threads each of which is interesting in itself. In one thread Eddington provides a unique look at the analytic processes involved in producing imagery intelligence (IMINT). In the other thread Eddington describes the crusade that he and his wife undertook on behalf of Desert Storm (Gulf War I) veterans who came returned from the war with a compellation of physical and mental systems that eventually became diagnosed as "Gulf War Syndrome" (GWS). This second thread is really the heart of the book and is still on going.
In the mid-80's after service in the Army, Eddington was recruited by the National Photo Interpretation Center (NPIC) then under CIA. His memories of his experiences as an NPIC imagery analyst provides an excellent look at the duties of a photo interpreter and researcher. He also provides yet another light on CIA management and approach to intelligence production. Rather curiously in discussing his duties, Eddington, ignores the fact that an imagery analyst must often do quite a bit careful analysis and research to interpret the contents of an image before it can be processed into IMINT. Also when Eddington recounts the reorganization of NPIC into an independent entity, National Intelligence and Mapping Agency (NIMA), under the Department of Defense (DOD) his implies that this meant that the work at NIMA would be vetted by DOD seniors and NIMA would lose its objectivity. He also unfairly characterized the imagery analysts who went to work for NIMA as mere "bean counters", which in point of fact was untrue. His memior implies that this reorganization was done because DOD wanted more control over IMINT production. Perhaps, but he does not mention that the timeliness and responsiveness of NPIC during Gulf I was roundly and repeatedly criticized by a number of senior officers during and after the war. This latter may also have been a factor in the demise of NPIC.
In any event Eddington and his wife almost accidentally became involved in the GWS phenomenon, but once they were involved both became passionate advocates of veterans suffering from GWS. They became convinced that GWS was caused by exposure to Iraqi nerve agents and other chemical agents the Iraqis were known to posses. For reasons that remain unclear DOD added and abetted by CIA fought bitterly against the Eddingtons' theory. Rather typically the U.S. Congress as a whole was not interested in GWS since without the draft Gulf War veterans were not the political force that once welded so much under the organizational banners of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. In the end the Eddingtons saw their careers at CIA disappear in clouds of bureaucratic duplicity, but gained grudging acceptance from DOD that GWS was a real problem.
It is difficult to know how accurate Eddington's depiction of his evidence for GWS is, but it is clear that neither DOD nor CIA appear to have any integrity or simple decency on the issuue of GWS.
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