An on-the-record master history of the CIA has finally been published, and it lesson is that an incompetent intelligence agency can be as great a threat to national security as not having one at all. Full Story »
Posted by Melva Hackney
Wow -- although in the guise of a book review, this is a highly informative work of journalism detailing the CIA history of nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance since its inception
A thorough review of 'Legacy of Ashes', a recent book about alleged corruption in the CIA by New York Times correspondent Tim Weiner, who has researched this topic for 20 years. The book itself seems well sourced and researched, though it reflects a strong ideological viewpoint, which is echoed by the author of this review. On the whole, very worthwhile reading about the threats caused to national security by systematic failures from our intelligence agencies.
Book review of a book about CIA. Neither the author nor the reviewer like CIA much. Unfortunately much time is spent rehashing ancient history and too little time is spent on CIA's recent mistakes (they missed the fall of the USSR and 9/11 for two). I'd be more interested in details of the recent failures, I'm less interested in what happened in Guatamala 50 years ago.
No wonder they try to keep their operations secret. Excellent expository journalism. I advocate more declassification as soon as possible.
Retrieving Comments
