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Book Whistleblower at the CIA

Download or read book Whistleblower at the CIA written by Melvin A. Goodman and published by City Lights Books. This book was released on 2017-04-24 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Mel Goodman has spent the last few decades telling us what's gone wrong with American intelligence and the American military . . . he is also telling us how to save ourselves."--Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker "Whistleblower at the CIA offers a fascinating glimpse into the secret, behind-the-scenes world of U.S. intelligence. Melvin A. Goodman's first-person account of the systematic manipulation of intelligence at the CIA underscores why whistleblowing is so important, and why the institutional obstacles to it are so intense. . . . At its core it's an invaluable historical expose, a testimony to integrity and conscience, and a call for the U.S. intelligence community to keep its top leaders in check. Urgent, timely, and deeply recommended."--Daniel Ellsberg "In this fascinating and candid account of his years as a senior CIA analyst, Mel Goodman shows how the worst enemies of high quality intelligence can come from our own midst, and how the politicization of intelligence estimates can cause more damage to American security than its professed enemies. Whistleblower at the CIA is a must-read for anyone interested in the intricate web of intelligence-policymaking relations."--Uri Bar-Joseph, author of The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel "Mel Goodman shines a critical whistleblower light into the dark recesses of the CIA as a former insider. His book serves in the public interest as a warning and wake-up call for what's at stake and why we cannot trust the CIA or the intelligence establishment to do the right thing."—Thomas Drake, former NSA senior executive and whistleblower "Mel Goodman's Whistleblower at the CIA is not just an insider's look at politics at the highest levels of government. It's also a personal account of the political odyssey Goodman had to negotiate for telling the truth. The CIA likes for its employees to believe that everything is a shade of grey. But some things are black or white, right or wrong. Mel Goodman did what was right. He may have paid with his career, but he's on the right side of history."—John Kiriakou, former CIA Counterterrorism Officer and former Senior Investigator, Senate Foreign Relations Committee "Mel Goodman's Whistleblower at the CIA confirmed for me what my own experience had revealed during six hectic days and seven sleepless nights at CIA headquarters, getting Colin Powell ready for his presentation to the UN Security Council on Iraq's 'Failure to Disarm' on February 5, 2003. Mr. Goodman provided exhaustive detail on why the agency has failed, again and again, and will continue to fail if some future president and congress do not step in and dramatically change the way CIA functions."—Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to secretary of state Colin Powell "A refreshingly honest, well-sourced expose of the CIA that not only furnishes the author's compelling personal story of standing up to inflated estimates sprinkled with little-known but historically significant details of the jewels and the warts, the successes and failures of decades of U.S. intelligence analysis. Especially instructive to our current era plagued by faulty group-think and the 'war on whistleblowers,' the book chronicles how 'contrarian' analysts are often 'the best source for premonitory intelligence.' This book is a must-read not only for political historians and American citizens wanting to know the unvarnished and often surprising truth about the intelligence side of the CIA but for all students contemplating a career with the CIA or other intelligence agency."—Coleen Rowley, retired FBI agent "A former CIA analyst (1966-1990) deplores what he argues is the increasing deleterious politicization of the agency. In his latest book, Goodman—who has taught at the National War College, held other intelligence-related positions, and written earlier accounts of what he sees as a very troubled agency—thoroughly rages against the corruption he has viewed in the highest ranks of the CIA."—Kirkus Reviews "Goodman, a former CIA analyst who served from the Johnson administration through the first Reagan administration, exposes the disconcerting politicization of intelligence at America's best-known international intelligence-gathering agency."—Publishers Weekly Melvin Goodman's long career as a respected intelligence analyst at the CIA, specializing in US/Soviet relations, ended abruptly. In 1990, after twenty-four years of service, Goodman resigned when he could no longer tolerate the corruption he witnessed at the highest levels of the Agency. In 1991 he went public, blowing the whistle on top-level officials and leading the opposition against the appointment of Robert Gates as CIA director. In the widely covered Senate hearings, Goodman charged that Gates and others had subverted "the process and the ethics of intelligence" by deliberately misinforming the White House about major world events and covert operations. In this breathtaking expose, Goodman tells the whole story. Retracing his career with the Central Intelligence Agency, he presents a rare insider's account of the inner workings of America's intelligence community, and the corruption, intimidation, and misinformation that lead to disastrous foreign interventions. An invaluable and historic look into one of the most secretive and influential agencies of US government--and a wake-up call for the need to reform its practices. Melvin A. Goodman served as a senior analyst and Division Chief at the CIA from 1966 to 1990. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Harper's, and many others. He is author of six books on US intelligence and international security.

Book Unwanted Spy

Download or read book Unwanted Spy written by Jeffrey Sterling and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The powerful story of a CIA whistleblower and political prisoner who refused to give up on his American dream In 2015, Jeffrey Sterling was sentenced to prison, convicted of violating the Espionage Act. Sterling, it is now clear, was another victim of our government's draconian crackdown on alleged leakers and whistleblowers. Sterling grew up in a small, segregated town in Missouri and jumped at the chance to broaden his world and serve his country, first in law school and later in the CIA. After an impressive career, Sterling's progress came to a sudden halt: he was denied opportunities because of his race and was pushed out of the Agency. Later, Sterling courageously blew the whistle on the CIA's botched covert operation in Iran to Senate investigators. After a few quiet years in Missouri with his wife, he was arrested suddenly and charged with espionage. Unwanted Spy is an inspiring account of one man's uncompromising commitment to the truth and a reminder of the principles of justice and integrity that should define America.

Book Doing Time Like a Spy

Download or read book Doing Time Like a Spy written by John Kiriakou and published by Rare Bird Books, a Vireo Book. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2016 PEN First Amendment Award Winner of the 2016 Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence Winner of the 2016 Blueprint International Whistleblowing Prize for Bravery and Integrity in the Public Interest Winner of the 2013 Peacemaker of the Year Award Winner of the 2012 Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage On February 28, 2013, after pleading guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, John Kiriakou began serving a thirty month prison sentence. His crime: blowing the whistle on the CIA's use of torture on al Qaeda prisoners. Doing Time Like a Spy is Kiriakou's memoir of his twenty-three months in prison. Using twenty life skills he learned in CIA operational training, he was able to keep himself safe and at the top of the prison social heap. Including his award-winning blog series "Letters from Loretto,"Doing Time Like a Spy is at once a searing journal of daily prison life and an alternately funny and heartbreaking commentary on the federal prison system.

Book Whistleblowing Nation

Download or read book Whistleblowing Nation written by Kaeten Mistry and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twenty-first century witnessed a new age of whistleblowing in the United States. Disclosures by Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and others have stoked heated public debates about the ethics of exposing institutional secrets, with roots in a longer history of state insiders revealing privileged information. Bringing together contributors from a range of disciplines to consider political, legal, and cultural dimensions, Whistleblowing Nation is a pathbreaking history of national security disclosures and state secrecy from World War I to the present. The contributors explore the complex politics, motives, and ideologies behind the revelation of state secrets that threaten the status quo, challenging reductive characterizations of whistleblowers as heroes or traitors. They examine the dynamics of state retaliation, political backlash, and civic contests over the legitimacy and significance of the exposure and the whistleblower. The volume considers the growing power of the executive branch and its consequences for First Amendment rights, the protection and prosecution of whistleblowers, and the rise of vast classification and censorship regimes within the national-security state. Featuring analyses from leading historians, literary scholars, legal experts, and political scientists, Whistleblowing Nation sheds new light on the tension of secrecy and transparency, security and civil liberties, and the politics of truth and falsehood.

Book Deadly Deceits

Download or read book Deadly Deceits written by Ralph W. McGehee and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-03-03 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency unmasks its culture of lethal lies in this devastating exposé, now with a new foreword by David MacMichael. Ralph W. McGehee was a patriot, dedicated to the American way of life and the international fight against Communism. Following his graduation with honors from Notre Dame, McGehee was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1952 and quickly became an able and enthusiastic cold warrior. Stationed in Southeast Asia in the mid-1960s, he worked to stem the Communist tide that was sweeping through the region, first in Thailand and later in Vietnam. But despite his notable successes in reversing enemy influence among the local peasants and villagers, McGehee found himself increasingly alienated from a company culture built on deceit and wholesale manipulation of the truth. While his country was being pulled deeper and deeper into the Vietnam quagmire, McGehee awoke to a chilling reality: The CIA was not a gatherer of actual intelligence to be employed in a legitimate war against dangerous enemies, but a tool of the president’s foreign-policy staff designed solely to stifle the truth and fabricate “facts” that supported the agency’s often immoral agenda. With courage and candor, Ralph McGehee illuminates the CIA’s dark catalog of misdeeds in his stunning, no-holds-barred memoir of a life in the service of deception. Startling, eye-opening, and infuriating, Deadly Deceits is an honest and unflinching insider’s look at a toxic government agency that the author cogently argues has no useful purpose and no moral right to exist.

Book A Drop of Treason

Download or read book A Drop of Treason written by Jonathan Stevenson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2021-05-21 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "As the first agent to publicly betray the CIA, Philip Agee was on the run for over forty years--a pariah akin to Edward Snowden. Agee revealed in spectacular detail what many had feared about the CIA's actions, but he also outed and endangered hundreds of agents. Agee relentlessly opposed the CIA and the regimes it backed, whether in America or around the world. In Jonathan Stevenson's words, Agee became "one of history's successful viruses: undeniably effective and impossible to kill." In this first biography of Agee, Stevenson will reveal what made Agee tick, and what made him run"--

Book In Deep  The FBI  the CIA  and the Truth about America s  Deep State

Download or read book In Deep The FBI the CIA and the Truth about America s Deep State written by David Rohde and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revised and updated "One of today’s most respected journalists, David Rohde takes on one of the country’s most toxic conspiracy theories," presenting a "scrupulously reported and even-handed" account of how power and intelligence are exploited in Washington that “goes deep indeed inside America’s security state, telling a story that will surprise readers of all political persuasions” (Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money). Donald Trump blamed his 2020 defeat on Democrats and the “deep state”—a supposed secret cabal of Washington insiders that relentlessly encroaches on the individual rights of Americans—for stealing the election and undermining his presidency. Most Americans who supported him agreed. Americans on the left increasingly fear the “military-industrial complex,” a faction of generals and defense contractors who they believe routinely push the country into endless wars. But does the American “deep state” really exist? This question is fundamental to preserving the legitimacy of American democracy, as frustration with and distrust for the government continue to grow. In Deep seeks to dispel these pernicious myths through an examination of the FBI, CIA, and Justice Department scandals of the past fifty years from the Church Committee’s exposure of Cold War abuses to the claims and counterclaims of the Trump era and the relentless spread of conspiracy theories online and on air. It exposes the misconduct of Attorney General William Barr; how distrust of the “deep state” undermined the US government response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and the growing discord sowed by the explosion of false information online. It investigates Trump’s quest to discredit government experts, the legislative and judicial branches, and the results of the 2020 election and assume authoritarian power for himself. “The idea of the deep state, Rohde writes, is inextricably linked to a particular view of presidential power” (Dina Temple-Raston, Washington Post). Based on dozens of interviews with career CIA operatives and FBI agents, “In Deep is a wholly satisfying read and a necessary one for anyone wanting to understand the forces at play in our government today” (Andrea Bernstein, Peabody Award–winning cohost of the Trump, Inc. podcast and author of American Oligarchs).

Book The Whistleblower

Download or read book The Whistleblower written by Kathryn Bolkovac and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2011-01-04 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Nebraska police officer and divorced mother of three Kathryn Bolkovac saw a recruiting announcement for private military contractor DynCorp International, she applied and was hired. Good money, world travel, and the chance to help rebuild a war-torn country sounded like the perfect job. Bolkovac was shipped out to Bosnia, where DynCorp had been contracted to support the UN peacekeeping mission. She was assigned as a human rights investigator, heading the gender affairs unit. The lack of proper training provided sounded the first alarm bell, but once she arrived in Sarajevo, she found out that things were a lot worse. At great risk to her personal safety, she began to unravel the ugly truth about officers involved in human trafficking and forced prostitution and their connections to private mercenary contractors, the UN, and the U.S. State Department. After bringing this evidence to light, Bolkovac was demoted, felt threatened with bodily harm, was fired, and ultimately forced to flee the country under cover of darkness—bringing the incriminating documents with her. Thanks to the evidence she collected, she won a lawsuit against DynCorp, finally exposing them for what they had done. This is her story and the story of the women she helped achieve justice for.

Book The New Whistleblower s Handbook

Download or read book The New Whistleblower s Handbook written by Stephen M. Kohn and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-07-01 with total page 569 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An updated edition of the first-ever consumer guide to whistleblowing by the nation’s leading whistleblower attorney The newest edition of The Whistleblower’s Handbook brings the most comprehensive and authoritative guide to exposing workplace wrongdoing up-to-date with new information on wildlife whistleblowing, auto safety whistleblowing, national security whistleblowing, and ocean pollution whistleblowing. It also includes a new “Toolkit” for international whistleblowers. This essential guide explains nearly all federal and state laws regarding whistleblowing, and in the step-by-step bulk of the book, presents more than twenty must-follow rules for whistleblowers—from finding the best federal and state laws to the dangers of blindly trusting internal corporate “hotlines” to obtaining the proof you need to win the case.

Book National Insecurity

Download or read book National Insecurity written by Melvin A. Goodman and published by City Lights Books. This book was released on 2013-02-15 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Mel Goodman has spent the last few decades telling us what's gone wrong with American intelligence and the American military, and now, in National Insecurity, he tells us what we must do to change the way the system works, and how to fix it. Goodman is not only telling us how to save wasted billions—he is also telling us how to save ourselves."—Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker Upon leaving the White House in 1961, President Eisenhower famously warned Americans about the dangers of a "military industrial complex," and was clearly worried about the destabilizing effects of a national economy based on outsized investments in military spending. As more and more Americans fall into poverty and the global economy spirals downward, the United States is spending more on the military than ever before. What are the consequences and what can be done? Melvin A. Goodman, a twenty-four-year veteran of the CIA, brings peerless authority to his argument that US military spending is indeed making Americans poorer and less secure while undermining our political standing in the world. Drawing from his firsthand experience with war planners and intelligence strategists, Goodman offers an insider's critique of the US military economy from President's Eisenhower's farewell warning to Barack Obama's expansion of the military's power. He outlines a much needed vision for how to alter our military policy, practices and spending in order to better position the United States globally and enhance prosperity and security at home. Melvin A. Goodman is the Director of the National Security Project at the Center for International Policy. A former professor of international security at the National War College and an intelligence adviser to strategic disarmament talks in the 1970s, he is the author of several books, including the critically acclaimed The Failure of Intelligence.

Book The Reluctant Whistleblower

Download or read book The Reluctant Whistleblower written by Mitch O’Brien and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2016-01-07 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tiffany Faulkner is a smart, savvy woman on the fast track at a prestigious Wall Street firm—until she meets her future husband, Jeremy Stanton, an energy company CEO who quickly sweeps her off her feet, marries her, and introduces her to an affluent new life in Houston filled with social and philanthropic activities. Twelve years later, Tiffany unquestionably loves her life, but quietly wonders if her husband still loves her. Everything soon changes when a friend offhandedly suggests that Jeremy has been unfaithful. Compelled to learn the truth, Tiffany hires a private investigator to look into her husband’s activities. When he uncovers evidence of her husband’s infidelity, Tiffany contemplates whether she should ignore his behavior and find fulfillment from her charity work. But when she decides to take a risk and look into Jeremy’s hidden business ventures, Tiffany soon discovers the far-reaching impact of her powerful, driven husband who is known for relying on cruel and calculated methods to dispatch his adversaries. Tiffany is about to receive more than she ever bargained for as Jeremy’s true character is revealed. The Reluctant Whistleblower is a thrilling tale of good versus evil as a wealthy woman embarks on a determined quest to uncover her husband’s corrupt behavior and expose his shadowy escapades to the world.

Book Permanent Record

Download or read book Permanent Record written by Edward Snowden and published by Metropolitan Books. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down. In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it. Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online—a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.

Book Poisoner in Chief

    Book Details:
  • Author : Stephen Kinzer
  • Publisher : Henry Holt and Company
  • Release : 2019-09-10
  • ISBN : 1250140447
  • Pages : 320 pages

Download or read book Poisoner in Chief written by Stephen Kinzer and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling author of All the Shah’s Men and The Brothers tells the astonishing story of the man who oversaw the CIA’s secret drug and mind-control experiments of the 1950s and ’60s. The visionary chemist Sidney Gottlieb was the CIA’s master magician and gentlehearted torturer—the agency’s “poisoner in chief.” As head of the MK-ULTRA mind control project, he directed brutal experiments at secret prisons on three continents. He made pills, powders, and potions that could kill or maim without a trace—including some intended for Fidel Castro and other foreign leaders. He paid prostitutes to lure clients to CIA-run bordellos, where they were secretly dosed with mind-altering drugs. His experiments spread LSD across the United States, making him a hidden godfather of the 1960s counterculture. For years he was the chief supplier of spy tools used by CIA officers around the world. Stephen Kinzer, author of groundbreaking books about U.S. clandestine operations, draws on new documentary research and original interviews to bring to life one of the most powerful unknown Americans of the twentieth century. Gottlieb’s reckless experiments on “expendable” human subjects destroyed many lives, yet he considered himself deeply spiritual. He lived in a remote cabin without running water, meditated, and rose before dawn to milk his goats. During his twenty-two years at the CIA, Gottlieb worked in the deepest secrecy. Only since his death has it become possible to piece together his astonishing career at the intersection of extreme science and covert action. Poisoner in Chief reveals him as a clandestine conjurer on an epic scale.

Book Record of Proceedings on H R  3829  the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence  May 20  1998 and June 10  1998  105th Congress  Second Session

Download or read book Record of Proceedings on H R 3829 the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence May 20 1998 and June 10 1998 105th Congress Second Session written by United States. Congress. House. Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book The Spymasters

Download or read book The Spymasters written by Chris Whipple and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-10-26 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Only eleven men and one woman are alive today who have made the life-and-death decisions that come with running the world's most powerful and influential intelligence service. With unprecedented, deep access to nearly all these individuals plus several of their predecessors, Chris Whipple tells the story of an agency that answers to the United States president alone, but whose activities--spying, espionage, and covert action--take place on every continent. At pivotal moments, the CIA acts as a brake on rogue presidents, starting in the mid-seventies with DCI Richard Helms's refusal to conceal Richard Nixon's criminality and continuing to the present as the actions of a CIA whistleblower have ignited impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump. Since its inception in 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency has been a powerful player on the world stage, operating largely in the shadows to protect American interests. For The Spymasters, Whipple conducted extensive, exclusive interviews with nearly every living CIA director, pulling back the curtain on the world's elite spy agencies and showing how the CIA partners--or clashes--with counterparts in Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. Topics covered in the book include attempts by presidents to use the agency for their own ends; simmering problems in the Middle East and Asia; rogue nuclear threats; and cyberwarfare"--

Book Crisis of Conscience

Download or read book Crisis of Conscience written by Tom Mueller and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are living in a time of mind-boggling corruption, but we are also living in a golden age of whistleblowing. Over the past two decades, whistleblowers have emerged as both the government's best weapon against corporate misconduct and the citizenry's best defence against government. Drawing on relentless original research, including in-depth interviews with more than 200 whistleblowers, Crisis of Conscience is a modern-day David-and-Goliath saga, told through a series of riveting cases drawn from Big Pharma, the military, and beyond.

Book State of War

    Book Details:
  • Author : James Risen
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • Release : 2006-01-05
  • ISBN : 0743297571
  • Pages : 259 pages

Download or read book State of War written by James Risen and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-01-05 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With relentless media coverage, breathtaking events, and extraordinary congressional and independent investigations, it is hard to believe that we still might not know some of the most significant facts about the presidency of George W. Bush. Yet beneath the surface events of the Bush presidency lies a secret history -- a series of hidden events that makes a mockery of current debate. This hidden history involves domestic spying, abuses of power, and outrageous operations. It includes a CIA that became caught in a political cross fire that it could not withstand, and what it did to respond. It includes a Defense Department that made its own foreign policy, even against the wishes of the commander in chief. It features a president who created a sphere of deniability in which his top aides were briefed on matters of the utmost sensitivity -- but the president was carefully kept in ignorance. State of War reveals this hidden history for the first time, including scandals that will redefine the Bush presidency. James Risen has covered national security for The New York Times for years. Based on extraordinary sources from top to bottom in Washington and around the world, drawn from dozens of interviews with key figures in the national security community, this book exposes an explosive chain of events: Contrary to law, and with little oversight, the National Security Administration has been engaged in a massive domestic spying program. On such sensitive issues as the use of torture, the administration created a zone of deniability: the president's top advisors were briefed, but the president himself was not. The United States actually gave nuclear-bomb designs to Iran. The CIA had overwhelming evidence that Iraq had no nuclear weapons programs during the run-up to the Iraq war. They kept that information to themselves and didn't tell the president. While the United States has refused to lift a finger, Afghanistan has become a narco-state, supplying 87 percent of the heroin sold on the global market. These are just a few of the stories told in State of War. Beyond these shocking specifics, Risen describes troubling patterns: Truth-seekers within the CIA were fired or ignored. Long-standing rules were trampled. Assassination squads were trained; war crimes were proposed. Yet for all the aggressiveness of America's spies, a blind eye was turned toward crucial links between al Qaeda and Saudi Arabia, among other sensitive topics. Not since the revelations of CIA and FBI abuses in the 1970s have so many scandals in the intelligence community come to light. More broadly, Risen's secret history shows how power really works in George W. Bush's presidency.