Series in Intelligence
Books in Intelligence
A Spy in Plain Sight
A legal analyst for NPR, NBC, and CNN, delves into the facts surrounding what has been called the “worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history”: the case of Robert Hanssen—a Russian spy who was embedded in the FBI for two decades. As a federal prosecutor and the daughter of an FBI agent, Wiehl has an inside perspective. She brings her experience and the ingrained lessons of her upraising to bear on her remarkable exploration of the case, interviewing numerous FBI and CIA agents both past and present as well as the individuals closest to Hanssen. She speaks with his brother-in-law, his oldest and best friend, and even his psychiatrist. In all her conversations, Wiehl is trying to figure out how he did it—and at what cost. But she also pursues questions urgently relevant to our national security today. Could there be another spy in the system? Could the presence of a spy be an even greater threat now than ever before, with the greater prominence cyber security has taken in recent years? Wiehl explores the mechanisms and politics of our national security apparatus and how they make us vulnerable to precisely this kind of threat. Wiehl grew up among the same people with whom Hanssen ingratiated himself, and she has spent her career trying to find the truth within fractious legal and political conflicts. A Spy in Plain Sight reflects on the deeply sown divisions and paranoias of our present day and provides an unparalleled view into the functioning of the FBI, and will stand alongside pillars of the genre like Killers of the Flower Moon , The Spy and the Traitor , and No Place to Hide .
Audacious Missions of World War II: Daring Acts of Bravery Revealed Through Letters and Documents from the Time
A series of daring missions from World War II, revealed through letters and documents from the main protagonists. Winning World War II was about more than military force. It required guile, and tremendous acts of bravery by Special Forces and intelligence operatives who had the odds stacked against them. Using hundreds of documents and images from The National Archives, including some that have never been seen in print before, this book reveals some of World War II's most audacious missions. These include Operation Anthropoid , the plot to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich in Czechoslovakia in 1942, Operation Chariot , the attempt to damage the mighty German warship Tirpitz while she was in dock in St-Nazaire in France; and Operation Mincemeat , a complex plot whereby a corpse, replete with documentation designed to mislead the enemy, was dropped in southern Spain to spread misinformation.
Audacious Missions of World War II: Daring Acts of Bravery Revealed Through Letters and Documents from the Time
A series of daring missions from World War II, revealed through letters and documents from the main protagonists. Winning World War II was about more than military force. It required guile, and tremendous acts of bravery by Special Forces and intelligence operatives who had the odds stacked against them. Using hundreds of documents and images from The National Archives, including some that have never been seen in print before, this book reveals some of World War II's most audacious missions. These include Operation Anthropoid , the plot to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich in Czechoslovakia in 1942, Operation Chariot , the attempt to damage the mighty German warship Tirpitz while she was in dock in St-Nazaire in France; and Operation Mincemeat , a complex plot whereby a corpse, replete with documentation designed to mislead the enemy, was dropped in southern Spain to spread misinformation.
Audacious Missions of World War II: Daring Acts of Bravery Revealed Through Letters and Documents from the Time
A series of daring missions from World War II, revealed through letters and documents from the main protagonists. Winning World War II was about more than military force. It required guile, and tremendous acts of bravery by Special Forces and intelligence operatives who had the odds stacked against them. Using hundreds of documents and images from The National Archives, including some that have never been seen in print before, this book reveals some of World War II's most audacious missions. These include Operation Anthropoid , the plot to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich in Czechoslovakia in 1942, Operation Chariot , the attempt to damage the mighty German warship Tirpitz while she was in dock in St-Nazaire in France; and Operation Mincemeat , a complex plot whereby a corpse, replete with documentation designed to mislead the enemy, was dropped in southern Spain to spread misinformation.
Baseless
“Staggeringly good.” — Counterpunch A major new work, a hybrid of history, journalism, and memoir, about the modern Freedom of Information Act — FOIA — and the horrifying, decades-old government misdeeds that it is unable to demystify, from one of America's most celebrated writers Eight years ago, while investigating the possibility that the United States had used biological weapons in the Korean War, Nicholson Baker requested a series of Air Force documents from the early 1950s under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Years went by, and he got no response. Rather than wait forever, Baker set out to keep a personal journal of what it feels like to try to write about major historical events in a world of pervasive redactions, witheld records, and glacially slow governmental responses. The result is one of the most original and daring works of nonfiction in recent memory, a singular and mesmerizing narrative that tunnels into the history of some of the darkest and most shameful plans and projects of the CIA, the Air Force, and the presidencies of Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. In his lucid and unassuming style, Baker assembles what he learns, piece by piece, about Project Baseless, a crash Pentagon program begun in the early fifties that aimed to achieve "an Air Force-wide combat capability in biological and chemical warfare at the earliest possible date." Along the way, he unearths stories of balloons carrying crop disease, leaflet bombs filled with feathers, suicidal scientists, leaky centrifuges, paranoid political-warfare tacticians, insane experiments on animals and humans, weaponized ticks, ferocious propaganda battles with China, and cover and deception plans meant to trick the Kremlin into ramping up its germ-warfare program. At the same time, Baker tells the stories of the heroic journalists and lawyers who have devoted their energies to wresting documentary evidence from government repositories, and he shares anecdotes from his daily life in Maine feeding his dogs and watching the morning light gather on the horizon. The result is an astonishing and utterly disarming story about waiting, bureaucracy, the horrors of war, and, above all, the cruel secrets that the United States government seems determined to keep forever from its citizens.
Beyond Human
Would your body work better with some artificial parts? Will you live longer, perhaps a lot longer, than you now expect? The next decade promises another qualitative shift in the way we view technology, as once purely fictional concepts―robots, cyborg parts, and the many variations in between―become part of reality. Gregory Benford and Elisabeth Malartre's Beyond Human treats the landscape of human self-change and robotic development as poles of the same phenomenon. Can we go too far in making ourselves machine-like or making machines resemble us? Once made, what will such creatures think about us? These questions will arise in myriad ways in the next few decades, as we press against boundaries that a short while ago existed only in works of the imagination. Written in a lively and provocative style, this is a readable book about the accumulation of small scientific advances that add up to something large and challenging.
CIA
Is the CIA a failure, a success, a muddle or all three? The real CIA is an organizatiom that has oerformed some of its tasks far better---and some far worse---than any of us could imagine. Yet the lives of every American depend on how well the CIA does what it is supossed to do. Descriptions of some of the hair-raising CIA exploits such as assassination, poisoned cigarettes and mind-blowing drugs.
Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior
IN combating terror, America can no longer depend on its conventional military superiority and the use of sophisticated technology. We are fighting guerrilla wars, against insurgents hidden in remote regions, often deep among the local population. In battles such as these, squadrons of billion-dollar bombers and naval fleets mean much less than on-the-ground intelligence and the ability to organize local forces. That’s why, more than ever before, we need men like those of the Army Special Forces—the legendary Green Berets. In Chosen Soldier, Dick Couch—a former Navy SEAL widely admired for his books about SEAL training and operations—offers an unprecedented view of the training of the Army Special Forces warrior. Each year, several thousand enlisted men and several hundred officers volunteer for Special Forces training; less than a quarter of those who apply will complete the course. Chosen Soldier spells out in fascinating detail the arduous regimen these men undergo—the demanding selection process and grueling field exercises, the high-level technical training and intensive language courses, and the simulated battle problems that test everything from how well they gather operational intelligence to their skills at negotiating with volatile, often hostile, local leaders. Green Berets are expected to be deadly in combat, yes, but their responsibilities go far beyond those of other Special Operations fighters; they’re taught to operate in foreign cultures, often behind enemy lines; to recruit, train, and lead local forces; to gather intelligence in hostile territory; to forge bonds across languages and cultures. They must not only be experts in such fields as explosives, communications, engineering, and field medicine, but also be able to teach those skills to others. Each and every Green Beret must function as tactical combat leader, negotiator, teacher, drill sergeant, and diplomat. These tasks require more than just physical prowess; they require a unique mix of character, intelligence, language skills, and—most of all—adaptability. It’s no wonder that the Green Berets’ training regimen is known as the hardest in the world. Drawing on his unprecedented access to the closed world of Army Special Forces training, Dick Couch paints a vivid, intimate portrait of these extraordinary men and the process that forges America’s smartest, most versatile, and most valuable fighting force.
Extortion 17
The basis of the provocative hit military documentary Fallen Angel Call Sign: Extortion 17. A Black Hawk Down of the war in Afghanistan, the deadliest day for the U.S. in 12 years of that conflict—and a military investigation that covered up evidence of an inside job by the Taliban. Don Brown, a former U.S. Navy JAG officer stationed at the Pentagon, and former Special Assistant United States Attorney, has in his possession one of four copies of The Colt Report, which reveals a possible cover-up in relation to the August 6, 2011, killing of 30 men from the United States, including 17 members of Navy Seal Team Six—warrior brothers from the same Team that ninety days before killed Osama Bin Laden—potentially by undercover Taliban operatives.
Guardian: Life in the Crosshairs of the CIA's War on Terror(With: Thomas Pecora,Lindsay Preston)
A CIA security officer recounts a twenty-four-year career protecting America’s intelligence personnel and senior USG Officials against a backdrop of the War on Terror. Tom Pecora is prepared to draw back the curtain on the little-known and misunderstood world of the CIA protective operations—security teams who work on the front lines in some of the most dangerous places in the world, doing battle with America’s most determined enemies in the War on Terror and more. Somalia was Pecora’s first deployment as a CIA Protective Operations Cadre (POC) officer, responsible for providing protective operations support in hostile areas of the world. He later headed up a series of the Agency’s undisclosed protective operations teams. From 1989 until his retirement in 2013, he was assigned to multiple war zones across Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, doing the kind of work few are even aware exists. But it does, and Pecora’s direct involvement allowed him to work behind the scenes of some of the most well-known conflicts of our time, including the infamous encounter known as Black Hawk Down, the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, and the hotbeds across the Middle East where fires continue to burn. Over the course of a career that saw him receive the Career Intelligence Medal, Intelligence Star, Meritorious Unit Citation, and numerous Exceptional Performance Awards, Pecora distinguished himself as a Protective Operations Cadre (POC) member and as a CIA Security Officer. And now he’s prepared to shed light on the world of clandestine protective operations and the selfless, heroic warriors dedicated to keeping the United States safe at all costs…
HBR's 10 Must Reads 2016: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review
A year’s worth of management wisdom, all in one place. We’ve examined the ideas, insights, and best practices from the past year of Harvard Business Review to bring you the latest, most significant thinking driving business today. With authors from Marcus Buckingham to Herminia Ibarra and company examples from Google to Deloitte, this volume brings the most current and important management conversations to your fingertips. This book will inspire you to: Tap into the new technologies that are changing the way businesses compete Fuel performance by redesigning your organization’s practices around feedback Learn techniques to move beyond intuition for better decision making Understand why your strategy execution isn’t working―and how to fix it Lead with authenticity by moving beyond your comfort zone Transform your physical office space to promote creativity and productivity This collection of best-selling articles includes: “Reinventing Performance Management,” by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall “The Transparency Trap,” by Ethan Bernstein “Profits Without Prosperity,” by William Lazonick “Outsmart Your Own Biases,” by Jack B. Soll, Katherine L. Milkman, and John W. Payne “The 3-D Printing Revolution,” by Richard D’Aveni “Why Strategy Execution Unravels―and What to Do About It,” by Donald Sull, Rebecca Homkes, and Charles Sull “The Authenticity Paradox,” by Herminia Ibarra “The Discipline of Business Experimentation,” by Stefan Thomke and Jim Manzi “When Senior Managers Won’t Collaborate,” by Heidi K. Gardner “Workspaces That Move People,” by Ben Waber, Jennifer Magnolfi, and Greg Lindsay “Digital Ubiquity: How Connections, Sensors, and Data Are Revolutionizing Business,” by Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani
Hard Measures(With: José A. Rodríguez Jr.)
An explosive memoir about the creation and implementation of the controversial Enhanced Interrogation Techniques by the former Chief Operations Officer for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center. While the American public is aware of the CIA’s use of highly controversial “enhanced interrogation techniques,” few know the man who, in the wake of September 11, led all U.S. counterterrorism operations and oversaw the use of those procedures—procedures that obtained vital and timely intelligence and helped safeguard the nation from future attacks. Puerto Rican–born Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr., served the United States for twenty-five years as an undercover officer before bringing his wealth of field knowledge to the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center; now, in this riveting account and fascinating life story, one of America’s top undercover operatives reveals how hard measures have derailed terrorist activity targeting the U.S., and saved countless American lives. Fully disclosed here for the first time are the undercover operations and tactics implemented during the George W. Bush presidency—which were approved by the highest levels of the U.S. government, certified as legal by the Department of Justice, and supported by bipartisan leadership of congressional intelligence oversight committees. But as the shock of 9/11 faded, the support that the intelligence community enjoyed and deserved gave way to shortsighted and potentially dangerous political correctness. One by one, the tools needed to successfully fight terrorism were banished, and the men and women who volunteered to carry out our nation’s orders in combating al-Qa'ida found themselves second-guessed, hamstrung, and investigated— including Rodriguez himself. In effect, the United States has chosen to willfully and unilaterally disarm itself in the war on terror. In Hard Measures , Rodriguez convincingly argues for the techniques used, and uncompromisingly details when these techniques were necessary, why they worked, and how, ultimately, they contributed to the capture of the world’s most-wanted terror operatives, including Usama bin Ladin. From law school student to CIA recruit to his role as America’s top spy, Rodriguez’s full story is one of utmost importance—a rare, insider’s look at an issue that demands attention. Above all, it’s a reasoned, imperative, and fully informed case for hard measures, and an explosive and gripping account of the real war on terror— where it’s been and where it’s headed. *** Terrorism has always been one of the toughest targets on which to collect intelligence. The secrets you want to steal frequently don’t reside in computer systems, which can be hacked, or safes, which can be broken into, but in the inner recesses of a handful of individuals’ minds. The cliché about intelligence work is that it is like working on a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle but not having the box top to show you what the finished picture should look like. If only it were that easy. In fact, it is more like working on a million-piece puzzle with no box top, and having millions more random pieces that look like they might fit, but actually are from different puzzles altogether. It fell to us to make sense of the countless fragments of information and to take action on the chunks of the puzzle, which represented a real and growing threat to the United States and our allies. —from Hard Measures