Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (2007)

This is an extensive, exhaustive history of the CIA. It does not portray the agency in the slightest favorable light. Since it's inception the CIA has failed in almost every aspect of its mission. It has not provided good intelligence to policy makers; it missed the mark on Castro and Cuba, failed in understanding eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, got it completely wrong about WMD's in Iraq and more.

Most damning, however, is the CIA's failures at covert operations around the world. When it failed in a public view like the Bay of Pigs it was devastating to our nation's interests. When it "succeeded" like Guatamala and Iran, it sowed the seeds of future foreign policy disaster. More troubling than these well-known events, however, is its obsession with small-scale covert operations in Europe and Asia which almost entirely resulted in loss of life of agents. If ever there was an example of national hubris and over reach it was the CIA's attempts to influence world affairs through its schemes.

The agency seemed to be staffed in the main by amateurs or incompetents, many times drawn from the eastern elite universities. Throughout its history the CIA has struggled to recruit and retain truly professional skilled staff.

The book mentions the misuse of the agency through violation of its charter by various presidents; the most notorious being Nixon, but also Johnson and Kennedy.

What were the causes of such misguided actions and failed strategies and tactics? I think the national paranoia about the perceived threat of communism is the root cause. While no doubt the aims and behavior of the Soviet Union were against our interests, our reactionary endeavors to thwart the communists manifested almost delusional and over the top responses by our government. One must ask whether instead of subversion and malice a policy of good will that exemplified to the world our ideals would have served us better in the long run. ( )

A truly depressing, yet enlightening read. If you have a romantic idea of the CIA, I highly recommend you read this. ( )

I don't really know how to evaluate the veracity of this history. On the one hand, it appears to be very well researched and referenced; on the other, the CIA has made arguments to refute it in its book review. To the extent that I've read about the CIA, this appears to coordinate generally with other accounts. ( )

Damning history of the CIA and its failures in both foreign and domestic involvement. Some areas still obscure and lack context, but overall cohesiveness of the book does not suffer too greatly for it. ( )

Exhaustive history of the Central Intelligence Agency, tracing its ups and downs and its few successes and many failures. The allegations of political interference by virtually every presidential administration are highly disturbing, as are the tales of field agents running their own covert operations without the knowledge of the director.
It's a depressing story which ends without much hope ( )