This is one of many books about the Central Intelligence Agency, this one by a University of California professor of history.
In the first 68 pages, there are a lot of generalities of recruitment and deployment over the history of the forerunner of the CIA, the Office of Strategic Services. Lawrence of Arabia and Rudyard Kipling are discussed in detail and it seems the prototype agent was a white Protestant male of privilege, educated at Groton and Yale. Generally they worked for the commercial interests of the U.S., in the guise of promoting democracy. Graham Greene is frequently quoted in this part as he was a famous writer as well as a British spy. I enjoyed reading his The Quiet American, and The Third Man many years ago without appreciating that they were based on real characters.
There follows a chapter on the sometimes covert and sometimes blatant efforts to overthrow governments and install new ones more suited to U.S. interests, even toppling democracies in favour of puppet dictatorships.
The long section detailing the many feats of Ed Lansdale in the Philippines just confused me- far more than I ever needed or wanted to know. And his efforts to support Diem of South Vietnam in the mid 1950s to establish a true Vietnamese independent state, with the help of police forces from midwestern states, among other U.S.and French personal segued imperceptibly into the undeclared disastrous Vietnam War.
In the chapter on counterintelligence, I once again became confused, in no small part because of the extensive discussion of imperialism and empire building without ever defining what the author means by imperialism or empire.
After reading the 50-page discussion titled “Publicity”, I was left with wondering if there is any organization that is not a secret front for some other, with funding channelled through several intermediaries. The many acronyms are impossible to remember without reference to the two page list of them, but the very conservative AEI (American Enterprise Institute) stands out although not included in the list. The degree to which these fronts in fact alter public opinion about various issues is obviously variable but must foster skepticism in the public at large when the real organization behind a story is revealed. What is believable? Who can you trust?
The next chapter on unintended consequences addresses that, with documentation of many instances which resulted in the opposite effect to the one intended, such as the proliferation of conspiracy theories, that depict the CIA in an unfavourable light.
Many paragraphs start with the qualifier “That is not to say…” or the opposite “That is to say…” and in the whole book I found absolutely no humour. Although I learned a lot, I have had enough reading about the world of spies trying to convince me that nothing is as it seems, and cannot seriously recommend this book. Time for something lighter.
2.5/5
Thanks, The New Yorker.
The Passionate Reader 