Public Intelligence Blog – Page 4146 – The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.

0Shares

Should be reprinted–a classic of enduring value,

April 8, 2000

Vladimir Sakharov

Not necessarily for students, this paperback from the Ballentine Espionage/Intelligence Library is sensational. I had already been a case officer overseas when I read it, and I read it with real admiration for the Soviet Division and the case officers who had the luxury of doing it “right.” From the overseas evaluations to the discreet subway signal of interest in Moscow to the follow-up that resulted in a recruitment in place and an ultimate exfiltration across the desert of Kuwait, this is a magnificent account of “the way it is supposed to be” in the clandestine service. It has a spy's kind of happy ending-really rotten treatment by CIA security blockheads during the resettlement program, a very long drunken period, hit bottom, and finally get clean and work your way free from the system on your own.

2000/04/082009/10/24

Review: Wilderness of Mirrors

5 Star, Intelligence (Government/Secret)

0Shares

No Winners or Losers, Only Victims,

April 8, 2000

David C. Martin

This book goes a long way toward explaining CIA's intellectual and operational constipation in the 1950's through the 1970's. It follows James Jesus Angleton, who tied the Agency in knots and went so far as to privately tell the French that the CIA Station Chief in Paris was a Soviet spy, and William King Harvey, who literally carried two six-guns both in the US and overseas “because you never know when you might need them.” Included in this book are some serious details about the operations against Cuba, a chapter appropriated titled “Murder Corrupts”, and a good account of how Harvey, in perhaps his most important achievement, smelled out the fact that Kim Philby was indeed a Soviet spy. The concluding thought of the book is exceptional: “Immersed in duplicity and insulated by secrecy, they (Angleton and Harvey) developed survival mechanisms and behavior patterns that by any rational standard were bizarre. The forced inbreeding of secrecy spawned mutant deeds and thoughts. Loyalty demanded dishonesty, and duty was a thieves' game. The game attracted strange men and slowly twisted them until something snapped. There were no winners or losers in this game, only victims.”

2000/04/082009/10/24

Review: Wedge–The Secret War Between the FBI and CIA

5 Star, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Intelligence (Government/Secret)

0Shares

FBI and CIA at War With One Another–Hurting America,

April 8, 2000

Mark Riebling

I cannot do this book justice, other than to say that I had never understood the depth and stupidity of the bureaucratic hostility between the FBI and the CIA-mostly the fault of the CIA these days but certainly inspired in part by Hoover in the early days-until I read this book; and that it should be required reading for every senior CIA manager. From the FBI's failure to communicate its very early knowledge of Japanese collection requirement on Pearl Harbor via the Germans, to the assassination of President Kennedy, the World Trade Center bombing and the Aldrich Ames case, this book makes me ashamed and angry about how bureaucracy and secrecy subvert loyalty, integrity, and common professional sense on both sides of this “wedgie” contest.

2000/04/082009/10/24

Review: War by Other Means–Economic Espionage in America

5 Star, Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Intelligence (Government/Secret)

0Shares

Excellent Overview of Allied and Other Economic Espionage,

April 8, 2000

John J. Fialka

John is a distinguished correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, their lead reporter during the Gulf War, and an award-winning investigative journalist in the fields of national security, politics, and financial scandal. The Chinese, Japanese, French and Russians are featured here, together with useful cross-overs into criminal gangs doing espionage on U.S. corporations, as well as overt data mining and other quasi-legal activities that yield far more economic intelligence than most business leaders understand.

2000/04/082009/10/24

Reviews: Cyberwars

3 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Intelligence (Government/Secret)

0Shares

European Perspective on Cyberwar,

April 8, 2000

Jean Guisnel

Jean, a nationally-respected journalist in France who has covered espionage matters for decades, is the author of one of those rare French books that make it into the U.S. marketplace. Translated into English after great reviews in Europe, it charts the migration of European and Anglo-Saxon intelligence professionals into cyber-space.

2000/04/082009/11/01

Review: Business @ the Speed of Thought –Using a Digital Nervous System

4 Star, Best Practices in Management, Change & Innovation, Economics, Information Society, Information Technology

0Shares

900 Pound Gorilla Speaks–Worth Listening,

April 8, 2000

Bill Gates

No doubt largely written by staff assistants, this book can be considered a watered-down version of Microsoft's game plan for taking over the world, i.e. being the operating system for everything. Each chapter has a useful figure that sums up business lessons and methods for diagnosing one of the aspect's of one's digital nervous system. This is a great airplane book.

2000/04/082009/11/01

Review: Net Gain–Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities

5 Star, Best Practices in Management, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Change & Innovation, Civil Society, Information Society, Information Technology

0Shares

Community Building in Cyberspace–Cuts to Core Values,

April 8, 2000

John Hagel III

This is a very serious handbook for how to create communities of interest, provide value that keeps the members there, and establish a foundation for growing exponentially from day one.