Tom Clancy, Tom Shmanscy. Who needs fiction when there’s enough intrigue, mystery, cunning and violence in the true history of the CIA. In recent history, the Central Intelligence Agency hasn’t had the friendliest of PR– with accusations of torture, intelligence blunders and even dark conspiracies, its no wonder the CIA story makes for such good reading. To keep you entertained, GearCrave has three recently published books to share on the darker underbelly of the CIA. Read along, GearCravers, as this writer does his best to avoid making a “this message will self destruct” joke. Wait, I just did…
Spy Wars: Moles, Mysteries, and Deadly Games (Amazon Rating: 4.5 stars, 13 reviews)
Pick this book up and you will not put it down. “Spy Games” documents the case of Yuri Nosenko, a KGB spy who approached the CIA with an unprecedented and invaluable wealth of information on the Russian spy program. The question facing the CIA, however– is Yuri a true defector, or an agent of misinformation with remaining loyalties to the Soviet government? Author Tennent H. Bagley meticulously dissects the details on this profound case- and leads the reader through the paranoid underworld of the life and loyalties of one of history’s most mysterious double agents.
Buy: $18.48.
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA… (Amazon Rating: 4.5 stars, 129 reviews)
Picking up decades after “Spy Wars” left off, Steve Coll’s “Ghost Wars” documents the CIA involvement in developing the Taliban and Al Qaeda as proxy weapons against the Soviets. In an effort to protect U.S. alliances with the Saudis and other oil producing nations in the Persian Gulf, the CIA trained and armed Taliban militants to fight against the Soviets as they invaded Afghanistan. With the help of the CIA, the Taliban and early Al Qaeda militants were successful in bleeding the Soviet army dry during their campaign in Afghanistan. As a result, after American interests in the Middle East were safe from Soviet attack, the CIA largely turned its back on the Taliban and its militant neighbor, Al Qaeda. This was the first domino in many to fall which led to the most devastating “blowback” in CIA history: the 9/11 tragedy. Steve Coll’s intensely researched book “Ghost Wars” tells this story from the 1970s through to Sept. 10th, 2001… and the events that followed.
Buy: $12.24.
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (Amazon Rating: 4 stars, 103 reviews)
Where the works of Bagley and Coll focus on two powerful stories of CIA history, Tim Weiner’s “Legacy of Ashes” tells it all– from the birth of the CIA in 1947 right through to modern day. The question Weiner poses is this: is the CIA an organization of sleuthy patriots working with the best interests of the American people? Or is the CIA a malevolent force with the charge only to spread American imperialism throughout the world? Tim Weiner takes on both common perspectives in “Legacy of Ashes”, and what he discovers is a different truth altogether. In Weiner’s book, he reports on the fumbles and failures of an increasingly disorganized CIA– one whose value should be closely scrutinized by American government.
Buy: 18.45.
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